What i think of the Glory Field

I personally loved the book and already recommended it to a few of my friend. I would rate the book as eight out of ten or give it 4 stars!

My favorite part of the book was when Elijah saved little David and got $35 to help his grandparents pay off their taxes. “When he goes into the other room and comes back and starts counting out the money. Thirty-five dollars”. When stories have happy endings it gives people hope.

I think the author should have continued Tommy’s story because I would want to know what happened in his life further. This story included one of my favorite hobbies, basketball. It was my second favorite part of the book especially when it talked about making sacrifices for the ones you love.

I would recommend this book to any who enjoys good literature. It will inspire people to learn more about slavery. I know it inspired me. Reading this book, also made me realize that your family should love you no matter what and for whoever you are.

An Interesting Slavery Fact

As anthropologist Leland Donald pointed out in his landmark 1997 work, Aboriginal Slavery on the Northwest Coast of North America, slaves played important roles as labourers, status symbols, and trade commodities throughout the Northwest Coast culture area. Slaves were sometimes captives taken in warfare and rendered into chattel, but many were also born into slavery. Chiefs were known to slaughter slaves in ritual displays of wealth, or in marking important community events, such as the raising of a heraldic pole.



Henry Laurens, who would later
succeed John Hancock as president
of the Continental Congress,
ran the largest slave trading house
in North America. In the 1750s
alone, his Charleston firm oversaw
the sale of more than 8,000
enslaved Africans. He donated
£50 to the endowment campaign.

Thomas' Yale Fact

Bance Island was one of the major slave trading operations on the Rice Coast of West Africa.

"Reports from the 1780s show that Danish merchants were buying two thousand slaves a year at Bance Island, and during the same decade newspaper advertisements in Charlestown were announcing the arrival of Danish ships with slaves from the "Windward Coast." At "Bunce Island" today one can still find a cannon from a Danish ship dated 1780 and the grave of a Danish sea captain who died in 1783."

Muhammad is Determined

I chose the Character Trait Determined for Muhammad because on Page 4 "If he was to die, it would be like a warrior, he told himself. He did not cry out, but his heart betrayed him, pounding in his chest when he was put into the pens"

Thomas' Lizzy Poll

I felt scared for Lizzy because there are dangerous people out there, and a girl needs her family to take care of her and love her. To help her through life.

Elijah became a man...... ~Thomas~

I believe Elijah became a man when he saved David. He risked his life for his grandparents and david. He could have gotten lost at sea. "We going to look for him out on the Key"(p.105).

Thomas' 2 Jim Crow Laws

LIBRARIES
Texas: Negroes are to be served through a separate branch or branches of the county free library, which shall be administered by a custodian of the negro race under the supervision of the county librarian.
I believe everyone should have the right to read and get books anywhere they want.Education is the most important thing in a person's life.

HEALTH CARE
Mississippi: There shall be maintained by the governing authorities of every hospital maintained by the state for treatment of white and colored patients separate entrances for white and colored patients and visitors, and such entrances shall be used by the race only for which they are prepared.

It seems so unfair to me that a person's color of skin would affect the quality of the medical care they recieve. Segregation was a big part of the past, but everyone should be able to go though any door they liked if it was for their health.

Emmet Till Opinion

I agree with the open cast funeral.

Just because Emmet whistled at a white women, doesn't mean he should die for it. This open cast funeral showed everyone what people would do just because of segregation. The image of the 14 year old boy was horrible. The two men overkilled him, and everyone should see the concequenses of such unfair actions. I dont see how these two mean could live with themselves.


~~Thomas' The Long Walk Home~~

The Long Walk Home starring Sissy Spacek and Whoppi Goldberg was a movie about Anti/segregation. Throughout the movie, a white woman called Ms.Thompson would drive black people around. Yet her husband was all for segregation. He hated the black people. When black people wanted to get on the bus, they had to pay and go to back of the bus. When the black women stood up to the white men, I believed that was a very courageous act. I was amazed when Ms.Thompson stood with them.

