55 pages • 1 hour read
Julius LesterTo Be a Slave
Nonfiction | Biography | Middle Grade | Published in 1968A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapter 6-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 6 Summary: “Emancipation”
Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, slaves began fleeing the upper Southern states to join the Northern army. President Abraham Lincoln, concerned with maintaining national unity, ordered Union Army officers to return escaped slaves; despite this order, slaves continued to join in large numbers and fought fiercely. In the South, most slaves remained on plantations, but some were brought to battle by their masters.
In 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation only applied to areas under Union control; however, many slaves in the South claimed their freedom anyway. Enslaved people reacted to the news of freedom with joy and celebration. Some could not believe it was really true.
When the South surrendered to the North, the Civil War ended. Appropriately, there were Black Americans there to witness the historic event. Some Southern slave owners refused to accept the outcome and did not even tell their slaves about their freedom. In time, however, the truth was known. Finally, slavery had come to an end, and enslaved people expressed their joy in one particular phrase: “Free at last, / Thank God A-mighty, / I’m free at last” (100).
Chapter 7 Summary: “After Emancipation”
The thrill of freedom was short lived. Very quickly, the practical problem for former slaves became obvious: They needed to be economically independent from their former masters in order to provide for their own needs. A few “Radical Republicans” in Congress argued for every ex-slave to be provided with “forty acres and a mule” (101), but these arguments did not gain ground. Black people remained dependent on an economy built on slavery in a society where whites held the power. White plantation owners offered to employ Black workers for “shares”; in this system, Black farmers were bound by debt and cheated out of any pay.
In reality, “slavery returned in almost every respect except the name” (103). A white terrorist group, the Ku Klux Klan, was organized in 1866, attacking and intimidating Black people. Segregation laws were passed in the South by those with the most political power—former slave holders. For many former slaves, freedom “with nothing to live on” was no freedom at all (106).
Epilogue Summary
The bitterness of slavery continued long after the end of the Civil War, and this bitterness is expressed in the words of former slaves interviewed in the 1930s. These interviews, Lester writes, expose the false narrative of “the happy slave […] freed by the Emancipation Proclamation” (107). Quotes from former slaves express the injustice they experienced after the end of slavery and the intense resentment and distrust they felt toward white people.
The book ends with an extended quote from Thomas Hall, a former slave interviewed by the Federal Writers’ Project. Hall criticizes “Yankee” heroes Abraham Lincoln and Harriet Beecher Stowe, declaring, “I don’t like her, Lincoln, or none of that crowd” (108). Hall questions the motives of the interviewers themselves, adamant that “the white folks have been and are now and always will be against the Negro” (109).
Chapter 6-Epilogue Analysis
Once again, Lester corrects misconceptions in these chapters. He highlights African American involvement in the Civil War and points out that enslaved people, inspired by the Emancipation Proclamation, claimed their freedom before they were legally free. These details portray enslaved people as active participants in achieving freedom—not as helpless people rescued by others.
The historical misconception that Lester attacks most fiercely is the happily-ever-after idea of post-slavery America. He includes the raw bitterness and resentment expressed by many former slaves. He gives detailed evidence for the continued injustice and suffering that African Americans experienced long after the Emancipation Proclamation. Once again, these people are not simplistic, one-dimensional figures. They were fully aware of the power dynamics at work after the end of slavery, fully aware of the systemic oppression they continued to suffer, and fully aware of the competing motives of white people who considered themselves allies.
The sharp bitterness felt by former slaves is fully expressed and left unresolved. The last words of the Epilogue are taken from an interview with former slave Thomas Hall, directed to his interviewers: “No matter where you are from I don’t want you to write my story, ’cause the white folks have been and are now and always will be against the Negro” (109). Lester does not provide any following commentary; he simply allows these words to sit as the ending of the book.
Although this distrust and bitterness between races may be uncomfortable for his American audience, Lester allows the book to end on this discomfort, inviting his audience to ask questions and reflect further. Lester’s book was published during the civil rights movement, and this quote speaks to that context. Thomas Hall speaks of the future, claiming that “white folks […] always will be against the Negro” (109). Lester is pointing out that the fight for racial justice in America is a continuing story, not a closed chapter of history.
