Racial Inequality

This novel is set in the 1830-50s, a time when slavery was legal and the war between the states was still several years away. During this time period, blacks were looked upon as property, things to be sold and traded, not as human beings. Even blacks who looked white but had some black blood were treated this way. Blacks were not taught to read or write, did not learn to speak with eloquence, or learn to behave with the manners expected of even the youngest white child. However, these blacks were expected to clean the homes of whites, to work their fields, and to raise their children. Blacks lived under the constant fear of being sold by their owners, sent to live where the rules were enforced with a whip, taken from their family and friends without notice and never knowing when they would see them...