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A slave family is taken from Sierra Leone by the slave ship, the Cambridge Sail.
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Several months later, they arrive in Boston. On the journey, the mother and father died, leaving the children, So (10) and Curassa (14.)
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Their remaining family members, a brother and a sister are transferred to another ship since they were not sold in Boston. The slave ship that the brother and sister are now on, the Elizabeth, is taken by pirates in Boston. The pirates drop them off in Newport, RI and sell them. The Narragansett family buys the little sister (So, 11) and the indentured craftsmen buys the brother (Curassa, 14). So lives on/ w/ relatives on the plantation.
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The freed indentured servants go up to what would later be York, Maine to get the business they were promised. They take the boy with them, now grown up. He lives there with his family when he gets older, his family working for the ex-indentured servants.
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So (15) has illegitimate twins, Mary and Daya. Cussara (18) marries Secar (17.)
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Cussara and Secar’s child, Whay was born. Second child, Mila born.
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Second child of Cussara and Secar, Mila born.
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Curassa dies of smallpox.
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Osay and Basil, descendants of Mila, and Eliza, descendent of Whay are born.
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Osay (19,) Basil (18,) and Eliza (19) join their slave owners to join the imitation of the Boston Tea Party in York, Maine that was caused by the anger towards the British about the Tea Act.
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The US declares independence from Great Britain.
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Basil’s descendant, Fanny born.
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Fanny (15) marries James (16) to the advantage of their owners.
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A war with a really uncreative name begins.
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Alice (17), a descendent of So, gives birth to Clover. The father is Jackson Narragansett, the slave owner.
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Jackson Narragansett sells Alice and her child to a family who are going out West because of the land rush caused by the Louisiana Purchase, the Johnsons. They go to modern day Utah. He does this to get rid of the proof of his unfaithfulness to his wife.
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1820 - Maine becomes a free state and Cussara's relatives, Fanny (25), James (26), Chas (6), Mo (5), and Alfred (2) are freed by the Missouri Compromise.
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1823 - Fanny dies.
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1825 - James dies.
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1831 - Chas (17) and Alfred (13) move to Massachusetts to work at Lowell Mills. Mo (16) takes over the small shipping business that was passed to them by their parents.
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1835 - Chas (21) married Betty (20) and had Burrell.
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1836 - Chas’s second child, Ellie, is born
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1837 - Chas dies from infection.
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1840 - Alfred (21) and Mo (24) lives with Chas’s children, Burrell (5) and Ellie (4,) and takes care of them.
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1841 - Alfred (22) dies of tuberculosis.
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1844 - Mo (28) dies.
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1849 - Mali (20), a descendent of Clover, is murdered by her psychotic owner, Alphonse Johnson, after telling him that he couldn’t keep her family since the territory was not a designated slave area. He tells the family that she died in a farming accident.
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1850 - Utah becomes a territory and is voted a slave state. The Fugitive Slave Act is passed.
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1852 - A couple years later, her husband and children, Edward (25,) Misha (10,) and Jensen (12,) find out that Alphonse Johnson lied about Mali. They realize that they are also in danger, so they attempt to escape. On the way there, a Northerner recognises Edward from a wanted poster and turns him in because of the Fugitive Slave Act. Misha and Jensen are able to take refuge in a Quaker’s house in Kansas. They join the Underground Railroad from there.
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1853 - Misha (11) and Jensen (12) escape to Saskatchewan, Canada through North Dakota.
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1855 - Still a slave, Edward (28) has an illegitimate child, Sarah.
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1857 - The verdict of the Dred Scott Case is decided.
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1858 - The brothers send a letter to their father asking if they can come back home. Edward (31) then goes to talk to Alphonse Johnson’s son, Brett Johnson about the freedom of his sons if they come back. Because of the result of the Dred Scott Case, Brett says no.
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1859 - Edward (32) dies.
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1863 - Emancipation Proclamation is made. Sarah (8) is freed from slavery and given a plot of land from the Johnson’s farm.
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1864 - The 13th Amendment is passed. Slavery is abolished. The descendents of Burrell and Ellie now know that they are forever safe from slavery.
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1865 - After hearing the news that slavery has been abolished, Jensen (24) and his wife, Joy (20,) and Misha (23) leave Canada. They travel back to where they were slaves in Utah.
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Jensen (25,) Joy (21,) and Misha (23) meet Sarah (11) and they live on their inherited plot of land together.
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Slavery is no more, forever, and this family’s tale of slavery ends.
“Freedom is never given; it is won.”
- A. Philip Randolph