2 Civil Right Key Events -Thomas-

(Little Rock,Ark.) Formerly all-white central high schools learns that integration is easier said then done. Nine black students are blocked from entering the school on the orders of Governor Orval Faubus. President Eisenhower send federal troops and the national Guard to intervene on behalf of the students, who become known as "The Little Rock Nine"

It must have been very hard for these 9 students because they were the only 9 black students in the all white high school. They weren't even let inside. I wonder what the teachers were doing. I would have tryed to find a way to help them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Martin Luther King is arrested and jailed during anti-segregation protests in Birmingham, Alabama. He writes his seminal "Letter from Birmingham Jail" arguing that individuals have the moral duty to disobey unjust laws.

Martin Luther King was a brilliant man, he had the "I have a Dream" Speech, which he had 200,000 people listen to. The fact that he would get thrown into jail for trying to stop Segretgation shows how hard it would be to make things better. He had helped many people.
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The Glory Field-1753

The Glory Field

1753

p. 3-8

Muhummad is captured and brought into a slave ship on the west coast of Africa, Sierra Leone. He is in the bottom of a slave ship for thirty six days before setting sail for the United States. He suffers on the slave ship because he is shackled to the ship. He is afraid because he does not know what his future holds. He asks himself some questions. Where are my parents? How are they? Are they dead? Will I survive? Will all the people on the ship die? Where am I going? What will become of me? He wants to be free again.

Muhammad's Journal Entry

I am Thomas, Muhammad Bilal’s brother. Muhammad’s story started when he was just a little boy of 11. He came from the West coast of Africa (Sierra Leone). His story starts with him boarding a slave ship, a dark, lonely, crowded ship filled with unfairly exploited unfortunate slaves. He had never been a slave before, and he didn’t want to know what it was like, but he knew he was about to find out. He saw people beside him crying, hopelessly. But he knew he had to stay strong. I feel like he was a very brave man. He kept telling himself “If I die, I will die like a warrior” (p.4). At least he had his friends Abdul and Kwesi with him. Muhammad was captured after he fought a very strong seen-ba. They fought until the seen-ba was dead and Muhammad was exhausted. He was taken to the bottom of the slave ship. There got chained and put onto a hard wooden plank. There he would be for the next 36 days. The living conditions of the ship were dirty, smelly, human excrement and vomit littered the ship’s floor. How could people be put into a place like that? People aren’t garbage. The slaves were only fed once a day and given water twice a day! That is just cruel. The slaves were also made to dance for the white people on the deck to amuse them. I feel like the white people treated the slaves as animals. The shackles were on tight, they were stuck with no escape. Sometimes, when Muhammad lifted his knees high, the shackles wouldn’t rub against his raw spots. For that he thanked Allah. Muhammed believed in god. Despite everything, even though I am sure he felt his prayers were unheard at times. Yet he persisted in his faith and hope. He believed. He believed for himself and for his parents, whoem he loved and missed so very much. They must have been so worried about him. Despite all of these terrifying obstacles he survived. His willpower, bravery and the desire to live will never stop to astound me.

