Transcript - CRC Book Chat on January 18th, 2009 - 2:00 P.M. in Gold Star Chat Room:
BGE: Welcome to book chat, book lovers!
AnG: Hi Brenda
BGE: Hi, Graham! Hi, Annette! Which?
AnG: Graham, although A is watching
BGE: How cool is that? Welcome to our chat about the book of the month! How are you?
AnG: We are fine and hope that you are too. Have not read the book, but looks interesting, so have booked it from the library
BGE: All is well here, and the winter weather has broken, so we are happy-happy!
This book is so very timely, with Barack Obama being sworn in as President on Tuesday...
BGE: Hi, Nancy! Welcome!
Nancy L: Hi, Everyone!
BGE: I'll change color for my font...how's this?
AnG: very pretty
Nancy L: 'Love your color. I'll also change mine.
BGE: It helps if each has a different colour, then I know who's talking!
BGE: Yikes, typos already...
Nancy L: How's this one?
BGE: Perfect.
AnG: Goodness I'll have to work out how to change colour!
BGE: No problem, it's simple...see the little colour window at the left side of where you are typing your responses? Click on it and choose your colour!
AnG: Annette just came to that conclusion too
BGE: See, it really is easy. BUT it took me a few tries before I figured it all out!
Nancy L: Have either of you read anything else by Lawrence Hill?
BGE: Nancy, no I haven't, but I want to read Sweet Berry next...
Graham and Annette, did you follow any of the history of the book that I posted on the new book forum?
AnG: Yes have followed a lot of the history and that got me interested
BGE: Ok, good! I was hoping my steady daily posting of a few tidbits on each post would be interesting for people who hadn't read the book.
suncoast: Greetings
BGE: Hi, Ginger! We're just talking about Larry Hill's books...
suncoast: What are the other ones?
BGE:Here's a list of his books...
http://www.lawrencehill.com/writing.html Graham and Annette are joining us from New Zealand, am I right?
AnG: that's correct, 10am Monday here
suncoast: G'Day
AnG: Hi Ginger
suncoast: Are you all experiencing a heat wave?
BGE: Maybe in NZ, not here!
suncoast: That's what I meant, silly.
AnG: Was the past few days, but cooler today which is good.
BGE: 10 degrees above Celsius...positively tropical, after the -30 below stuff
suncoast: OMG!!!
AnG: Pushing too many keys at once!
Nancy L: It's beautiful and warm here. I get more reading done when it's cold and dreary!
BGE: So, shall we begin? Everyone knows everyone else? Let's begin...shall we start at the bottom of the board...Ginger! It's all yours, and we'll chime in when we can
suncoast: Well, I really liked the book. In some ways it was VERY hard to read.
I know that I would not have been able to endure what she did. I would have died on the march
Nancy L: I agree. Hard to read because, emotionally, I was really drawn into Aminata's experiences,
suncoast: I felt she had this uncanny ability to remove herself from just how bad it was. It was more than strength in a weird way. She was very pragmatic, she did what was required of her and did it very well, but she never allowed herself to forget who she was and where she came from.
BGE: Talk about being rooted in one's self!
suncoast: I also was appalled at the white folk
BGE: Me, too! Very.
Nancy L: Man's inhumanity - we still see it at every turn of the road
suncoast: Do you really think they were all raped? And it was interesting that it was a Jewish man who saw her potential
BGE: I think the author wrote only skimming the surface of how she was treated by white people...she had an innate ability to detach...maybe it came from the soul-wrenching fear that she must have lived with, on a moment-by-moment basis.
suncoast: I found it unbelievable that the British did not honor their promises, but also much more terrible were the slavers of her own nation
BGE: So interesting about the English army....they were just an extension of the slave owners, weren't they?
Nancy L: It appears that the slaves were often deceived
suncoast: And I loved her perspective of the American Revolution! How absurd it must have been for her.
BGE: I would like to know who the very first person was who thought it would be such a good idea to steal a few families, treat them terribly and sell them to someone else who would also treat them terribly?
suncoast: They were worse. They promised land and freedom, equality and hope. The slavers never promised anything but pain and misery
BGE: What kind of person does it take to do that? And, to continue to do that?
Nancy L: Doesn't slavery go all the way back to biblical time?
BGE: It does!
suncoast: We have slavery here in Naples...further than that, we have a special force that checks on our migrant workers
BGE: Ginger, you do?
suncoast: And we have had a few wealthy people arrested for slavery
BGE: I know we have human trafficking in Canada, on the west coast of B.C. Mostly young Asian girls sold for very bad things by their own families and by family friends.
suncoast: They promise these people jobs, wages, homes and when they get here they are locked up in the fields and kept prisoner
BGE: So, really, not much has changed, then.
suncoast: They're illegal, they don't speak English and in some weird way they think they're better off her than at home
BGE: It's mind-boggling to me.
