Reviews for Stolen childhood

The average rating for Stolen childhood based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-10-24 00:00:00 Mark Nobilio This is a very well researched book that follows the life of a slave from the cradle to the grave. Wilma King focuses the bulk of her book on the lost innocence of a childhood for children in bondage in the antebellum south. King utilizes a lot of data including slave narratives, letters, and diaries to piece together the lifecycle of a slave. She draws a picture of a slave's family unit and the circumstances surrounding their bondage, whether they were born into slavery or captured and sold into slavery. She then details the care of a baby and their aging into a toddler that suddenly has chores and light work around the masters home and slave quarters. Many slaves take their babies into the fields with them to play in nearby areas under the watchful eye of their mother. Around the age of 10, children begin back-breaking work in the fields with little leisure time in the evenings and weekends. The second half of the book moves to education (or lack thereof) and the quest for freedom, whether from running away, manumission or eventually for some, emancipation. I felt this was a very good look at the life of a slave and liked the focus on children. At about the half-way mark, as the topic of education was brought up, I felt that the author lost their focus on a slave's childhood. King certainly mentions how each topic affected children, but their childhood was no longer the true focus, rather it was on the topics and how they affected the entire slave community. I did not feel that the author really brought her thesis full circle to revisit the stolen childhood of a slave. However, this is still a book worthy of the read. It was too short to get too dense, but the statistics were at times less important to the intended thesis and could have been relegated to an appendix or endnote. The first half is quite readable, the second half, skimmable.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-12-21 00:00:00 Daniel Kochis This account of children in slavery provides a complex picture of the experience of the young people. They did many of the chores at an early age that the children in the West did. However, the nature of the circumstances made that work very different. Working for one’s family or working for someone else with one’s family not able to support and protect one is quite different. Listening to some of the slave narratives in conjunction with this book enriched the reading. I think King was very fair in terms of showing a balanced picture, noting where evidence may have not been correct or where there were gaps in the record. Situations varied and even though the whole system of slavery was not conducive to healthy growth in children, there were situations that were better than others. Certainly, most of the slave mothers and fathers cared for their children and tried to do the best for them that they could under terrible circumstances, knowing that they or the children could be sold away from each other at any point. Since their parents were considered children it was difficult for the slave children ever to grow up even though they never had what we would consider a childhood. They had to work, they had to face the fear of separation, they had to stifle their sense of mastery and achievement. The role of religion was important as was the significance of being able to read. I am fascinated by how education was so important then and is such a problem for black kids now.