The Glory Field-1864

The Glory Field
1864
p. 11-23
The Lewis slaves were made to work on the fields even though is was Sunday. It was a year ago since they worked the fields on a Sunday.
Joshua Lewis, Moses Lewis' brother had run away because he had heard that his wife, Neela might be sold, and Lem Lewis, Mose's son, was described by Grandma Dolly as being like her grandfather Muhummad and “did things differently”(p.15), and Grandma Dolly also says, “If you born with a taste for freedom in your mouth, you got to satisfy it.” Lem had escaped and run away too.
There were patrollers out looking for Joshua and Lem. Everybody was wondering what happened to them. Master Lewis, his family, his overseer Mister Joe Haynes and his workers, and Moses Lewis, his family and the other slaves all wondered if they would be caught.While they were working in the fields, Moses sees Lem off at a distance because he starts singing a spiritual referring to the lost lambs, “The young lambs must find the way...” and eventually the slaves see what Moses had seen, Lem being dragged behind a horse.
Saran, Lem's mother, grandma Dolly, Moses and the other slaves back in their quarters, rely on their faith and call on God to keep Lem safe.Miss Julia, Master Lewis' daughter comes to get Lizzy with the excuse that the kitchen is dirty, in order to manipulate Lizzy into telling her what she knows about Lem and Joshua. She acts so high and mighty when she says to Lizzy that it's thanks to her that Lem is still alive, “They should hang him from a fruit tree...and they would have, too, if it hadn't been for me...I told them not to hang him because I knew you were sweet on him.”(p.23)
The Glory Field
1864
p. 24-34
Miss Julia and Lizzy drink tea and Miss Julia sweet talks Lizzy even telling her that one day she is going to buy Lizzy from her father and set her free so that they can walk hand and hand in pretty dresses in Johnson City.
Lizzy is told by Master Lewis to return to the quarters, and she listens for a minute behind the door to see if she can hear anything about Joshua and Lem. When she arrives to the quarters everyone asks her questions about what she heard. She tells them that Lem is tied to a tree out in the woods and tomorrow they are going to talk to the slave trader Mister Oakes and see if he can sell him to Foster.
Moses doesn't trust Miss Julia and he has no qualms in telling Lizzy that Miss Julia is just sweet talking her, and Grandma Dolly says, “And don't think you overheard nothing they don't want you to know. Anything you know is what they want you to know so they can use you.”(p.30)
Everybody in the slave quarters is wondering if Joshua is going to come back for Lem. Everybody knows that Joshua knows what tree Lem is tied to only they don't know if he is going to come back for him. Moses tells a story of two boys and how they couldn't take the abuse from the master anymore and they end up being hung for fighting with a white man. He tells this story to remind them that Lem and Joshua are not safe.
We find out how Lizzy came to live with Moses Lewis and his family. Lizzy's mother died because of all the hard work in the rice plantations, therefore, Lizzy came to live with Moses and his family. Lizzy lying in bed remembers a coachman from Savannah, Georgia and how fine he looked in his fine clothes and how he talked about how the white people treat the blacks in Savannah, and how he doesn't understand why the blacks aren't just happy with their situation and should accept it instead of fighting it. He says, “And be like them folks that call themselves free?...they ain't doing no kind of good...they were better off being slaves. Least they had something to eat and knew how to behave themselves.”(p.33) Moses did not agree with the coachman from Savannah, and he shows his repulsion by spitting on the ground and saying “...a poor excuse for a man...”(p.33)
Lizzy keeps pondering about Lem and turning her thoughts over and over again about him, and asks herself if Lem had a freedom dream and that's why he left. Lizzy wants to go and say bye to Lem and “say something good to him so he wouldn't feel so all alone,”(p.34)
The Glory Field
1864
p. 35-44
Lizzy was lying down in the cabin when she decides to go out to see Lem and bring him water. She is surprised by her Grandma Dolly on the porch. Lizzy listens to her Grandma's advice that Grandma Dolly's father told her. “He used to say they keep us in between the whip and the North Star. One hand holds out freedom and the other holds out a whip. Long as we sitting there turning our heads which way and that...If they can't turn your head, they can't turn you at all”(p.37). The whites offer the blacks the North Star in one hand, but have the whip in the other. The North Star representing freedom and the whip representing the south and slavery.
Lizzy goes off to see Lem and brings a clay jug of water with her to give some water to Lem. She is hesitant about going and at times stops on the way wondering if she should have brought Lem something to eat, if he is going to ask her to cut him loose, how will she find Lem, and if they find her there with him if she would be whipped? She remembers seeing Bill being whipped just because Old Master Lewis thought that Bill was being disrespectful to young Master Lewis. All that Bill had done really was to drop a bolt of fabric by mistake in the mud. A small thing made into a bigger problem for no reason really.
