The Struggle

Original Oil on Canvas ~36"x56" price on request

"The black morning at length came, it came too soon for my poor mother and us. She called Miss Betsy to take leave of us. "Say goodbye for you will see them no more". My mother called the rest of the slaves to bid us goodbye. One of them, a woman named Moll, came with her infant in her arms."Aye!" said my mother, seeing her turn away and look at her child with the tears in her eyes. "Your turn will come next."
Our mother, weeping as she went, called me away with my brothers & sisters. We took the road that led to Hamble Town, where she placed us in a row against the blacksmith shop. My mother's heart throbbed with grief but who cared about her. No one thought of the pain that wrung the hearts of the Negro woman and here children.
Then my brothers and sisters and I were sold to different owners, so that we had not the sad satisfaction of being partners in bondage. When the sale was over, my mother hugged and kissed us, begging us to keep up a good heart. It was sad parting, one went one way , one another, and our poor mama went home with nothing. "

excerpt from an 1800's letter by Mary Prince