Black, Red, & White

By Dr. Mohsen El-Guindy

The events of this story took place during the American Civil War between North and South. The novel expresses slavery that tarnished the reputation of the white man who exploited the weakness of his fellow man to the benefit of his ambitions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Writers Branding LLC
• Release date: Nov 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781639452262

Book preview

Chapter 1

In 1526, shipowners regarded the slaves as cargo to be transported to the Americas as quickly and cheaply as possible, there to be sold to work on coffee, tobacco, cocoa, sugar, and cotton plantations, and as domestic servants. By the middle of the 17th century, slavery had hardened as a racial caste, with African slaves and their future offspring being legally the property of their owners, as children born to slave mothers were also slaves. Under the law, an enslaved person was treated as property and could be bought, sold, or given away.

Slavery had been practiced in British America from early colonial days, and was legal in all thirteen colonies at the time those colonies formed the United States. Slavery lasted in about half of U.S. states until passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865.

It was in the summer of 1850 when William Davis, a South Carolina farmer, living in Richland County, and the owner of 800 acres of land and livestock that included horses, milk cows, beef cattle, hogs, sheep, and two oxen, purchased from a slave owner in neighboring County a seventeen-year-old girl named Victoria Adebayo. Victoria was married to another slave, but her husband was sold to another farm owner. She loved her husband, and it was devastating to see him forcibly taken away from her to another farm, and she was only two months pregnant. She fell to her knees crying bitterly knowing that she would not be able to see him again and would not be able to get him back.

Victoria was a full-figured woman with voluptuous curves. Her full-blossomed body represented wealth, fertility, and good health. Her tall body, full breasts, narrow waist, and large buttocks enticed her master to have sex with her. Shortly after returning with Victoria to his farm, William Davis raped her. Over the next months, he would make countless treks to her cabin, located in a grove of fruit trees some distance from his main house, and repeatedly and viciously raped her. When she resisted, he disciplined her by beating or slapping her. He considered her his concubine. She had to give in, she was a slave, she had no right to resist his orders. Whenever he wanted to sleep with her, he would; he never gave her any reason; he never spoke to her in any way to justify raping her, as he did not consider her to be worth anything. He considered her as his own property; she was considered as his animal.

William subjected Victoria to aggressive and unrelenting sexual harassment. Victoria could not count the number of times he raped her. He used to tie her legs to the bed and raped her. If she ever tried to resist him, he used to beat her.

Victoria had endured five months of assaults and warned William that the rapes had to stop. She warned him that she would hurt him if he came to her cabin again. She also asked his wife Cecilia for help keeping her husband away. But Cecilia would not dare try because he had a bad temper. Her life with him was miserable. After two years of marriage, he started calling her stupid. First, it was belittling comments, then it was yelling and every little thing she did, he would pull it apart because he thought she was doing things the complicated way. He beat her constantly when he thought she did something wrong. William was dangerous, sly, reckless, and angry with a temper that was destined to violence. His savage anger emerged as more than just a temperamental outburst; his reaction had been that of a madman, keen to hurt and humiliate.

In public, he was solicitous; in private, he was brutal. Instead of taking on extra burdens to spare Cecilia, he increased the pressure, ups the stress, insists she does more work, not less. And sometimes the abuse was not just psychological, it was physical, too. At a time when she most needed his protection, he turned on her, beats her up, kicked her swollen belly, punched her tender breasts.

Cecilia was as mad as she was hurt. She got angry about what she thought she deserved. She feared and rejected his savage nature, but this intensified his rage and beat her constantly when she rejected his brutal attitude.

William did not care that Cecilia was also two months pregnant. Her belly was the focus of his anger. She could not understand why a man would beat the mother of his unborn child. She wondered how much more suffering can she endure. His anger was unfounded, but she accepted his brutality because she had no other place to go.

On the night of July 20, 1851, William crept into Victoria’s cabin and tried to force her to have sex with him. Celia took a stick and bashed his head with it, killing him. Then she pushed his body into a roaring fire in her cabin’s fireplace. What followed was her arrest.

It was a crime of course to take any woman unlawfully against her will and by force, menace, or duress, allowing women to argue self-defense in resisting such assaults. But did that law apply to enslaved women?

