intense labor that always came at this time of the year. Rolling hills and valleys in that region stretched for hundreds of miles in every direction. Its soil was rich and fertile. In it grew lots of things that brought prosperity to those who owned it. But it wasn’t a very good place or a happy time to be alive if your skin was black. My people knew that as well as the slaves of Katie’s father. He came out from his early breakfast to announce they would complete the ploughing of the eastern fifteen