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4.0
challenging dark informative reflective sad slow-paced

Learning about the early pioneers of the slave trade, the British, and how they used it to great wealth in Barbados and then moved it to the new colony of America really made me realise how this has been erased from historical teaching in our schools and it is not a recent thing. I am 51 and I was never taught any of this stuff. The result is a population who largely views slavery as a America problem.

This book uses Ashley's sack as a catalyst for telling us that history but also piecing together the lives of black women and children during slavery in the USA. It tries to give some voice to those stories despite there being very little archival records of their lives. 

I found lots of the history really interesting and again made me realise how much the 'slave story' has been white washed and even glorified in lots of media. With the rise of far right Christo-fascists in the USA who want to rewrite slavery as some sort of benevolent act books like this more important than ever.