Victoria’s court-appointed defense lawyer to represent Victoria during criminal law proceedings. The defense lawyer asked the judge to instruct the jury that a slave master had no right to rape a slave and that the slaying could be considered justifiable.

But the judge refused to give the jury those instructions. Instead, he told the 12 white men weighing the evidence: If William was in the habit of having intercourse with the defendant who was his slave and went to her cabin on the night he was killed to have intercourse with her or for any other purpose and while he was standing in the floor talking to her she struck him with a stick which was a dangerous weapon and knocked him down, and struck him again after he fell, and killed him by either blow, it is murder in the first degree.

Though Victoria had pleaded not guilty, and the murder was for self-defense, she had confessed to the crime. She told the court that William had been abusing her for months and he had told her he was coming down to her cabin that night. She told him not to come, that if he came, she would hurt him. She told the court that after she killed William, his body lay about an hour on the floor before she decided to burn it.

Most everyone on the jury was either pro-slavery or they owned slaves themselves. The thought of a slave — and let alone a female slave — getting away with something like this was not anything they would permit. The defense tried extremely hard to play on sympathy and cast William as a predator, but the racial politics of the day won out.

Victoria was found guilty of murder in the first degree for the murder of her master, and the jury sentenced her to death. But her execution was delayed long enough to allow her to give birth to her child. She gave birth to a healthy boy and called him Adam. She gave him the same surname of his father – Abaeze. Victoria was then taken to the gallows and hanged until she died.

Cecilia took Adam in and cared for him. She raised him with her daughter Isabella who was about his age. The two kids grew together and were inseparable. Cecilia watched them playing. She gushed about the innocent moment, holding her heart as the two tiny children running towards each other for a hug. She watched them running through a corn field. Corn is planted in close rows; it would be hard to run between rows and not get scratched by leaves or not getting covered with bugs. She prepared their hot bath and washed dirt and sweat off their bodies. After their bath, Cecilia dressed them for bed.  

In their room they played together. Isabella was smarter than Adam. Isabella had a collection of marbles. Adam had some sweets with him. Isabella told Adam that she will give him all her marbles in exchange for his sweets. Adam agreed. Isabella kept the biggest and the most beautiful marble aside and gave the rest to Adam. Adam gave her all his sweets as he had promised.

As they grew older, Cecilia taught Isabella to read, write, and sew. Adam was left to the experienced farmers to teach him what they already knew about farming.

They taught him to grow field crops and over 10 types of vegetables and raising pastured chickens.  They taught him livestock ranching, and herding cattle. He was given a Holstein team of oxen to plow, spread manure, haul stones and skid logs. Adam worked so hard. He had to do whatever Cecilia told him to.

The best thing Adam liked was to drive a horse wagon cart. When he was 16, Adam became responsible for transporting the agricultural produce in a two horse-drawn wagon to the farmer’s market. He made this journey two times a year, one after the summer season and one after the winter season. Isabella loved to accompany him in these trips. Amounts earned from the selling of the agricultural produce were given to Cecilia. Cecilia greatly relied on Adam’s skills in running the large farm. He knew no mother but her, and she treated him as her own son.

The story of his mother killing her master spread fast among the slaves of the farm and as he grew up, they told him about the tragic incident. They considered his mother a heroine. A black woman killing a white man was to them a symbol of bravery. That is why Adam was to them dear and precious. He was born to a heroine.

Adam and Isabella were raised together and were remarkably close. They cared about each other. They shared common interests and ideas. They saw each other very often, they traveled to other counties together to sell the agricultural produce. They felt an incredibly strong connection and bond to each other that they did not feel with anyone else. No doubt there was association, connection, interaction, and a strong bond between them.

It was true they were raised together, but it was always in Adam’s mind that he was black. A Niger working in the farm of Isabella’s mother. An orphan slave child Cecilia adopted after the tragic death of his mother who was also a slave in the farm. Isabella was quite different from him. She was blonde and white and the daughter of Cecilia the owner of the farm. These thoughts did not bother him at first, but they struck him when one day Isabella came running to him happily, telling him that today a young man from a decent family was coming to ask for her hand in marriage. It was then when he experienced a sudden and striking realization that he was a slave, and she was his master. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master — to do as he was told to do.

