were because of her curse. He broke his leg when his horse reared at a
snake. His favorite hunting dog was gored by a wild pig. His best
fighting cock was killed in the pit. His newborn baby died. He had two
bad seasons with his cotton and had to sell some of his slaves. Annie was
one of them.
She was bought by an old man who had a big building with
142 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN
some looms in it, where other slave women made cloth that was sold at the
market. Annie only helped them at first, but one of the women taught her
the craft, and she became an excellent weaver. She liked the other women,
and they were kind to her, but she was always sad, because she missed her
mammy.
She'd been there about six months when her new Massa called her into his
office one day. He told her to take off her dress, and he took off his
pants and he did what her first Massa had done, only he wasn't so rough
and it was all over very quickly. He made her swear never to tell anyone
else about it, and he called her to his office every few days after that,
and did it to her again.
The other women knew because he'd done it to all of them as well, and
they told the ways to get rid of a baby if one came along. But Annie
didn't listen to them, because she wasn't going to have a baby by a white
Massa. She hated them all too much, and she knew what herbs and grasses
to eat that would keep a baby away.
She also put a curse on her new Massa, but it didn't seem to work at
first. Then one night there was a fire in the warehouse and most of the
cloth was burned, and some of the looms. She was sold away again, this
time to a big plantation where they needed someone to do the weaving.
This Massa was quite good to her, and the overseer, because she was good
at her job, and kept herself to herself, and didn't make trouble. She
never became friends with any of the other slave women because they were
a little scared of her. They knew she could make magic because she cured
a baby boy who was sick with a cough. She built a special fire of
strange-smelling herbs in his shack and made him smell the smoke, and he
got better.
After that the young girls came to her when they needed cures, or a
potion or a spell to make someone love them, but she would never put a
curse on anyone for them, because that was her special gift, and she
reserved it for herself.
She was indescribably lonely. She longed for some company, some contact
with another human being, and for a while she had an affair with a field
hand, but he was suspicious of her power, and married someone else. Her
reputation for being gifted spread throughout the plantation, until
eventually even
BLOODLINES 143
the overseer and the Massa heard about it, and they made jokes about her,
and teased her to do magic for them.
The Massa's wife, the Missy, didn't tease her though. When her daughter was
sick with the whooping cough, she came to Annie, and begged her to make the
child well. Annie built her fire of special herbs and sticks, and made the
child smell the smoke, and slowly, over the next two weeks, she got better.
After that the Missy came to Annie whenever any of her children were sick.
Sometimes Annie could help and sometimes she couldn't, but she was always
honest with the Missy, because she knew the limit of her own knowledge and
power.
She might have been happy at that plantation, except that people, white or
black, came to her only when they wanted some healing. Otherwise, they
seemed frightened of her, and left her alone.
The young Massa, the Massa's son, was a boy when Annie first came to the
plantation, but he had grown up, and was a young man now. He started
spending time with Annie, and even though he laughed about her skills, she
thought him kind. Then one night he came to her and ordered her to get un-
dressed, and he raped her. She knew she was his first woman, and so she was
inclined to forgive him, but then he started laughing at her, and telling
everyone how he had been broken in with the witch.
So she put a curse on him. Two months later, he was bitten by a cottonmouth
when he was swimming naked in the river. Everyone knew he died from the
snakebite, but no one believed it was natural, because she was a witch.
Young Massa had said so. 01' Massa got very angry, and ordered the overseer
to beat her, but not to mark her skin. He stripped her naked and hit her
with a wooden bat. She had livid bruises for weeks afterward, but he was
clever and did not break the skin. When she was healed, ol' Massa called
for the auctioneer and sent her to the block.
They took her by cart to a big city, and to some long, low brick buildings,
where a hundred other slaves were locked in iron cages. They put her in a
cage and gave her bread and cornmeal to eat. Some of the other slaves tried
to be friendly to her, but she didn't talk to them because she was scared of
144 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN
other people. She heard that there was to be an auction soon, and over the
next few days lots of Massas came to inspect what was being offered. A lot
of the Massas were interested in her, because she was very beautiful, but
she made a chant, to stop anyone buying her.
On the day before the sale, a black man came in, very fashionably
dressed, a house nigger, she guessed. He looked at all the slaves, and
then he came to her pen, and looked at her for a very long time, without
saying anything, and she felt an odd feeling, for the first time in her
life, that this man would never hurt her. He tried to talk to her, and
she didn't say very much in case she was wrong, but she didn't make her
chant.
The man went away and came back a little while later with his Massa. They
talked about her and asked her some questions, and she gave them honest
answers. They asked about her weaving, and she pointed to her simple
skirt, which was of her own cloth. They felt the texture of the material
and inspected the weave. They made her turn round and take off her
bodice, and inspected her skin for scars of a lashing, but there were
none. As they were taking their leave, the house nigger turned back to
her and smiled.
