Copper Sun and the American Slave Trade

As an English major, I have read many slave narratives, including the works of Frederick Douglas, Booker T. Washington, Phillis Wheatley, Olaudah Equiano, and Harriet Jacobs. So I went into Sharon Draper's novel Copper Sun with a lot of preconceptions about what I was going to be reading.

There were elements I both liked and disliked in this novel. For instance, I really liked that Draper offered a unique perspective of the American slave trade. Her inclusion of the Middle Passage is rarely seen in slave literature. Likewise, her use of a female main character is also unusual. After reading this book, I researched the topic and learned that approximately 15% of the African passengers died during the voyage. I had a hard time finding a lot of facts or firsthand accounts about the frequency of rapes on board these ships but read some interesting material regarding the multifaceted purpose of this. One historian offers the idea that the rape of African women was for more than sexual desire but for the oppression of both the women and the men aboard the ship, to break their spirit.

One inaccuracy of this novel is the fact that the ship captain seems to make few attempts of keep his "cargo" alive. Yet, in reality, each of these slaves was worth a good deal of money in the market and were hence valuable to the captain. In fact, I read that slaves who attempted to commit suicide by not eating were either tortured or forced to eat with the use of a speculum orum which held the mouth open. Slaves were seen as merchandise, and thus a cost-benefit analysis was behind all considerations. Unfortunately, this meant that poor conditions and cruelty were not only tolerated but supported.

I learned a lot about this often glossed over part of history. Growing up in the South, education about the slave trade and civil rights was something that was accentuated in our curriculum. However, the focus was rarely on the Middle Passage and the capture from Africa. Rather, it was more about those African born into slavery and their experiences. I suspect this is because this is part of history is easier to chronicle, due to the high volume of slave narratives from this time.

There were a few things I disliked about this novel. There are portions that seemed a little too perfect. For instance, the use of really obvious points like "we would never judge people simply by how they looked- that would be uncivilized" and "Some of the people looked at the group of enslaved captives with pity as they were marched through the center of town, but no one made any move to help them." Also, the fact that a rattle snake comes just in time to save Amari from the necessity of killing Clay, which would be justified at this point, is a little too perfect. I think the novel would be more compelling if the narrator was omniscient, allowing us to see more of Amari's inner thoughts.

I really liked the inclusion of Polly, an indentured servant. I think it offers an interesting perspective on the whole piece. When she tells the story of her father's life, it creates an illuminating mirror of the experience of an indentured servant as compared to a slave. It is easy to see why Polly does not pity Amari's condition at first. There are many similarities in their tales. Yet, with time, Polly is able to see the crucial differences.

I feel like this novel would be a lot to handle for preteens. I wouldn't recommend it for that age range. The common element of rape and the honest representation of conditions on the slave ship are intense. I think 8th grade or 9th grade would probably be good grades to read this.

After our class discussion, I thought about the term "Black Holocaust," and I have decided I dislike the comparison of the slave trade to the Holocaust. While both are extreme tragedies and degradation of the sanctity of human life, the intention behind each are similar yet decidedly different in my opinion. The purpose of the Holocaust was a government run (not just acceptance) extermination of an entire race of people. Africans were not being taken for the purpose of extermination but slavery. Over 60 percent of the Jewish population of Europe was lost during the course of a mere decade. In 10 years, 6 million Jews were dead. Over the course of two hundred years, 8 million Africans died as a result of the movement and arrival in the Americas-- an irreversible stain on the fabric of world history.