Copper Sun

After the storm, the women and men are brought up on the deck, and Amari watches and listens carefully as the crewmen work at the repairs. She understands that they are heading to Carolina and hopes that her destiny will involve being with Afi. The last few days of the journey, the slaves are treated “better.” They are given more food and water, proper medical treatments for their sores, and even visits by a doctor. The women are no longer sexually assaulted by the sailors. Amari notes that “the same sun shines upon [this new] land. The moon and the stars glow each night. Trees grow green and tall in the sunlight. But [she has] a feeling it will be as different from [their] land as life is from death” (62).

“Amari had no idea what to imagine, but the land she saw was surprisingly beautiful, with lush green trees growing quite close to a long, sandy beach” (64). Afi advises her to “Find beauty wherever [she] can,…[for] It will keep [her] alive” (64). Once they reach land, an “official” man comes aboard the ship and inspects the women carefully. Amari watches as Afi is checked over thoroughly. The inspector says, “Good breeder” and “[smacks] Afi on the buttocks” (66). After all of the slaves have been inspected, the man tells the captain that his “cargo is approved to land” (66). They are welcomed to Sullivan’s Island.

The next day, the slaves are brought ashore from the big ship. Bill, the kindly, red-haired sailor, whispers in Amari’s ear: “Be brave, child. God have mercy on you” (67). They are then hauled into a large building, where they get food and water, and their bodies are oiled. A black man, with limp and ragged white person’s clothing, addresses the crowd in English, but, of course, they do not understand. Once the white men leave the building, he speaks to them in their native tongue. He advises them: “‘You must learn their language quickly—it is called English—but try not to forget your own. Submit and obey if you want to live. You are at a place called Sullivan’s Island, where you will be kept for ten days, until they are sure you have no disease. Smallpox is the worst. Then you will be taken to a place called Charles Town, where you will be sold to the highest bidder’” (69).

“During the day the slaves were fed and their wounds were treated, but at night fear was the blanket that covered each of them” (69). In the evening, when Amari cannot sleep, Besa comes as close to her as he can and speaks with her, offering words of comfort and love. He wants her “to know that [she] will always be [his] lovely Amari” (69). The next day, the lot of them are brought to Charles Town to the “customhouse” (70). They wait in the building for another day and night before they are prepared again the next morning. Besa is in the first group of men sold.

When it’s Amari’s turn, “She looked at the faces in the sea of pink-skinned people who stood around pointing at the captives and jabbering in their language…They looked at her as if she were a cow for sale…” (72). While on the platform, she notices “a poorly dressed white girl about her own age standing near a wagon. The girl had a sullen look on her face, and she seemed to be the only person not interested in what was going on at the slave sale” (72).