I Am Not Your Slave

 Laila Cooper Cameron

Dr. Harris

African American Lit 2016

17 November 2022

I Am Not Your Slave

My final development for this project is to create a visual aspect of enslaved African Americans suffering from generation to generation. I will also show through my project the emotional damage of not having a true identity mentally affected the enslaved. I will use what I read so far throughout the semester to gather pictures and examples of my ideas. I would like to recreate a vision showing how babies are raised in slavery and their life stages as they grow in slavery. I will also include quotes from the text “Homegoing” to show that some African Americans still tried to remain strong even though they were completely broken inside. 

Living was one of the many hard task slaves endured. Just being able to wake up the next day was a blessing for many. Most slaves had to remain strong all while having a stable mindset. The novel Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi provides many examples of the emotional damage caused by slavery. On page 36, Maame expresses, “Weakness is treating someone as though they belong to you. Strength is knowing that everyone belongs to themselves.” I feel as though this quote is useful to explain my visual representation because it can contribute to the aspect that slaves did not have a choice to have their own identity, which caused them to feel repressed. I included a picture in my visual showing a man in chains with the question, “Am I not a man and a brother?” This visual representation proves my point that slaves are not seen as human beings. The slaves had no choice or hope of an actual life. The chain on their hands also represents him being weighed down and not being able to reach success.

I also drew a sun in the corner of the picture to show that even though the sun is shining, there is no actual light in their lives. The blood on his hands is a symbol of strength and anger. Another quote that goes along with this picture is from Kojo’s chapter in Homegoing. On page 111, it notes, “His free papers named him Kojo Freeman. Free ma. Half the ex-slaves in Baltimore had the name. Tell a lie long enough and it will turn to truth.” Kojo was given a name that he was not even born with, which shows that even though he was free, he still wouldn't bear a true identity.








Works Cited


Gyasi, Y. (2022). Homegoing. Penguin Books. 

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