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To Be A Slave
To Be A Slave is a 1968 nonfiction children's book by Julius Lester, illustrated by Tom Feelings. It explores what it was like to be a slave. The book includes many personal accounts of former slaves, accompanied by Lester's historical commentary and Feelings' powerful and muted paintings. To Be a Slave has been a touchstone in children's literature for more than 30 years.

Plot
The slaves thought slavery existed for two reasons which were possession of a renewable source of free labor and the creation of capital earned from the slaves' work and from the selling of slaves. Slavery was a very profitable business. Some slaves define it as not being human; others describe it as being a piece of property. Some, accustomed to always being told what to do, upon being freed would consider visiting their old master and ask him what they should do. Being a slave meant enduring beatings, whippings, brainwashing, and pretty much being treated like an animal or lower than an animal. What was it like to be a slave? Listen to the words and learn about the lives of countless slaves and ex-slaves, telling about their forced journey from Africa to the United States, their work in the fields and houses of their owners, and their passion for freedom. You will never look at life the same way again.

Theme
Dominance can be described as the trait of slavery in forms of power and control. White man was able to exert power over thousands of slaves. Even though the white man feared insurrection by his slaves, the white man had the ultimate power: power over an individual slave. The slave owners illustrated their power over the slaves daily with the use of forced labor, beatings, whippings, and even killings. It is their belief that they were inferior that kept them obedient and on the premises.

Setting
The story has no one certain setting since it consists of a series of separate narratives, many of which are attributed to anonymous sources. But because Lester arranges these selections in chronological order, beginning with the initial capture of the slaves and ending with their emancipation, the story begins in Africa in the early seventeenth century, when Europeans are in quest of black people whom they can capture.

After a sea voyage to such places as South Carolina or Virginia, the slaves are auctioned and dispersed to various plantations across the South. Lester follows the destiny of his characters as they experience personal upheavals, and as America faces tremendous change through the 1860s and 1870s with the Civil War, emancipation, and Reconstruction.

Awards
To Be a Slave has won numerous awards, including the 1968 Newbery Honor medal.[1] It was an ALA Notable Book, won the School Library Journal's Best Book of the Year, and Smithsonian Magazine's Best Book of the Year.[2] It was given a 1970 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award.

Review
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/to-be-a-slave-julius-lester/1100734213#productInfoTabs

http://bookawardschallenge.blogspot.com/2009/10/to-be-slave-by-julius-lester-review-by.html

https://www.buffalolib.org/vufind/Record/1037248/Reviews#tabnav

http://www.teenink.com/reviews/book_reviews/article/397031/To-Be-A-Slave-by-Julius-Lester/

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/julius-lester-interview-transcript