She went to the block the next day, and a few Massas bid for her, but
then suddenly the Massa with the house nigger made a bid that was much
higher than anyone else's and everyone gasped in astonishment. She was
sold to him. The Massa came to her, and told her he was sorry that she
would have to stay here for a few days until transport could be set up,
but he made arrangements to have her moved to the auctioneer's own slave
quarters, which were a little more comfortable, and she wasn't barred in.
I She guessed that her new Massa must be very rich, because when the slave
cart came for her, there were four other black men, field hands, in it,
and a lighter-skinned man who was immaculately dr
essed. He said his name
was Parson Dick, and he spoke differently from the others, almost like a
Massa. Four slave catchers had been employed to take them to their new
plantation, and they traveled for four days, staying in the slave quarters
of cheap inns at night. To her surprise, they weren't chained at any time.
"New Massa said not," Parson Dick told her.
BLOODLINES 145
Not that she, or anyone, could have escaped. One of the slave catchers
was always on guard, and they had guns.
Besides, where would she escape to?
At the end of the fourth day they came to a fine plantation, with fields
ready, although no cotton had been planted. There was a big mansion on
a hill at the end of the drive, but it wasn't finished yet. Workmen were
putting glass in the windows, and slate on the roof, and the grounds
around it were still wild, and not yet a garden.
They were delivered to the overseer, a middle-aged man called Evans, and
he warned them that he would not tolerate troublemakers or runaways. For
all his bluster, Annie didn't think he was a very strong man, and the
field hands sniggered softly when he turned his back to greet the Massa.
The Massa welcomed them, and told them he expected them to work hard, but
that if they did he would treat them well. The house nigger was with him,
smiling, Annie thought, at her.
The overseer took them to the slave quarters, a collection of newly built
huts around a clearing, and assigned them their places. As they walked
there, the house nigger walked with them, and pointed out the Massa's log
cabin, in a field behind the big house, and said he'd be moving into the
big house next month.
Annie's room was as good as any she had ever had, small and bare, with
a small window, a chair and a bunk, but it had the smell of new timber,
and that pleased her.
The house nigger came with the Missy, and she was very kind, and said she
would organize some new clothes for Annie, who had only the dress she
wore. She admired the weave of that dress, and said she hoped that Annie
would be happy making lovely cloth for them.
The Missy left, but the house nigger stayed.
"I's Cap'n Jack," he said. "I's the Massa man."
Annie shrugged.
"Ain't nuttin' to be afeared of here," he said. "Ain't no one to hurt you
here. "
Annie shrugged again. She always got hurt, eventually.
Cap'n Jack stared at her for a few moments, then told her he'd come by
to see her again soon and left.
146 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN
Annie sat down on the bunk and stared at the place that was to be her new
home.
Some people at her old plantation said she had the gift of second sight,
but although she could see the future, it wasn't true. It was simply that
Annie knew that nothing good was ever going to happen to her.
18
Cap'n Jack was fascinated by Annie from the first moment he saw her. A sad,
silent woman in a pen at the slave market, she seemed filled with dark
secrets, and some inner pain that Cap'n Jack guessed came from beating or
rape, or from being sold away from her family. She bore her grief with such
quiet dignity that Cap'n Jack wanted to take her into his arms and hold her,
and never let anyone hurt her again.
He told James about her, and that she was a weaver, and James's eyes
glinted with a spark of an idea that he wouldn't reveal to Cap'n Jack. They
went to Annie and inspected her, and James was impressed. Cap'n Jack was
pleased to see that she bore no scars from the lash on her back, but knew
that some Massas had subtler ways of inflicting punishment. The following
day, at the auction, there was some bidding for Annie, but then James
surprised everyone by offering a price well above the highest bid. Cap'n
Jack looked at him in surprise, but James only shrugged.
"She can do the weaving," he said.
When they got back to The Forks, James told his builders he wanted a
weaving house, and put Cap'n Jack in charge of it. Cap'n Jack went to the
slave quarters to pick out a site, but it was for Annie, and he wanted to
keep her apart from the others.
There was a small grove of oaks halfway between the big house and the slave
quarters, with a clearing in the middle, just large enough for a small
house. This was the spot that
BLOODLINES 147
Cap'n Jack chose. Here, Annie would be half hidden from the world. James
approved of his choice and ordered a loom from Atlanta.
The new slaves were delivered a few days later, and were greeted by Evans,
the foreman. Evans had been with James in Nashville, and was really an
overseer, but James didn't like the title. Evans was gruff and shouted a
lot, but was not really a strong man. Cap'n Jack doubted that he was the
right man for the new job. In Nashville they'd had only forty slaves on
the plantation, including the house niggers, and here there would be
nearly a hundred working in the fields, and several more in the house.
Evans organized the field hands, and Cap'n Jack was left in charge of
Annie and the new butler, Parson Dick.
He took Annie to a hut, and tried to talk to her, but she only shrugged.
