Author: Julius Lester
Published: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 192
Rating: 5/5
"On March 2 and 3, 1859, the largest auction of slaves in American history took place in Savannah, Georgia. More than 400 slaves were sold. On the first day of the auction, the skies darkened and torrential rain began falling. The rain continued throughout the two days, stopping only when the auction had ended. The simultaneity of the rain storm with the auction led to these two days being called: "the weeping time"."
Day of Tears is my first time ever reading a historical recreation. This story is about the biggest slave auction in American history and Julius Lester took a couple of characters from the real historical account. These characters are Pierce Butler, his daughter Sarah and Frances, the auctioneer and Fanny Kemble. This book, which has been written completely in dialogue, tells how they experienced this slave auction.
Julius Lester brings us great characters, who'm you really feel sorry for sometimes. The story is put together great and Julius Lester thought of every last detail writing this book. The story is as heartbreaking and as heartwarming.
Julius Lester knows exactly how to describe things. The choice in words he makes is absolutely beautiful and takes the story to a high level. The fact that you can really tell by reading the book, why the name 'Day of Tears' has been given to to this book is amazing as well.
I don't have anything negative to say about this book. I find that we in school, don't learn enough about slavery, slave auctions and it's history. I think we should learn more about this subject and I think that once we might will, this book should be used in classes.
