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A review by deereadstoo
Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson
5.0
"You are never a slave in your mind." -Ruth
"You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you didn't know." -William Wilberforce
Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson follows Pheby Delores Brown, a sheltered young girl who lived on the Bell Plantation in Charles City, Virginia. Protected by her mother and cherished by the Master's sister, she's already set apart from the rest. She was promised her freedom on her eighteenth birthday but her plans soon changed when she's thrust onto the lands of the Devil's Half Acre in Richmond, Virginia where the enslaved are treated like nothing short of animals. There she's exposed her jailer's cruelty as well as his contradictory nature. Her survival depends on her outwitting him at all costs even if that means the ultimate sacrifice.
This novel is heartbreaking for many reasons. One reason includes that Pheby ends up losing everyone she loves and she ended up alone each time. It was so devastating to see how she really didn't belong anywhere because she was naive at times to believe in these white men who were 'nice' to her at times only for her to realize that at the end of the day they still viewed her as property and nothing more. She also could never relate to those enslaved and treated like cattle at the jail because she had never be whipped or treated poorly, for the most part, her entire life. Another reason was her desire for freedom. Her freedom never came and I could imagine it was because like I said prior she can't really pass a white woman like her daughters but she doesn't really feel like a slave either. I can only imagine it feeling isolating for her as she understands what she must do for those she loves and the sacrifices she must make for their safety. Lastly, this book opened my mind up to yet other horrors and knowledge on how slaves of different hues were treated in different environments. I never knew of fancy girls or city versus plantation slaves. Hell, I never knew there were jails and yet here I am learning more and more every day about my ancestors.
The ending made me cry and my heartache because she sent them on Tommy, Essex, Monroe, and Abbie without her. She walked away from freedom once again and I can only imagine the life she would've led had she been free. It made me think about Brenda and what she said to Pheby earlier on. In the epilogue, when Pheby and Hester wrote to each other and we found out that Pheby ran ill, I wonder if that was her dying letter. Her mother always wanted to protect her and grant her freedom and when she couldn't do that, Pheby followed in her legacy and granted each of her children the freedom she always wished for herself and never looked back. What a story.
"You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you didn't know." -William Wilberforce
Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson follows Pheby Delores Brown, a sheltered young girl who lived on the Bell Plantation in Charles City, Virginia. Protected by her mother and cherished by the Master's sister, she's already set apart from the rest. She was promised her freedom on her eighteenth birthday but her plans soon changed when she's thrust onto the lands of the Devil's Half Acre in Richmond, Virginia where the enslaved are treated like nothing short of animals. There she's exposed her jailer's cruelty as well as his contradictory nature. Her survival depends on her outwitting him at all costs even if that means the ultimate sacrifice.
This novel is heartbreaking for many reasons. One reason includes that Pheby ends up losing everyone she loves and she ended up alone each time. It was so devastating to see how she really didn't belong anywhere because she was naive at times to believe in these white men who were 'nice' to her at times only for her to realize that at the end of the day they still viewed her as property and nothing more. She also could never relate to those enslaved and treated like cattle at the jail because she had never be whipped or treated poorly, for the most part, her entire life. Another reason was her desire for freedom. Her freedom never came and I could imagine it was because like I said prior she can't really pass a white woman like her daughters but she doesn't really feel like a slave either. I can only imagine it feeling isolating for her as she understands what she must do for those she loves and the sacrifices she must make for their safety. Lastly, this book opened my mind up to yet other horrors and knowledge on how slaves of different hues were treated in different environments. I never knew of fancy girls or city versus plantation slaves. Hell, I never knew there were jails and yet here I am learning more and more every day about my ancestors.
The ending made me cry and my heartache because she sent them on Tommy, Essex, Monroe, and Abbie without her. She walked away from freedom once again and I can only imagine the life she would've led had she been free. It made me think about Brenda and what she said to Pheby earlier on. In the epilogue, when Pheby and Hester wrote to each other and we found out that Pheby ran ill, I wonder if that was her dying letter. Her mother always wanted to protect her and grant her freedom and when she couldn't do that, Pheby followed in her legacy and granted each of her children the freedom she always wished for herself and never looked back. What a story.