Cy Williams, thirteen, has always
known that he and the other black folks on Strong's plantation have to obey
white men, no question. Sure, he's free, as black people have been since his
grandfather's day, but in rural Georgia, that means they're free to be whipped,
abused, even killed. Almost four years later, Cy yearns for that freedom, such
as it was. Now he's a chain gang laborer, forced to do backbreaking work,
penned in and shackled like an animal, brutalized, beaten, and humiliated by
the boss of the camp and his hired overseers. For Cy and the boys he's chained
to, there's no way out, no way back.
And then hope begins to grow in him,
along with strength and courage he didn't know he had. Cy is sure that a chance
at freedom is worth any risk, any sacrifice. This powerful, moving story opens
a window on a painful chapter in the history of race relations.
Book Available at:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (Publisher website)
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