It never occurred to him that she would belong to another man. It flashed through his mind that he might not see her again. He felt so sad. He trembled from head to foot.

What does marriage mean to you? He asked her.

Every woman’s dream is to get married with someone who loves her so much that he will spend the rest of his life with her through thick and thin. She replied, anticipation increasing her pulse.

Sadness overtook him. The sadness of separation.

He said with a sad look on his face: Do you love him?

She enthusiastically said: You do not find love — it finds you. I will do whatever it takes to make this work.

Where are you going to live?

He lives in York County; I will go with him.

He said in pain: I will be missing you, Isabella. The words stuck in his throat.

She sensed his deep sadness. She said sincerely: You are my happy place. I may not get to see you as often as I like but, in my heart, I know that you are the only one I can rely on.

You will always be in my thoughts. I sincerely hope we shall meet again. His eyes were swimming with tears.

Of course, we will meet again. We are so linked together.

You have got an established life here, but marriage is pushing you to start a whole new life somewhere else.

This isn’t a decision to be taken lightly but it is time to start a new chapter of my life.

A new start can be amazing, but it is never a walk in the park. You will face challenges. Be prepared for what is in store.

I am willing to face the potential consequences. Moving to somewhere new with my husband can be incredibly exciting.

He stared at her. She had grown into a beautiful young woman. His heart felt like it would explode. That was the moment he knew that he loved her and that he would do anything and everything he could to protect her

I will always be here for you when you need me. His eyes welled up as he held back his tears."

I rely on your support. I rely upon your strong arm. You are my strength and shield. In you my heart trusts, and I am helped. She stood on tiptoes and kissed his cheek.

Isabella headed for the house. He followed her with his eyes. He had never been so frightened in his life. But he was really frightened now. He feared of being separated from her.

Chapter 2

The wedding took place at the family house. The stone balconies, beautifully decorated rooms, and carefully manicured grounds gave the mansion an unmistakable charm. The walls were polished too, so that the mica in the stone twinkled like stars .

The house twinkled in the night with string lights and candles illuminating the patio area. As the night went on, many of the stars came out to congratulate the groom and the bride. Guests came from across the region to attend the wedding.

The groom was Peter McKenzie, a Colonel in the army of General Robert Edward Lee, Commander of all the southern armies. He looked handsome in his army uniform.

Isabella and Peter married in a church in the morning. The bride and the groom exchanged marriage vows then placed the ring on each other’s fourth finger on the left hand. It is believed this finger had a vein of love that ran directly to the heart. The ceremony was followed by a banquet. Music, poetry, and prayers were incorporated into the ceremony.

A long oak table graced the center of the room, its ten carved chairs at attention. The tiles on the floor looked like polished bricks. The table was decorated with rare and beautiful plants and flowers. On the table were plates, knives and forks, and dishes of bread, meat, and fruits.

The bride and the groom sat at the long table with Isabella seated to the Peter’s right. Cecilia sat next to Peter. The guests sat around the table wherever they wanted to sit. They ate while chatting and laughing.

Before they finished eating Adam entered the room hesitantly. He knew that Isabella was to leave with her husband right after the banquet. He wanted to see her again before she leaves. All eyes looked up at him in astonishment. What was he doing here they wondered? Slaves are not allowed to eat with their masters. Servants will eat downstairs in the servant’s hall, but this happens much earlier to ensure they are ready to serve upstairs. Servants may have been permitted to sample leftovers from the upstairs meals. Cecilia saw Adam entering the room. She said: Adam, there is an empty chair at the table sit and eat.

Adam tried to decline but she insisted he eats so he complied. He bowed down and said to Cecilia respectfully: Your servant will do whatever his mistress commands him to do. When he sat at the table, he drew his chair out and at an angle to mark his separation. He could not eat. He seemed oblivious to the guests around him.

Seeing mounting confusion over the faces of her guests, Cecilia announced: I believe in gender equality. We are all coequals. Adam is my adopted son. I raised him as my son. He grew up in this farm. We rely on agriculture for most of what we need to survive. Adam keeps the farm running smoothly. By the sweat of his brow, we eat bread. Adam will always eat at my table.