Lizzy finds Lem tied to a tree and his face is swollen and there was blood on his cheek. She decides to clean Lem and offer him some water. While Lem was drinking water all of a sudden Lizzy was whipped by Mister Joe Haynes! He whipped her three times! Once across her back, once on her ankles, and once across her hip even tearing her thin dress. Mister Joe Haynes accuses Lizzy of trying to free Lem. Mister Joe Haynes justifies himself with this excuse to whip Lizzy.
While Mister Joe Haynes was occupied by Lem and Lizzy, and he whipped Lizzy one more time, he did not see Joshua come through the bushes. “Joshua's body crashed into the overseer's bent frame and sent him backwards.”(p.44) Lem urges Lizzy to grab the rifle that “...still lay across the bush.”(p.44)
The Glory Field
1864
p. 45-51
Joshua gets Mister Joe Haynes pinned to the ground, and Mister Joe Haynes begs for his life. “...But don't kill me. I got a wife and family.”(p.46) Lizzy begs Joshua not to shoot Mister Joe Haynes too. Joshua says that Lizzy has to run away with them otherwise Master Lewis will whip, and probably kill her. Lizzy can't believe that she has to go and won't be able to see Grandma Dolly or the rest of the family again. Joshua decides that she can run back to the quarters to say good-bye, but that she has to hurry. “If you get back in a short while, I won't kill him...If you don't, I'm going to have to break his neck...”(47)
Lizzy runs back to the quarters and tells everyone what happened. Lizzy wished that this would had never happened. Saran takes Lizzy's face in her hands and says, “When folks take your freedom, and the only way for you to get it is to risk dying for it, then dying comes when it wants to. You go on, you'll be all right. You young. You got plenty to live for...”(50) Saran tells Lizzy that Miss Julia came to get Lizzy to take her back to the big house, but Saran told Miss Julia that Lizzy was in the field because she was sick. Saran urges Lizzy to change her dress because Miss Julia would be back and if Miss Julia saw her dress she would know that something was wrong. Every one agrees that Lizzy has to get back to Joshua and Lem to run away.
Miss Julia comes to the door and wants Lizzy to come to the big house, but Lizzy pretends that she is sick and Miss Julia says, "Well you do look a sight"(p.51).
The Glory Field
1864
p. 52-58
Miss Julia wants to bring Lizzy to the big house, but Lizzy convinces Miss Julia that she will come in the morning. Everybody at Lizzy's house are frantic because they know that Lizzy has to get going to meet Lem and Joshua. Lizzy says her goodbyes to everyone and Saran says, “If you get caught, act like you ain't right in the head”(p. ). Saran tells Lizzy not to turn back.
Lizzy meets up with Joshua and Lem away from the tree. As they head out Lizzy keeps asking," where are we going?"(p54) Of course Joshua doesn't really know where they are going and so is his frustration Joshua just says , “Just going.”((p.54) Lizzy wonders if Lem and Joshua killed Mister Joe Haynes and that's why they were not talking much. Joshua wants to take them to an abandoned smoke house, but when they get close they realize that they are not going to make it to the house so Lem and Lizzy hide up in some trees. Lizzy was feeling exhilarated at the thought of herself being free, and she contemplates these thoughts as she watches some white men out with children playing in the fields.
Joshua leaves them and Lizzy and Lem sleep in the trees. Lizzy realizes that something profound has happened to her...”It was what had happened to her. She was free. It was a scary free, and it was a hungry free and a tired free, but it was free.”(p.58)
The Glory Field
1864
p.59-70
Lizzy woke up and all of a sudden remembered where she was and she felt scared. She couldn't see Lem, and she heard sounds in the distance that sounded like booms. She climbs down the tree and Lem calls out to her. They decide that the sounds must be coming from the fighting of the civil war, and that they have to keep moving because Mister Joe Haynes and the dogs are probably after them.
They hear the dogs drawing closer and closer! They see some lights and head to the lights running, and walking when they get too tired. They are afraid because the riders on horses point in their direction, and Lizzy and Lem are not sure if they are pointing at them, but then they realize that they are pointing at the fires. The riders call off the dogs and the dogs circle one more time and they ride away. Lem and Lizzy are relieved and head towards the fires when someone comes up behind them and they can't believe their eyes! The soldier is black! “You're black!” she said. Glad you noticed it,” the soldier grinned. I had just about forgot it.”(p65)
They find out about the Yankee army and how there are many black soldiers and how the army is going to start a black regiment. And they find that Joshua is at the camp too!! The soldiers feed Lem and Lizzy and put them to work.
Lizzy has an important decision to make: follow some people who are trying to escape North, or follow the regiment and help out...Lizzy “...ran as fast as she could, her feet slapping against the hard road. When she got around the bend, the men were still in sight, tall and proud. She followed them, never looking back.”(p.70)

