Less than a year after reaching freedom, I knew I had to go back. I chose where I walked, where I worked, I looked at the world around me with wide open eyes. I thought again of the birds I'd spent all that time dreaming about. 'I felt my lungs fill with air, as if for the first time.' 'I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person now I was free. 'A place where I could be something other than a slave. 'I found myself at the border with Pennsylvania. 'I trod carefully, and didn't stop to rest or sleep.
'I had to keep my wits about me, I had to keep moving, stay quiet, and remember to be brave. 'And there were slave-catchers out there who made it their business to hunt runaways like me down.
'Runaway slaves were worth money if they were caught. 'I wasn't afraid of the forest, or the dark, or the creatures that lived in the night, That moss always grows on the north side of the trees. 'When night approached, and the forest grew dark, I remembered what my father had taught me. And where, if I could get there, I could be free. 'I headed north, knowing that way lay the border with Pennsylvania where there was no slavery. 'Soon, I had walked further and gone deeper into the forest than I had ever been before. 'Then I took one last look at my family sleeping like sardines, and at the space where all these years I had slept between them, and I left. 'I wrapped what little I had and a small amount of food into a shawl. 'Early one morning, I woke before the others. In the moment that rock hit my head, I knew I just needed to be brave. I had to do more than just look at the birds and dream of being free. The master was furious.'įrom that day on, I had dizzy spells and would fall asleep without warning.īut the strange thing was, that that blow to the head also made something clear to me. Willing him to magically take flight and leave the ground. 'The slave master bid me go after him, but I just stood still and watched, admiring how brave he was. 'and all of a sudden, one of the slaves made a run for it. 'Then one day we were working in the field like every other day, 'The slave master could keep my back bent towards the earth, but he couldn't stop me from imagining what it might feel like to be free. 'Until my hands were raw, my back ached, and my spirit was worn down by the endless toil. 'As soon as I was old enough, I was put to work alongside the other slaves in the field. 'And that's how I grew up, knowing only the small world of the forest around our hut and the field we worked in. 'I tried to imagine what it would feel like to fly anywhere you felt like. 'He told me how moss always grew on the north side of a tree. 'Sometimes, my father would take me into the forest that surrounded our hut and tell me things. 'My father snored loudest, but it was so familiar it helped me sleep. Loved us all lined up together keeping each other warm. 'We had no furniture, and we slept on the floor, lined up like sardines. 'The landowner lived in a giant house on the hill, with a view over all his land.
'We were given just about enough food to keep us from starving. 'The bucket was heavy, and sometimes I could barely lift it off the ground. Till our hands were raw, our backs ached, our spirits worn down by the endless toil.įrom the age of six, my job was to carry buckets of water out to the field. Then hoed the field to sow the seed to pick the cotton. 'We hoed the field to sow the seed, to pick the cotton. 'The seasons turned, one into the next, and every year it was the same. And most of what we did was working in his cotton fields. 'Being a slave meant that we were owned by our master and he got to decide everything we did. I was born in the United States of America in the year 1820.īut they were snatched up from their homes and brought to America on a ship, to work for a rich landowner. I'm going to tell you something about my life.
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