Peter was terribly annoyed. He whispered in Isabella’s ear: We wouldn’t invite our slaves to watch us eat, and we regard their presence as likely to spoil our appetites.

Isabella was really upset from Peter’s remark. She rested her chin on her palm, elbow on the table, and stared at Adam. She knew that their separation was the reason of his sadness and silence.

Peter proposed a toast. He stood up and said: I raise my glass and ask you to join me in a toast to Cecilia the mother of my lovely bride. She must have done a lot of things right to raise such a beautiful and gifted daughter as my Bride. I promise to live up to the trust she had placed in me, and I thank her from the bottom of my heart.

Isabella tapped a spoon against her glass to gain everyone’s attention. She slowly stood and said with a trembling voice: I’ve known Adam since we were kids. My mother raised us as brother and sister. Family is not always blood. It is the people in your life who want you in theirs. The one who would do anything to see you smile. We played together, we laughed a ton, we had so much fun. We climbed trees, we built fortes. We have watched the glare of noon and all the colors of the dawn and dusk. These moments are carved inside my mind, a big reminder of how beautiful my moments with Adam were. We are like brother and sister. We are family.

He couldn’t help but saying: Family means no one gets left behind. Or forgotten. His words hit her like a bucket of ice-cold water.

She continued: Thank you for always listening to me, supporting me, and encouraging me. You have always been the light behind my darkness, the smile behind my sadness, the truth behind my false, the answer behind my question. Thank you for your big heart. You are a true friend and I want you to know how much I appreciate you.

After the banquet Peter and his bride had to leave soon. Peter took few minutes to say goodbye to his mother-in-law. Adam escorted Isabella to the carriage. Isabella took her seat. Adam stood outside looking at her in sadness.

He said heartbroken: Life has been always unpredictable, what we love the most is the only one we always loose. I never thought this day would come.

Adam please don’t be so sad. We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little of each other everywhere. She rested a comforting hand on his shoulder.

His eyes were like thunderclouds. She had never seen them like that. Shock and fear filled them. His body shuddering.

I want to tell you how beautiful my life was around you. You are special. You are the best part of me. Hot tears streamed down his face.

I am sorry to have caused you all this trouble. She said with tearful eyes.

May you always remember the path that leads you back. I wish for you and Peter love in your hearts and joy in your home.  Yet it saddens me that you are leaving me.

Peter arrived and got into the carriage. He slapped the horses with the reins. The horses began to trot down the sandy road which was just visible in the dim light.

He stood watching the carriage disappear into the distance. His heart constricted, abundant tears rushed to his eyes, and he wished to always protect her and share his life with her.

May God fill you with all joy and peace. Go in peace. He murmured sadly.

Chapter 3

Between 1815 and 1861 the economy of the Northern states was rapidly modernizing and diversifying. Northerners had invested heavily in an expansive and varied transportation system that included canals, roads, steamboats, and railroads; in financial industries such as banking and insurance; and in a large communications network that featured inexpensive, widely available newspapers, magazines, and books, along with the telegraph.

By contrast, the Southern economy was based principally on large farms that produced commercial crops such as cotton and that relied on slaves as the main labor force. Rather than invest in factories or railroads as Northerners had done, Southerners invested their money in slaves—even more than in land.

What led to the outbreak of the bloodiest conflict between the North and the South was the Southern states’ desire to preserve the institution of slavery. Other factors involved were taxation and the principle of states’ rights. A common explanation is that the Civil War was fought over the moral issue of slavery. In fact, it was the economics of slavery and political control of that system that was central to the conflict. The Southern states wanted to assert their authority over the federal government so they could abolish federal laws they did not support, especially laws interfering with the South’s right to keep slaves and take them wherever they wished. Another factor was territorial expansion. The South wished to take slavery into the western territories, while the North was committed to keeping them open to white labor alone.

Meanwhile, the newly formed Republican party, whose members were strongly opposed to the westward expansion of slavery into new states, was gaining prominence.

The election of a Republican, Abraham Lincoln, as President in 1860 sealed the deal. His victory, without a single