Lizzy's Journal Entry

I woke up to the horrifying sound of gunshots and cannon fires. It was the year Of the Civil War, 1864. The screaming penetrated my ears. I could just imagine how brave and courageous you would have to be to fight in the war. I was still in bed, hoping it was all just a nightmare, but it wasn’t, it was real. I had to wake up and go work on the fields with Lizzy. We were on the Live Oaks Plantation. Lizzy lost her mother and the pain and loneliness of what she was going through, it made me want to cry. I couldn’t imagine being a slave and be without my mom to take care of me. The Lewis family took her in as a slave. We saw Miss Julia coming; She came up to Lizzy and told her to come with her. Miss Julia wanted someone to talk to. How could she do that! How could Miss Julia go up to Lizzy and force her to give Miss Julia company! I feel Miss Julia acts as if Lizzy is her friend, but I think Miss Julia is just using her. But Lizzy was a slave, and Miss Julia wasn’t, so Lizzy had to go. I decided to come with them. As we walked we saw Mister Joe Haynes whipping a slave, I could here the WHAP from a few meters away, followed by a breaking scream. We decided to keep on moving before he saw us. When we got home we saw a horse was dragging Lem to somewhere. I could just feel the pain in my heart. The whole family was hoping that he would be ok. Lizzy and I decided to go and give Lem water, even though she wasn’t allowed. How thoughtful! When we got to the Oak Tree, we saw Lem, tied there. She started to run to him, asking if he was ok. He said he was fine, yet we could see blood running down his face. The Rope was cutting through his skin. Then out of nowhere WHAP, I could see Lizzy fall, then WHAP, she yelled. I looked back, and saw Mister Joe Haynes with a whip!
I could see the cuts on the back of her legs. I wanted to run, but I couldn’t just leave her. Then Joshua jumped out of the bush and jumped on Haynes! I think he must have been worried for Lem so he had to come back at his own risk. They were rolling around fighting, so I decided to take a few steps back. Joshua saw a gun and pressured Lizzy to pick it up and shoot Haynes! But she couldn’t, she just couldn’t! I didn’t want to say anything. Joshua told Lizzy and me to run home and tell our parents that we had to run away, or we could be killed! It’s our only chance! Grandma Dolly, Saran and Moses all helped us get ready to get going, she gave Lizzy a new set of clothes and me some water. We hugged them and headed off. As we were running back to Joshua I looked back and saw our parents praying, hoping that we would survive. We got a move on finding a place to rest for the night up in a tree. I dreamed how Joshua jumped on Haynes like there was no stopping him, how he fought for us, for our lives because he cared about Lizzy, Lem and I. I also was dreaming about Lem, who stayed strong even though he was in major pain. I woke up a few hours later and heard hounds, I didn’t know what to do, and I started to panic. I woke up Lizzy and told her what was happening. We run for our lives. The hounds were still behind us. I saw riders. One of them was Haynes! He had many slaves so why would he care about just three run away ones? Why couldn’t he just leave us alone? We looked ahead and saw some lights we didn’t know what they were. Once we got there we saw the riders going away. As if they had given up. The hounds were still running. We ended up in a Yankee camp. They took us in like we were one of their own. They fed us good food, and gave us drinks. But the next day we had to make a decision. To stay and hope Haynes and his bloodthirsty hounds wouldn’t find us, or to go to war with the Yankees. If I were Lizzy, I would go with the Yankees. I never wanted to see Mister Joe Hayane’s face ever again. I was still thinking of our family, they must have been worried sick! I knew what Lizzy was thinking about. She was thinking about Miss Julia. She offered Lizzy to go to Johnson City with her. Lizzy wanted to go.

