by Marshall Highet
What's It About?
“A suspenseful thriller with Talmudic commentary: fasten your seatbelt.” — Jean Reisman, Ph.D.“Powerful, unforgettable, and at points verges on greatness.” — Bruce Bennett, Wells College
“This compelling page-turner is one that readers of all ages will enjoy.” — P.J. McGhee
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Some novels entertain, others educate. At a time when books are being banned, we are fortunate that the newly-published Blue-Eyed Slave (Koehler Books) by Marshall Highet and Bird Jones does the latter. By taking us on a journey to Charles Town, South Carolina, in the year 1764, the authors’ fully researched narrative gives us a much-needed lesson not only about history but also about the importance and value of selflessness, kindness and perseverance.
At first, it seems that Harry, a Black teacher who runs a school for enslaved children, will be our instructor. But it is really Hannah, a young Sephardic Jewish girl, who bravely guides us through the experience of what it was like to live in South Carolina in the mid-1700s amid the injustices of slavery.
EDUCATION FRAUGHT WITH DANGER
Clearly, the folks in Charles Town don’t look kindly on Harry and his students, but they pretty much turn a blind eye to the whole affair. That is, until Hannah, the daughter of Rebekah who runs the town’s general store, agrees to teach a slave to read. With her unusual blue-eyes, Bintü, a slave in the Reverend and Mistress Harte’s oppressive household, is exceptionally beautiful and smart. Hannah and she become BFFs, despite the inherent risk their relationship poses to their survival, not to mention Harry’s as a schoolmaster.
As readers can easily predict, a slave who can read, and those who promote such lawless behavior, must be punished unmercifully. And, thus, the story of the blue-eyed slave is unveiled.
In telling this story, the authors take two seemingly separate historical events — the Negro Act of 1740 and the Stamp Act of 1765 — and merge them into a dramatic tale. The Negro Act made it illegal for slaves in South Carolina to learn to write (among other restrictions), and the Stamp Act of 1765, imposed by Great Britain, taxed printed material, the first of several “taxation without representation” decrees that eventually led to the American Revolution.
JUSTICE, JUSTICE YOU SHALL PURSUE
That, and other themes such as good vs. evil, the Jewish tradition of tzedek (justice), and racial discrimination combine to make this a complex and well-timed work of historical fiction.
But this is also a unique coming-of-age story. Hannah displays incredible love, courage and perseverance in her evolving relationships with her mother, Harry, and of course, Bintü. It is Hannah’s determination to challenge the status quo — and the reluctance of her elders — that provides the lifeblood to this crucial narrative.
In Blue-Eyed Slave, Highet and Jones provide important historical context not only for those who seek to learn more about how America herself came of age, but also especially for those who persist in closing their eyes to the truth.
