Moses of Her People

By Kenneth Williams

Moses Of Her People details the life of Harriet Tubman from childhood to adulthood who suffered tremendous abuse as a child and suffered a head injury as a teen that caused her to have seizures. As an adult she escaped from slavery and later became a conductor of the Underground Railroad rescuing hundreds of slaves.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Palmetto Publishing Group
• Release date: Aug 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9781649901941

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

THE SLAVE HOLDERS

EVERY GREAT DREAM BEGINS WITH a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world. – Harriet Tubman

The year is 1825, of June in Dorchester County, Maryland, on the plantation of Edward Brodess. A group of slaves picks cotton in a field in the hot sun while singing a negro spiritual, Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around.

There is one slave with no shirt on, and scars and bruises are across his back from being whipped. A 12-year-old girl, wearing an old dusty white gown and black scarf around her head, holds a basket picking cotton. She is Soph Ross older sister of Harriet Tubman. The overseer of the plantation Trevor Bailey comes out to the field where Soph is, he carries a whip in his hand that he uses to whip slaves – something Trevor enjoys doing.

TREVOR: Soph, Edward wants to speak with you and the house slaves about something important. Don't go in the front door, go through the kitchen back door.

Soph stops picking cotton and walks around a big white house, she enters the kitchen back door. In the kitchen are a couple of Edward's house slaves wearing uniforms and cooking, one of them is Harriet Rit Ross, Soph's mother, 35-years-old and pregnant. In the great room of the house, there are more of Edward's house slaves cleaning. Two are Linah Ross, 17, and Mariah Ross, 14. They are Rit's daughters and Soph's sisters.

Two men come down the stairs looking well dressed and clean wearing fancy suits. One of them is Edward Brodess, late 20s, owner of the plantation. Edward is charming and can be very aggressive and assertive – and he will do anything to get what he wants, even if it means harming others. And Dave, Edward's assistant, who handles all of his finances. Edward calls all of his house slaves into the great room.

EDWARD: Ladies! Come into the great room I must speak with you all.

All of the house slaves – all women – come into the great room and form a line like a group of soldiers. The rest of the house slaves stop their cleaning and get in line with the rest of them. Edward speaks to them.

EDWARD: Ladies, I have some bad news for you. See, the problem is my plantation has been struggling financially and I'm in danger of losing it. So unfortunately, I must sell some of you to get the money – not that many of you, just three in particular. Now I have three slave holders coming to buy three of you. And you're going to behave, as are the rest of you – or you will regret it. Understand?

ALL: Yes Massa Edward.

EDWARD: Good. Very good.

Trevor enters the house ushering in three white men. All of them are slave holders that Edward has invited. One of them is Joshua J. Ward, and there is Stephen Duncan the oldest of them and lastly there is Timothy Manning. Edward welcomes them into his home with open arms as they all shake his hand.

EDWARD: Gentlemen, welcome, I'm so glad you came, please come right in.

STEPHEN: Thank you Mr. Brodess, and what a pleasure it is to see you again.

EDWARD: The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Duncan. Mr. Ward, Mr. Manning, pleasure to make your acquaintance as well.

JOSHUA: Thank you, sir.

TIMOTHY: Thank you Mr. Brodess for the warm welcome.

EDWARD: This is my assistant, Dave.

DAVE: Hello gentlemen, glad to meet you all.

EDWARD: So how bout we skip the small talk and get straight down to business, huh?

STEPHEN: We'd like that, sir.

They all take a seat on the sofa and start discussing business for the three slaves.

TIMOTHY: So, then Mr. Brodess – where are these wonderful house slaves you told us about?

EDWARD: Yes of course. Linah, Mariah, Soph – come forward!

Rit is shocked after hearing her daughters' names called and so are, they.

EDWARD: Ladies, come now. No one is going to harm you. Right now, come.

Linah and her sisters step out of line to present themselves to the slave holders.

EDWARD: All right, away you go the rest of you – back to the kitchen. And the rest of you ladies go upstairs and clean.

The house slaves go back into the kitchen while the rest of the house slaves go upstairs to clean. But Rit does not move and looks at her children scared that she might lose them.

TREVOR: Harriet, this has nothing to do with you. Now go back into the kitchen or else.

Rit does as told and returns to the kitchen.

EDWARD: Gentlemen I present to you the three house slaves.

STEPHEN: Wait – these are the house slaves you spoke of?

EDWARD: Yes, sir, Mr. Duncan, these are the house slaves I spoke of. Is there a problem with them?

