Journal Entry

My name is Kizzy; I am a 16-year-old African American girl from Nubia, Africa. I am a slave, and I was born into slavery because my mother, father, and grandparents were born slaves in Africa. I never knew my grandparents because they died long before I was born. I consider my family to be blessed because we have not been separated. My family has lived on many plantations, but we have lived on this one for the past 10 years or so. Almost all of the slave families were separated from each other, especially the males, and sold by their owners to other owners, but everyone in my family was bought by the same slave owner. When I was five, my family and I were told that we have to get on a big boat to go to the Americas. A few months before we were put on the boats we lived in a cave with other families. The smell in there was horrible, from dead bodies and bodily fluids. The move from Africa to America was very difficult and confusing because my family has not lived under such horrible conditions before; this new life of ours is so hard to adjust to. Most of my family has been separated, but I am still with my mother and sister. The men and boys were put on a different boat than the women, girls, and young boys, so were my father and brothers, and I did not see them ever again. I did not know why we were leaving our home, but my mother said we had to go. We were told that we would have better lives in the Americas. Our way of life has not become any better for the slaves in the Americas; in fact it is a whole lot worse. I had to use the restroom very badly one day and I was not looking where I was going so I used the wrong one I was beaten very badly. I asked my mother why I was beaten. My mother said we were segregated from the white people, which mean we cannot use the things they use or go to the places they go. She also told me that I can only use the things and go to places for Negroes, and if I did not do what she was telling me that I would be beaten again or...