James

François-Marie Arouet de Voltaire

oppressor necessarily supposes a victim.

“You know where we goin’?” the boy asked. “Ain’t got no idee. But we’s on our way.”

“White folks expect us to sound a certain way and it can only help if we don’t disappoint them,”

“Never address any subject directly when talking to another slave,”

“Dyin’ can ruin a good time.”

“Signifying.”

I am called Jim. I have yet to choose a name. In the religious preachings of my white captors I am a victim of the Curse of Ham. The white so-called masters cannot embrace their cruelty and greed, but must look to that lying Dominican friar for religious justification. But I will not let this condition define me. I will not let myself, my mind, dro

There were those slaves who claimed a distinction between good masters and cruel masters. Most of us considered such to be distinction without difference. I