One More Valley, One More Hill, Post 4

Chapters 4-6 If you recall from last week, Clara's daughter was purchased and seperated from her, and that's when the chapter ended. The beginning of chapter 4 tells us that Clara was purchased by a man named George Brown. The protagonist had never met him until now. Clara was feeling some serious pain after the loss of so many people close to her. She didn't even remember the auctioning off of herself, and arriving at her new "home". The Browns were the type of people who had seven course dinners, always had guests coming and going who wore Rolex watches (more or less), and had a dog that owns a cell phone (mostly less). As Clara was mourning the loss of loved ones, she prayed to God and began to heal. Still, not a day passed without her thinking of the ones she lost. As if not enough people had died, her other daughter, Margaret, died of a chest ailment. Four years later, master Brown died as well. Much to her surprise, Clara's late master left her $300, a huge sum in her time. You think this was a huge surprise? Wait till you read what happens next. Brown's three daughters wanted to give Clara FREEDOM. Money was a strange enough concept for Clara, but freedom was incredibly mind boggling. Here's how freeing a slave worked (in Kentucky anyway): The slave has to be put up to auction. If the highest bidder is the slaves' former owner, the slave is free. But there's a catch: The slave must pay 25% of the winning bid. This is part of the reason Clara was left $300. If someone else outbids the former owner, the slave is placed into that family and remains a slave. Let's stop here for a minute. When I first read this, the first thing that came to my mind was that this is the most ridiculous process to free a slave. It's like they're playing a game. I would think that this system would make it harder for male slaves to be freed because males sell for higher. Anyway, did Clara make it? Drumroll please! *************************************************************************** The answer is... yes. Yes she did make it, and Clara was free! Clara had to pay $118.75, leaving her with $181.25. Clara's new last name was Brown. Because that's how it worked. You take the last name of your last owner when you're freed. As a free women, she didn't quite know where to go, but she knew she wanted to find her daughter. She wandered around and made it to St. Louis, MO because the Browns knew of a German family in need of a housekeeper. She worked in the house, but this time she got paid for, and had one day off per week. She spend all her free time looking for her daughter. At her new church she heard about free states, where slavery had been outlawed. This was the first time Clara had heard of such a thing. Negros in these states were kidnapped by outlaws called "n***** nappers" and it was a huge problem. Due to a financial disaster in Missouri, Clara moved west to Kansas with her family. In Clara's POV, this town in Kansas seemed that everyone was going somewhere else. Clara went to a new church that lacked a "colored section". She met a freed slave named Becky Johnson, and they became quick friends. Kansas wasn't technically a free state until everyone voted. "Border Ruffians" from Missouri invaded trying to force people to vote pro-slavery. This brought so much blood and chaos upon Kansas that people started calling it "Bleeding Kansas". GOLD? Clara started her own laundry business; a financial depression followed. People heard about gold in the Rocky Mountains, not too far off. Everyone tried to get there as quickly as possible.