The Glory Field-1900

The Glory Field
April 1900
p. 78-89
The Lewis family gathers at the African burial ground on their plot of land at the Live Oaks Plantation. Moses says, “Lord, bless this precious earth.” After blessing the cemetery they gather for a family picnic.
The whole family gathers at the picnic together. Goldie and Elijah like each other and they tease each other at the picnic. “I might have to marry you quicker than I planned,” said Elijah.(p80) We find out that Lem died in the war and the Lewis family was not allowed to bury him in the grave yard, so they buried him in the Glory Field instead. A storm was coming their way and it looked to be a big one.
Sister Clinton, who does laundry for the white folks, and who is a busy body, came by and was talking to Grandma Saran about a little boy who Grandma Saran takes care of and whose name is David. Sister Clinton said that she saw little David with Foster and they were supposed to go fishing. Grandma Saran plays a bit dumb with Sister Clinton, but when Sister Clinton leaves, Grandma Saran tells Elijah she knew who Sister Clinton was talking about and says that Foster is “...always half juiced up.”(p.83). Foster is always hanging around little David Turner's father because Turner has a lot of money and Foster can “...borrow some drink money once in a while (p84).
The Lewis family is enjoying the picnic when old man Turner shows up looking for little David. Old man Turner and Grandma Saran make small talk and old man Turner asks if Grandma Saran hasn't seen Foster. Old man Turner doesn't ask about David, and Grandma Saran didn't want to ask about him even though she suspected that it was David that old man Foster was looking for. Finally Grandma Saran “...called out to him. 'Mr. Hamlin!...Where's David?' The balding white man turned slowly, lifted his hands upward, and exhaled deeply. 'Aunt Saran, I don't know where they are' (p.89).
The Glory Field
1900
p.90-107
Old man Turner leaves the Lewis place on his covered surrey, and Grandpa Moses says, “Serves him right.”(p.90) The family talks to Lizzy about being in the north and how the white folks treated the blacks up north. “Most of them were really nice” (p.91). Grandma Saran asks, “What are we going to do about little David?” (p.92) Grandpa Moses puts in his two cents worth and says that Foster is out on that little island near the key. And Grandpa Moses says he goes out there because he is a lazy man and he can follow the tide out and follow the tide in.
Elijah asks Grandma Saran if she wants him to go out to the island to find little David. And Grandma Saran says, “It don't hurt to make believe you were awake when you went to church this morning” (p.93). Elijah's parents were going to head back to Savannah, and by the time Elijah would be back they would be gone.
It took about one hour for Elijah and Abby to get into town. They were going to see if they could help find little David. The storm was brewing and there was “...brief smatterings of rain” (94). Elijah has an idea and he asks Abby if he wants to go along with the idea. Abby says he has an idea too, but Elijah says that if it has anything to do with ragtime music, then Abby should forget about it.
Elijah tells Abby his idea of telling Mr. Turner that he will find little David if he lends the money for the taxes to Grandpa Moses and Grandma Saran. Abby thinks Elijah is “...too hot-blooded. You say something like that to Mr. Turner and he's liable to get mad and start some trouble”(p.96) But Elijah wants to help because he “...saw something in Grandma Saran's eyes...I looked at Grandpa Moses” (p.97). Elijah is not sure if he can stand up to old man Turner, but he is going to try.
They arrives at the beach and a group of men were there. Sheriff Glover and the men were talking to old man Turner, and when Hamlin Turner saw them he invited Elijah and Abby over. Old man Turner and all the men discuss the risks of going out in the storm to look for little David and Foster., and he eventually offers 25 dollars to the man who can rescue little David. One by one the men drop out and when only Sheriff Glover, Mr. Turner and two white men, Abby and Elijah were left, Elijah finally offers himself and Abby to rescue little David, but for thirty-five dollars!!
Sheriff Glover tries to intimidate Elijah and Abby with his gun, but Elijah does not back down. Frank Petty insults Elijah with the N word and Elijah starts to walk away, but stops when he sees “the concern in the white man's eyes” (p.102) Mr. Turner finally offers twenty dollars, but eventually offers him the thirty-five dollars.
Even though Sheriff Glover doesn't know where Foster and little David are, he goes out on the boat with Elijah and Abby too. He wants a part of the rescue money! Elijah and Abby go to get the Pele Queen and bring it around and Sheriff Glover met the boat. The three are off in the Pele Queen to find little David.
The Glory Field
1900
p. 108-113
Elijah, Abby and Sheriff Glover go out into the storm on the boat, and Sheriff Glover takes hold of the tiller while Elijah and Abby row because it was no use to use the little sail in a storm like that. The two boys struggle as they try to make their way to Key Island. The water is extremely rough and they need to navigate around one edge of Gray Rock. Sheriff Glover realizes that what they are doing is very dangerous and he threatens the boys with a gun to turn around. “Sheriff Glover unsnapped the leather flap on his holster, pulled the long-barrel revolver from its nesting place, and pointed it at Abby. “I said turn back, boy!” (p.111) The boys stare Sheriff Glover down and Sheriff Glover puts his gun away. They reach Key Island and Abby stays with the boat and Sheriff Glover and Elijah start searching the Island for little David and Foster.
The Glory Field
1900
p. 114-125
When Elijah and Sheriff Glover start searching the island, Elijah goes one way and Sheriff Glover goes the other way. The wind is blowing so hard that it is hard for Elijah to hear anything other than the wind. Elijah calls out to David many times and he almost gives up hope of finding him when he hears a faint cry for help, “Help!” The cry was weak, but it was clear. Elijah looked to his left and saw the boy's thin arm swinging over his head”(p.116).
Elijah calls Sheriff Glover over and they realize that Foster is holding onto David's leg for dear life. Foster was hurt and Sheriff Glover had to point a gun to Foster's head for him to let him go of little David. Elijah gets ready to take little David to the boat, and Sheriff Glover threatens Elijah with death if he leaves with him. Sheriff Glover sets Foster's broken leg and finally carries him back to the boat.
The storm was howling and they had a rough time rowing back to the mainland. They finally make it and the Lewis family is waiting along with Old man Turner. Old man Turner and Sheriff Glover walk away with David and leaves Elijah wondering if he is going to see any of the money. : “...Elijah saw Sheriff Glover walking with Hamlin Turner. He was carrying David"(p,122).
In the local paper, The Gazette, the credit for the rescue was given to Sheriff Glover and there was no mention of it to Elijah and Abby. “We don't never get no credit.” Grandpa Moses was carving on a piece of driftwood”(p.123).