BGE: Thanks, Ginger! Let's hear from Nancy.
Nancy, what are your thoughts about this book? Then we can have a free for all chat about the book!
suncoast: I was very sorry she never made it back to her village
BGE: Yeah, me, also
suncoast: But I doubt it was still there
Nancy L: Lawrence Hill is a fabulous writer, and he engaged me from page one. I felt that I was walking alongside Aminata throughout the book.
BGE: Didn't you have to remind yourself that it was a novel, not reality?
Nancy L: Absolutely!
suncoast: I had to laugh about that poor parrot. Being a bird parent she would have thought I was as crazy as they come also.
Nancy L: Some have thought the ending was not realistic, but personally, I was totally hoping that the book would end happily for her. The parrot was an interesting touch and one I enjoyed.
BGE: I also thought that the author made this story at least palatable to read, because I feared to read it, knowing what kind of horrors happened to the families who were smashed apart and sold.
suncoast: I thought the ending was too rushed. I realize that the beginning of the book was really the ending but still, I wish we would have had a few more details. I guess she just couldn't fight her way out of the fever.
Nancy L: In spite of Aminata's grueling experiences, I still felt a sense of hope throughout the book. Didn't anyone else feel that?
BGE: Absolutely!
suncoast: I think it was standing guard over her heart
BGE: Absolutely, hopeful that the worst was over for her, and although there was very little joy in her life and much more sorrow and sadness, she had finally lived into a place of rest, because she was sharing her story with the people in England...Queen and King and so on.
suncoast: She lived in the now, and remained faithful to the past and the future
BGE: I loved it that he wrote the story with his daughter in mind. Did anyone read about why he did that? Aminato is his daughter's name!
BGE: Graham, Annette, any thoughts, questions, comments? I'm so happy you stopped by!
Nancy L: He did write that he loved the character of Aminato from page one, perhaps projecting some of his daughter's qualities into her character
suncoast: In this day and age of instant communications, can you imagine how hard it was to get news of loved ones back then. Now we know everything as it happens
Panda: I think I got the time wrong. Sorry
BGE: Hi, Panda!
suncoast: We missed you!
BGE: Welcome!
BGE: AnG, this is Panda. Panda, Ang are visiting us from NZ!
AnG: Hi Panda
Nancy L: Hey, Panda!
Panda: Hi! My husband is a kiwi
BGE: So, now we have NZ, England, Texas, Florida and Alberta in chat!
Panda: I'm really cross with myself - I calculated the time difference wrongly
suncoast: Voila! LOL!!! I still do that all the time. No harm done.
AnG: Interested in all the comments, that is what I come in for, and will comment further Brenda when I've read the book. Also had to come on to say Hi to our favourite Albertan (that doesn't sound right, does it?)
BGE: Awwwwwww, that's nice! Thanks!
Panda: You've probably covered all the ground, but shall I put in some particular UK thoughts?
BGE: Yes, please! And, no, we're really just getting underway, so lots more chat to come!
suncoast: Absolutely. I'm glad you missed my British bashing
Nancy L: I had read and heard of the communication network that existed between slave communities. There are people here in Texas who are descended from slaves and still have stories to tell.
BGE: Is anyone writing their stories, because that would be amazing to read, Nancy...
Nancy L: It's something I should explore. There are several Texas towns that were originally settled by freed slaves and remained totally black for years. I don't know but can inquire
Panda: ok, cutting and pasting - uh, British bashing no no!
I realised that, in the UK, we have a strong but ‘filtered’ relationship with slavery: we don’t have the remains of plantations on our land to remind us but were hugely involved with them on the American mainland and in the West Indies.
It’s a sobering thought that many of our beautiful stately homes and their landscaped park lands that are so much a feature of the English countryside were built from the fortunes made from slavery – from the slave trade directly or from ownership and investment in plantations that relied on slave workers to labour.
The port of Bristol became rich through its role in slavery and there is now a museum there devoted to the subject. I once worked with a man whose family fortune was based on the sugar trade. He was rather a braggart, very keen on talking of ‘breeding’ and ‘the right kind of people.'
During an argument about his appalling snobbery, I’m afraid I once said that he should keep off the dangerous subject of background, since his entire line of privilege had been built on the suffering of those who worked the plantations!
Went down well, as you can imagine
Panda: Sorry, that was a bit of a lump to read
BGE: YAY! Panda, you rock!
suncoast: Oh Crap I cleared the message board by mistake BRB
BGE: No problem, you can start fresh!
