BOOK REVIEW… BOOK
REVIEW… BOOK REVIEW...
Title: SLAVERY – A
Phenomenon Of All Times
 |
| THE AUTHOR |
Author:
Joyce M. Herry
Publisher:
MI Publishing
No
of Pages: 165
Reviewer:
Mawutodzi Kodzo Abissath
Traditional
African wisdom is reflected in this Ghanaian proverb that admonishes: “It is
the person who is closer to the fire who knows how it burns!”
Perhaps, for those who know the author
of this book personally may not hesitate to attest that the contents of the
book epitomise the inner sentiment of the author. As a descendant of slave
parentage of British West Indies Grenadian parents on the island of Aruba
Before
the opening paragraph of the Preface she quotes a famous essayist and
influential thinker, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) who, once said: ‘Truth is
the property of no individual but the treasure of all men.’
Then the actual opening paragraph reads: “As a
descendant of slaves from the British West Indies ,
I cannot really relate to what it is to be a slave.” She went on “I live in a
tolerant country that was involved in the transatlantic slave trade. The slave
trade brought prosperity and wealth to kingdoms, merchants, bankers investors,
churches, European and American governments and individuals in possessions of
shares from the slave trading companies.”
If Joyce, who states in the book that she lost her father at age five and was single-handedly raised by her mother with four other siblings, was not born a deep thinker herself, she could not have quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson as stated above.
But
what was even more fascinating and mind-boggling about the book is the live
photograph used for the illustration of the book cover itself. Black and white
hands holding a globe together. It is
like the Universe in the hands of both black and white races. It implies that
as far as the Creator of the Universe is concerned no race is superior or
inferior to the other. On Page
13 the author illustrates this statement with a Bible quotation thus: “The
Epistle (letter) of Paul of Tarsus to Philemon in the New Testament, Book 18: ‘…this
gives further proof about slavery’ Paul’s letter was not only a protest against
slavery; he recognized the fundamental relationship between the slave owner and
his slave.”
The author further states that, ‘The
Christian belief is that to God, all men are equal and through Christ they are
bonded’ adding that ‘then there should not be relationships such as masters and
servants or freed slaves.’ Joyce questions: “Now did God approve slavery? On the
one hand slavery is justified and on the other hand it is condemned.”
But I was amazed when I enquired
about the significance of the cover. Joyce told me that the black hand was her
own right hand and the white one was the left hand of her designer who
is a white lady.
With this strong imaginary cover of
the book, the author quotes Booker T. Washington (1856 – 1915), freed slave
African American educator, author and one time advisor of Republican Presidents
of the United States of America, who once wrote: ‘You cannot hold a man down
without staying down with him.’
In
fact, the 165 pages book is full of wise quotations, citations and references
from great works of great minds of the past. And as a history book, facts and
figures are well-researched. This is a non-fiction book so the author did not
have the luxury to manufacture facts and figures. This explains why this
reviewer stated above that the author chose her words “very, very carefully.”
She did not allow her emotions to override her feelings. In other words,
despite the pain and sufferings her African slave ancestors had to endure at
the hands of white slave masters some 500 years ago, Joyce managed to control her
thoughts and words.
The author did not only conduct
research in other history books and news papers to come out with this book. She
used the Holy Bible profusely. And
it was some of the seemingly justifications of slavery in the Bible that seems
to have infuriated Joyce the more. For example, in the last paragraph of
Page 13, the author seems to be angered by a somewhat injustice or human right
abuse that was alluded to by the story of Noah.
The
paragraph reads: “Noah put a curse on his grandson Canaan to become the servant
of his brothers, because Ham, Noah’s younger son, and the father of Canaan saw Noah drunk, naked and uncovered in his tent.
Ham told his two brothers Shem and Japheth about the nakedness of their father.
The brothers were too embarrassed to see their father naked; they took a
garment, …”
The
most interesting part of the story that agitated the mind of the author is
this: “When Noah awoke sober and heard what his youngest son had done to him he
laid a ‘curse’ on Ham’s son Canaan. Now, why would Noah curse Canaan ,
who was innocent to what his father Ham did to his grandfather Noah?” Joyce
wanted to know. The reader must read the rest of the story in the book.
For
purposes of this review, it is relevant to observe that the author broke the protocol by
concluding history with poetry. But this is not an ordinary poetry. It is a
poetry that is relevant to the content of the book. Written by a Dutch
Caribbean poet, the piece is entitled Slumbering Voices: The last verse of
the poem reads:
…
I’m not your black or your white
Not
your anger or your longing
Never
wanted to be
A bashing
soul
I am
me!
So
back off!
Being
the very first history book by the author although she had published other
children’s works in Dutch and her native language Papiamento, she merits tonnes of commendations for such methodical and
painstaking research work. However, proofreading needs to be improved upon in
the future editions. This is a
must read for all researchers, journalists, academics and
students of history on slavery in Africa, Asia, Americas, Europe and indeed to
the world at large, because Slavery is A Phenomenon Of All Times!
The reviewer is a Ghanaian
journalist, author, poet and blogger in Accra , Ghana
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