Whatever her hurt was, Cap'n Jack knew it would take time to heal. He
went outside and Parson Dick made himself comfortable on a log, waiting
to be told where to go. They were pressed for space. The big house wasn't
ready, the Massa and his family were crowded into the log cabin, and not
all the new slave quarters had been finished. In the end Cap'n Jack
suggested that Parson Dick bunk in with him. The butler made a bit of a
fuss, saying that things had been different at his old plantation, but
it was either Cap'n Jack's hut or the shed with the field hands, so
Parson Dick saw reason.
Parson Dick settled in and washed at the well. He was finicky about his
personal cleanliness, and had not been able to wash properly at the slave
market, nor on the road. He asked to be taken on a tour of the new house
and to meet his staff, so Cap'n Jack conducted him through the nearly
finished mansion, and introduced him to old Crosspatch, the cook who had
come with them from Nashville, and her new young assistant, Julie. Parson
Dick thanked Cap'n Jack and dismissed him, saying he would like to talk
to the Missy next. Cap'n Jack was not used to being given orders by other
slaves, but saw the sense of it and went to find Sally. Parson Dick
settled at the kitchen table with Crosspatch and Julie and told them how
he intended to run the house. Crosspatch, who had a short
148 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN
temper, flared, but Parson Dick told her he was in charge and if she didn't
like it she could complain to the Massa. Julie giggled.
Cap'n Jack found Sally but she had some other jobs for him, for the
furniture was starting to arrive from Charleston, and the new drapes and
rugs. It w
as all in crates, for it had come from Europe, and so they stored
it all in one of the back rooms in the house until they took possession. It
was nearly midnight when Cap'n Jack finished his work, but that was not
unusual these days. Ever since the Massa had bought the land and then got
sick, Cap'n Jack had been in charge of many of the preparations for the new
house.
He went past Annie's hut on the way to his own, but the candle was out, and
he guessed she was asleep. He hoped the angels would guard her, and went to
his own hut, where Parson Dick pumped him for two hours about the Jackson
family, until Cap'n Jack fell asleep, fully clothed, on his bunk.
He woke at cockcrow, washed at the well, and saw Annie in line for her
food. He greeted her, and told her she had no work to do until the loom
arrived, but could make herself useful cleaning up in the house. She nodded
and was pleasant, but otherwise ignored his existence. Cap'n Jack had his
meals in the kitchen of the big house, which was the first part of the
building to be completed, and ate his breakfast listening to Crosspatch's
complaints about the new butler. She was particularly aggrieved this day,
because Missy Sally had sided with Parson Dick on some matter of the menus,
but Cap'n Jack ignored her. Crosspatch was always complaining.
It was another chaotic day. The builders were Scrambling to finish the
house, Sally was trying to move furniture into rooms that weren't ready,
Micah and Tiara were looking after the children, Ephraim was running round
the stables getting ready for the horses which were soon to arrive, and
everyone wanted something from Cap'n Jack.
As he walked back from the stables, Cap'n Jack saw Evans charging around on
his horse organizing work gangs to plant the new season's cotton.
The new field hands were a crew of fine and able-bodied men, but, strangers
to the Jackson household, had no special loyalty to their new Massa, and
were testing the limits of the foreman's temper and ability to control..
BLOODLINES 149
"There gwine be trouble," Cap'n Jack said to himself, but it was not his
business, and Missy Sally was calling him to help talk sense to the
gardeners.
He hardly saw Annie that day, but after his evening meal he filched a
couple of pieces of fried chicken from the plate and took them to her.
She was sitting in her hut staring at nothing, and humming some odd chant
to herself.
"Got some chicken," Cap'n Jack said.
She took the chicken without thanks, and ate it with a surprising
daintiness.
Cap'n Jack squatted on his haunches and waited till she had done. There
was silence for a while.
"It was a purty song you was humming," Cap'n Jack said.
"African," Annie shrugged. "It from Africa."
"That where you from?"
"No," Annie said.
He asked a few more questions, but she only responded with a yes or a no,
or a shrug, and then he heard Parson Dick calling him, so he bade her
good night, and went to find out what the matter was.
He saw her every evening after that, and always took her some nice scraps
of food from the main kitchen. She took the food but never thanked him,
and responded to his questions simply. He told her of his life, but she
didn't seem interested. He told her of how he had come to Massa Jackson,
but she didn't seem to care. He told her of the promise offreedorn the
Massa had given him, and then she spoke.
"Ain't never gwine happen," she said.
Cap'n Jack told her she was wrong, that Massa James was different from
other Massas, but she only shrugged.
"All Massas the same," she said.
Cap'n Jack felt cheered. At least she had started to take part in the
conversations, even if it was on a negative note.
A few days later the new loom was delivered, and Cap'n Jack had it set
up in Annie's hut. It was enormous and almost filled the little room, but
they had no other place to put it until the weaving house was ready.