Panda: drat:
Hearing about the existence of the free black community in London at that time was interesting - I was quite aware of the long standing communities in Bristol and Cardiff (slaving ports) from that time but it would be interesting to find out more about what happened to those in London or other parts.
I assumed that the black community in London before the large scale immigration from the West Indies in the 50s was quite small, and based on the occasional sailor settling here or related to more recent British Empire connections
BGE: I think it would be paramount to get it down on video or tape, so they are live, telling their stories in their own voices.
I know the Black Loyalist Society in Nova Scotia has a huge vault of stories from the freed slaves and their families...
Nancy L: Brenda, you said that you will read Sweet Berry. Could you let us know what you think of it?
BGE: Sure!
The Black Loyalist Society website is such a rich document, with all of the history and photos written for everyone to read. That's where I found the actual book, with the ancient script in the hand of whoever wrote the real Book of Negroes
Panda: Panda, the typing sunami
BGE: No doubt!
suncoast: Thank you so much.
BGE: At lease it isn't the link that ate the chat room!
suncoast: OMG!!! LOL!!!
Nancy L: We'd never live that down!
BGE: Graham, Annette...I posted a huge long link on chat once, and it literally devoured the chat room! Well, not devoured, but really screwed it up! That's how I learned about tinyurls!
AnG: I got the impression that you'd had a problem in the past, I'm sure others have managed to crash the system too
Nancy L: Sorry, everyone, but I have to leave. It has been great being here. Thank you, Brenda, our guru!
suncoast: 'Bye, Nancy.
Panda: Got another thought, if you can stand it
BGE: I think they have, Graham, but it was pretty embarrassing....!!!
Yep, Panda, I'm very interested...
Panda: I collected this book from the library just before my Italian class and sat in my usual seat next to a classmate who I have been with for over four years. She is a black Londoner, born here - great personality , larger than life, with an obsession about Italy. She struggles on with her Italian studies despite dyslexia and a schedule of work and family that makes me exhausted to think about.
We’ve talked before about her background – her parents came here in the 50s, as did so many others, from the West Indies. I asked her once if she had any knowledge or curiosity about where her African roots may have been from (she’s very dark, with wonderful cheekbones) and she said that it was something that had never particularly interested her or her parents, but that one of her daughters had talked about it. She took a quick look at the book but showed no particular interest– so much more keen on the Italian DVD I also pulled out of my bag!
Made me wonder what my perspective may have been if the positions had been reversed. Is this something you can talk freely about with any black friends or acquaintances? Delicate area .
suncoast: I think the thing that amazes me is that we now have a man as our President who would have been a highly valued house servant 150 years ago
BGE: Panda, The issue is so different in different countries, from my observations...
suncoast: We have some a long way, Baby
BGE: The title of this book, The Book of Negroes, is the actual title the document was given in the beginning.
BGE: BUT, the publishers wouldn't allow Larry Hill to use that title in the US or Australia, because it would be too 'sensitive'...I was so angry when I read that. It's the NAME of the document, for goodness' sake!!!
Panda: It's published under the 'sensitive' title here
Panda: I mean it is 'someone knows my name
BGE: ohhhhh......sorry, I thought you meant the real name!
AnG: I think the title used here is more likely to get readers interested
BGE: Graham, you think calling it by the original title would be something that might keep people from reading it? I think The Book of Negroes is only used in Canada.
AnG: Not necessarily, but I probably wouldn't have picked it up with interest if it had, although the new name is pretty nondescript
suncoast: I don't see anything offensive about that title
Panda: I had to order it from a special collection of black history, over in East London, a part of town with a large black population. Hmm...
BGE: ok, I get it!
AnG: The local library has two copies both in use, so I had to book it, so it is obviously getting known
BGE: For me, if the author made the name up, that might be one thing. But, when it's the actual name of the original document, then what's the big deal? I am SO not happy about that.
Panda: The new title sounds like any of those tragic childhood memoirs that are popular
BGE: Panda, too right...I think we'd be surprised how much things haven't changed, if we really knew people's hearts.
suncoast: I remember when I sent Sonnet to school in 1993 with a book on great men and women in African American history and she came home in tears because the teacher told her that THAT book was not allowed in class.
Of course I made a big stink and guess what, I sat in her classroom as the teacher read about the first black doctor, cowboy, ruler of the world etc,.
Panda: well done!
BGE: Good for you, kid!
suncoast: The nerve!!
BGE: So, for me, the book was a fantastic read. I felt like I was walking along with Aminato Diallo....I could see what she was looking at and feel what she was feeling. I really wanted to pick her up, wrap her in my arms and take her to a safe place.
suncoast: She wouldn't have let you. She wouldn't have trusted you.