Elijah's Journal Entry

The Klan was terrorizing black people. “And then there was the Klan. White men who rode at night, terrorizing blacks, pulling them out of their homes, and beating them for being disrespectful to a white man for not working hard enough in a field they were sharecropping”.


Elijah, Lizzy and Richard’s son lived on their own land in South Carolina. A whole 8 acres! Elijah’s father, Richard and his mother Lizzy live in Georgia because Richard had a job in pulp mill. I don’t think I would have liked to move away if it were for a job. I would like to stay close to home if I had a choice. Elijah had a friend called Abby. They liked fished together instead of working on the farm. They traded firewood for a boat that grandpa Moses helped them fix up. It was called the Pele Queen. Grandpa Moses and Grandma Saran were going through a hard time because they didn’t have enough money to pay the taxes. The bank didn’t give them money because only white people were allowed that privilege. It’s unfair that just because people had a different color of skin, they had different rules applied to them.
Elijah wanted to help his grandparents pay off their taxes but there was no way to do that. Mr. Turner told Elijah that Little David, his son, got lost. I am wondering why he would tell Elijah this? Elijah had a plan to help Mr. Turner for the reward money. I know I would help even if there was no reward. It would be great if all people felt the same way! Foster, David’s baby-sitter would go out with David, Old Man Turners boy, who is blind to Key Island. “We going to go look for him out on the key”(P.105). Fosters always got drunk which was pretty dangerous and wrong. Even if I were blind I wouldn’t want to stay with him. I would be scared just being around him! Elijah believed that they were on the Key Island because that’s where they would always go. There was a storm out, and it was risky to go to the Island, but Elijah was brave and courageous and went with Abby anyway. Sheriff Glover, a white man, wanted to go with them so he could get a cut of the money. He didn’t even care about Elijah’s Grandparents. Even though Elijah didn’t want Sheriff Glover to come, he could do nothing to change that. Elijah was the one who saved David, and yet Sheriff Glover claimed the fame. The Sheriff got half the money, but Elijah got the full $35. Elijah got into a fight with a white man, which was very unfortunate. I think Elijah was a little reckless. Even though Elijah had money to help his grandparents pay off their taxes, he had to run away because the white man he fought with was coming to give him a whipping. Now Elijah had to run away and leave his grandparents? This is really sad, especially after everything he did for them. I can’t even imagine what that would feel like because I am so close to my family. “What made him feel worse than anything was the seventeen dollars he had in his pocket”(P.136). Elijah got a kiss from Goldie (the girl he liked) and had to head off to Chicago to live with Joshua. His grandparents gave him half of the money to make his life easier. They cared about Elijah so much. I believe that day Elijah became a man because he learned that all actions have consequences and we all are responsible for our choices in life.