After reading the poems from “The Star of Freedom book, I noticed that every poem/short story I’ve read has a theme that its shameful to be a colored slave, and that no good comes out of being colored. They feel that they aren’t deserving of  life in general which sparks a wave of emotions as I read these poems and short stories dealing with anti-slavery. They all have a very depressing, and upsetting tone to each piece that I have read, making it seem not only sad but also feeling like they are stepping foot in the day of what a slave had to go through. The poems are very detailed in terms of how they  are trapped, especially how the younger slaves weren’t able to act like normal children and play otherwise they will be punished because they aren’t deserving of that kind of freedom, nor do they know what freedom will ever feel like.

 

I personally think one of the sadness parts was the poem called “The Little Dead Slave” because even though its a very short poem, its very detailed in how the passing of this young boy makes his mother happy because she is content knowing that her own son won’t have to continue  going through the hardships and cruel reality of what it feels like to be a slave like herself.  She is content knowing he is better off in Gods hands because if he continued living as a slave, then he wouldn’t be deserving enough to get to heaven. I can only imagine how hard something like that must be for a parent at that time, but at least it gives us enough insight to feel the sadness as we read on into this book and that’s what makes me interested to know more about a certain poem/story is gives me a visual in my mind of how those tough times were like for people. It also makes me curious to know why the author remains anonymous, perhaps maybe they have a connection to something similar that they refuse to share but either way I enjoyed the book.