I am number 12. That is what they call me now. I wasn't always number 12. My given name is Ayomide, it means "my joy has arrived." My mother used to say it to me in a sing-song way when I was a baby, "Ayomide, Ayomide," she'd whisper to me when I cried. It always made me feel better. No one has called me Ayomide in a very long time.
The first thing they did to me after they threw me on this boat was strip me of my clothes. They said it was to preserve our health, but the way the men stared at me when I was naked made me think otherwise. I tried to hide myself but then the ship captain tossed a scrap of square of fabric at me that tied at my waist that made me feel a bit more covered.
I had never seen white people before. I just keep staring and staring until one of the other women poked me in the ribs and told me to focus on something else unless I wanted a beating. But it was hard not to stare. The pale skin, the soft looking shiny straight hair. I just wanted to reach out and touch it. Some of the men actually looked sweet. How was it possible they were as brutal as the stories I had been told?
I was lucky; my mom taught me how to cook so I served food to the captain's table. One night as I served his soup and rice the captain told me I was "valuable cargo" and everyone at the table laughed. I didn't understand what he meant but I smiled to be polite.
Where are we going? I ask every day but no one wants to tell me anything. But I can't wait. Nothing can be worse than this boat. Below the deck, the men were getting sick and we watch their bodies get tossed overboard like they meant nothing, the same way they dumped the trash after I served dinner. But I believe once we get off this ship things will be so much better. I believe in my heart people are genuinely good; the only reason the men are fighting on this boat because they are shackled and it's hot and smelly and miserable, but once we are back on land, things will be so much better. But every time I say this to one of the other women, they just look at me sadly and shake their head. Why?
I've grown fond of two of the older women aboard the ship with me. They are very protective of me; they braid my hair and teach me songs. I don't understand all the words as they speak a different language, but I know sadness and longing when I hear it. When they sing I miss my mom; I hug these women and call them "Auntie."
This morning our boat docked in the West Indies. There was a big commotion and suddenly everyone was yelling and shoving and pushing me off the boat and dragging me onto a large platform. I cried and hung on to my Aunties; whatever was happening, wherever we were going, it would be all right if we could go together. But suddenly one man pointed directly at me and I was shoved off the platform. My Aunties started screaming and crying really hard and they both tried to hold onto me, but they weren't strong enough. But as I was being dragged off one of my Aunties ran after me--she took off a beaded necklace she always wore; she kissed it and put around my neck. That was the last I saw of her.
I don't know where I'm going or what's going to happen to me. But it's got to be better than being on that boat. I believe people are good at heart and things will be all right, won't they? I hope wherever I go at least they will give me a proper name, and I will no longer be Number 12.
8. LISA RAO
Hi Angela,
I knew I wanted to write my piece as a slave girl; when I saw this picture the story just flowed out of me, I'm glad you agree it added to the story. And as I mentioned before I remember reading in Anne Frank's diary how she still thought "people were good at heart" even after having to hide in the attic from the Nazis. I wanted Number 12 to have the same young, hopeful quality, even though the older women felt differently.
Thanks for your post!
Lisa
03/02/13, 11:02 pm
7. ANGELA ISAAC
Hi Lisa,
Well done - I especially liked how you included a picture at the top, it was a helpful visual. I also think it was nie how you named her, and made her very human, hopeful and emotional. It seemed that she had it better on the ship than the others because she was given a job; I'll bet that most slaves on the ships were treated as animals or less than human. I also think you did a good job describing her interest in the white men whom she had never seen before.
Angela
03/01/13, 06:05 pm
6. BEVERLY WILLIAMS
I do like the way you made this seem realistic using numbers remind me so much of the Holocast - in both cases the vulnerability of a certain race/group of people were potential victims of this vicious act and exploitation in all its forms. I can just image for those who fall victim to this terrible act and just to imagine that support was efficient for those slavemasters involved.. difficult to process!
02/28/13, 01:40 am
5. Bradley Gardener
Excellent. Your account gave me the goose bumps. You really incorporated everything in our reading about the slave ship. I like how you highlighted the way that people were abstracted into numbers - entries in a data table - this is a key tool for making slavery legitimate. Such a project means so much investment from other human beings who aren't slaves. This tool of abstraction makes it possible.
02/25/13, 08:40 pm
4. LISA RAO
Hi Nadia,
Yes, it's true women were raped during the trip, but this is just an imaginary girl I created. I hinted at danger when I said the men were staring at her naked, and also when she was staring back at the men. I just didn't want to write about a rape...just writing in the voice of a girl who was about to become a slave was difficult enough.
Thank you for your post.
Lisa
02/25/13, 05:38 am
3. NADIA MEHENNI
Women were raped during the trip.
02/24/13, 10:14 pm
2. LISA RAO
Hi Edelson,
Thank you so much. This week's assigned reading of the slave ship really got to me. I can't imagine what it must have been like to be a young girl in that situation.
When I wrote the piece, I imagined the girl as an African-American Anne Frank. I only read The Diary of Anne Frank once when I was about 12 or 13, I never read it again because it upset me too much. But I never forgot that even in the most horrible of circumstances she wrote, "I still believe deep down that people are good." It amazes me when people are able to be so strong under the worst of circumstances.
Thanks again for your post!
Lisa
02/23/13, 04:53 am
1. EDELSON FLORES
Hello Lisa,
First of I'd just like to say... fantastic job. From the first sentence to the last, I felt as if I was reading an actual diary from someone who has taken captive during that time. The attention to detail and the way you used your words, its almost as if I was watching a documentary on the history channel! To start and end this post referencing to the "number 12", you just had the feeling of authenticity. Great job, Lisa.
Edelson Flores
02/23/13, 03:56 am