STEPHEN: I just thought that they would be much older than this. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with them. Me? I personally prefer a nigger with experience.

EDWARD: Mr. Duncan, I can assure you that these young ladies are excellent workers despite their age. And worth buying.

STEPHEN: Are they of any great value, is my question to you? I'd like to make sure I'm getting my money's worth in buying one of your slaves.

EDWARD: Oh, indeed they are very valuable.

Edward grabs Mariah by the arm and starts showing her off in front of the slave holders like a piece of artwork.

EDWARD: This slave here name is Mariah, and she's one of my house slaves who cleans the house. She's very healthy and has a great hygiene.

Edward opens Mariah's mouth showing her teeth to Stephen.

EDWARD: You see, don't you? Perfect teeth as well. She's not only a healthy slave, she never causes me any trouble and she's never been whipped. And she does a great job keeping this house clean. Don't you Mariah?

MARIAH: (nervously) Yes… yes, sir.

EDWARD: Excellent. And not only that but Mariah has proven to be an efficient worker in the cotton field. So, you see gentlemen, she can be very useful as a house slave, and she would be very useful as a field nigger if you buy her.

Stephen gets up and walks up to Mariah and starts examining and observing her to see if she is worth buying.

STEPHEN: She does look useful.

EDWARD: That's because she is useful, sir and very hard working.

STEPHEN: But I wouldn't call her a house slave… maybe more of a picking field nigger.

EDWARD: That's all up to you to decide what she is, if you buy her.

STEPHEN: I guess she'll do for working in the field.

While they continue to discuss Mariah's work habits Joshua looks at Rit in the kitchen cooking. He seems to be infatuated by her physical appearance as a slave.

EDWARD: So, shall we discuss a price—

JOSHUA: Mr. Brodess?

EDWARD: Yes, sir, Mr. Ward?

JOSHUA: I know you said that these three girls are for sale. But how much would I have to pay you for the pregnant slave?

Rit hears this and stops cooking. She looks at Joshua – by the creepy smile on his face she can tell that he wants her to be more than just a house slave.

EDWARD: Ah yes, Harriet. She's been here since my dead mother Mary Brodess was around. And a loyal house slave at that. I myself will even admit that she is a very pretty lady for a nigger. But I'm sorry Mr. Ward, she is not for sale. Just her daughters.

JOSHUA: That's too bad. All right, then… I'll buy the big girl. What's your name again?

Linah looks at Joshua nervously, and does not answer his question. Edward shouts at the top of his lungs at Linah.

EDWARD: Linah! When Mr. Ward speaks to you and ask you a question you answer him. Understand?

She still says nothing. Edward approaches her angrily. Linah slowly backs away from him, then quickly runs toward the kitchen, pushing the house slaves out of the way – trying to escape through the kitchen back door.

EDWARD: Go get her Trevor!

Trevor runs after Linah and catches her before she can escape. He brings her back into the great room to Edward. He grabs Linah by the hair and throws her against the wall. She hits it hard and falls to the floor, Edward picks her up and starts choking her. With a devilish look on his face and evil smile, Edward tries to choke the life out of Linah. Soon her eyes are rolling up to the whites. Rit and her daughters' can do nothing but look on horrified at what they're witnessing. Edward finally stops choking her. She falls to the floor, breathing heavily, trying to catch her breath. Edward kneels to her and speaks with a soft, furious voice.

EDWARD: Now you listen to me, you little black bitch, because I'm only gonna say this once. You are not going to mess this up for me. Mr. Ward is going to buy you and you're going to go with him and be happy about it. Got it?

LINAH: (trembling voice) Yes… sir.

Edward yanks Linah up off the floor.

EDWARD: Stand there and shut up. Now then back to our original sale. Mr. Duncan are you still interested in buying Mariah?

STEPHEN: Well it's like I said before – she's more of a field nigger than a house slave. So, I will buy her Mr. Brodess.

EDWARD: Terrific, sir – and I will sell her to you for three hundred dollars. What do you think?

STEPHEN: Seems fair to me. Fine. I'll buy her.

Edward slaps his hand on the desk like an auctioneer.

EDWARD: Sold! To Mr. Duncan for three hundred dollars.

Stephen takes out his billfold and counts out three hundred dollars and gives it to Edward. Dave writes out a receipt and gives it to Stephen for his purchase.

EDWARD: That's one slave sold. What about you Mr. Manning? Can I interest you in buying young Soph here?

Rit continues to look on at the