Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
A Silent Population
By 1770, the slave population of New York City was around twenty percent, which is a pretty significant number. That means twenty percent of New York's citizens were considered property. In addition to the dehumanization, cruel treatment, and separation from spouses and families that they experienced, slaves were also not permitted to marry.
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New Knowledge for a Northerner
Ever wanted to go back in time and see what life was like in a different historical era? That's exactly what Laurie Halse Anderson desired to do in writing Chains. "The idea grew out of a really compelling need to understand what slavery was like in the Colonial period," Anderson said in an interview. "I'm a Northerner and always thought it was a Southern thing, a Civil War thing. I had a lot of learning to do."
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