BGE: I was very fearful of the author getting very graphic with the horrendous treatment that the captured people were given, and I'm forever grateful that he didn't do that.
Panda: it was graphic enough for me
BGE: I learned about the indigo plantations...had no idea.
suncoast: OMG!! The back breaking work they did
BGE: Yes, it was, Panda, but not to the point where I had to skim and turn pages FAST to avoid the horrors.
BGE: I loved his style of writing, his use of the dialect and his way of expressing a woman's story. A woman's point of view.
Panda: Do they still produce dye from indigo, or is it all chemical? I know that in India children are still involved in producing and using dye in the most inhumane conditions
BGE: I also was really drawn into the idea of baby-catching. He said he met a midwife in Africa and got the idea from her, because that's what she called it when she delivered a baby.
suncoast: Very valuable skill
Panda: Great word for it
suncoast: Okay kids, I gotta go, what's our next book?
AnG: Time I went also, weather has got hot and sunny again and we need our morning walk to wake Up!
BGE: February 15th - Monster of Florence - Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
suncoast: Oh that book is really scary for a number of reasons.
BGE: Thanks for stopping by, Graham and Annette!!! Nice to see you here...
suncoast: Yes, come back again please!
Panda: I think I read that
BGE: Let me know if you like the book when you've finished it!
Panda: Where in NZ are you ?
AnG: In wellington, but have lived in a number of places. Where is your husband from?
Panda: Auckland
suncoast: Toodles
BGE: Bye, Ginger! Thanks for coming!
AnG: Have lived there and Annette was born there too. Lovely to talk to everyone and thanks for the info on the book
Panda: He's going over to visit his Mother in a couple of weeks - nice change of weather for him!
Panda: about 5C - was -6 last week, Yes, wet - I got caught yesterday and looked like an otter
BGE: Cute!
BGE: Whooops, we lost them!
Panda: Well, I am kicking myself about getting the time wrong
BGE: No problem, we were only just beginning, and chatted for about 10 minutes about generalities
BGE: AnG...welcome back!!!
AnG: I was just saying goodbye and the whole thing died. Bye anyway, thanks Brenda, I will call again, enjoyed the info
BGE: I'm going to excuse myself and let you chat, I've company coming at 3:15, so better get going. Thanks so much for being here!!! Nice to see you again!
Panda: Bye, I'm off as well
BGE: ok, me too! Ciao for now! 'bye...
A list of Lawrence Hill's other books: Someone Knows My Name / The Book of Negroes: Lawrence Hill's most recent novel is published as Someone Knows My Name in the USA, Australia and New Zealand and appears in Canada as The Book of Negroes. The book won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Overall Best Book and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize; was a finalist for the Hurston/Wright LEGACY Award; was longlisted for the ScotiaBank Giller Prize; and named one of the top 100 books of 2007 by The Globe and Mail and by Amazon.com.
Any Known Blood: From Virginia in the time of slavery to the modern suburbs that were once a final stop on the Underground Railroad, Any Known Blood follows the search of Langston Cane V — divorced, 38 and recently fired — to understand himself by giving voice to those who came before him in five generations of an African-Canadian-American family.
Some Great Thing: Disillusioned and apathetic after four years of college, fledgling reporter Mahatma Grafton returns to his hometown to begin work at a local newspaper. When a peaceful demonstration escalates into a full-scale riot and police cover-up, Mahatma discovers the principles that have always eluded him.
The Deserter's Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq: In clear, compelling prose crafted with the help of writer Lawrence Hill, The Deserter's Tale tells the story of a young man who went to war in Iraq believing in his government, and who was transformed into someone who ethically, morally, and physically could no longer serve his country.
Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada: Lawrence Hill begins this book with personal stories about how his parents met and married, what it was like growing up in an otherwise entirely white Toronto suburb, and how his own children are beginning to see themselves in a country where issues of racial identity are ignored. But Hill also looks beyond the personal, sharing his coast-to-coast interviews with Canadians of black and white parentage, and examines subjects such as romance between blacks and whites, racial terminology and Ku Klux Klan activity in Canada.
Film
Seeking Salvation: A History of the Black Church in Canada: This award-winning 90-minute film documentary premiered at Toronto's Hot Docs Film Festival and first ran on Vision Television in 2004.
Articles and Essays
"The Freedom Seeker: The Life and Times of Daniel G. Hill:" In recognition of the 45th anniversary of the Ontario Human Rights Code, Lawrence Hill conceived, researched and wrote an online exhibit on his father's work in human rights for The Archives of Ontario, called, "The Freedom Seeker: The Life and Times of Daniel G. Hill."
Slow Travel Talk 
