-
Elijah and Fredrick Douglas
When Elijah was born, he was the first baby to be born in the settlement. To celebrate this, Fredrick Douglas came to Buxton to deliver a speech to the new slaves. He grabbed baby Elijah and held him in the air. Then, Elijah threw up all over Fredrick Douglas. This left him with sort of a bad reputation. -
Hidden Talent
Elijah started working at Mr. Segee’s stable. He cleaned the stars and fed the animals. Sometime’s he took Mr. Segee’s donkey, Old Flapjack, out for a ride. One day, he went fishing while he was riding Old Flapjack. He didn’t have a pole so he threw stones at the fish. He found his hidden talent, he was an excellent stone thrower. He would hit the fish perfectly in the head every time. -
Tithing
The Preachers found out that Elijah had a good deal of fish with him. He gave Elijah this lecture about giving an offering to the church to give thanks to God. His lecture was a big phony lie. He cheated Elijah and ended up taking 4 out of the 10 fish Elijah caught. This is when the Preacher is first revealed that he is a liar and a cheater. -
Familiarity Breeds Contempt
Mr. Travis got very upset with Cooter. He wrote on the board in the classroom "Familiarity Breeds Contempt". Cooter and Elijah thought it said "Family Breeding Contest", so they got very excited. But, they soon found out this wasn't a fun day in class. Mr. Travis grabbed Cooter's ear and nearly twisted it off his head. -
Mr. Leroy's Lesson
After Elijah got done working for Mr. Leroy, hey were walking home together. Elijah was ranting to Mr. Leroy about Mr. Travis and his school when he almost slipped out a very offensive word to the African American community. Mr. Leroy punched Elijah for it and fussed at him a lot. After Mr. Leroy told Elijah not to ever say that word again, in a forceful way, their bond grew stronger. -
Carnival
The Preacher asks Elijah to go to a carnival in Chatham. Elijah gets so excited to go. But, the Preacher said that it would help the Settlement in some way. Him and Elijah went to see a show at the Carnival that showed a girl shooting cans with grapes and a sling shot. They also watched a show about a conjurer that used brain washing to make this kid do so many things. -
Crazy Carnival
The Preacher thinks that Elijah is better at throwing stones than Madame Sabbar is at sling shotting things.The Preacher tried to get Elijah into the carnival but he also wanted to live with the carnival people too. But the headmaster wouldn't let him stay with them. Then one of the child workers were talking about what he does when he isn't performing. The kid was practically a slave working for the white headmaster. The Preacher decided not to get Elijah involved with the Carnival. -
New Free Slaves
Elijah was riding Flap Jack when he noticed some fugitive slaves hiding behind the rock near the treeline. He told his father and then they used the 'Emma Method'. Emma Collins acted like she was wandering through the field until she came upon the fugitive slaves. She first brought the father and husband of the slaves. And then The rest of the family came after. Cooter and Elijah went and rang the Liberty Bell 100 times. 20 times for each new free slave. -
The Letter About John Holton
Elijah rode down to Chatham to check the mail. There was a letter for Mrs. Holten that was written in fancy letters so it must've been something bad. Elijah and his mom and other women went to deliver the letter the Mrs. Holten. Elijah read the letter out loud and it said that John Holten, Mrs. Holten's husband, died from abuse from slavery. -
John Holten's Wood Carving
Mr. Leroy was making a wood carving for Mrs. Holten in memory of John Holten. He asked Elijah to come up with the words and then Mr. Leroy would carve them. The wood carving ended up saying "For the love of my husband, John Holten, who passed on May 7th, 1859, but still lives. The boy is not made to endure. There's something inside so strong it flies forever". As a reward for making this sign, Mrs. Holten gave Elijah a nickel and Mr. Leroy $2,200 to buy his family out of slavery. -
Trusting The Preacher
Mr. Leroy wanted someone to go buy his family out of slavery for him. He didn't know who he could trust his money with. He also didn't know who could go to America and not get captured. The Preacher said he was willing to do it and Mr. Leroy could trust him. At first, Mr. Leroy was a bit hesitant to trust him, but he was so desperate to get his family back that he went ahead and trusted the sly Preacher with his money. -
Mr. Highgate's Tragedy
Elijah was riding Flap Jack, when Cooter told Elijah that there was a wagon carrying Mr. Highgate because he got hurt really bad. It turns out that the Preacher was trying to gamble with Mr. Leroy's money, so Mr. Highgate shot him in the knee. The Preacher returned the favor and shot Mr. Highgate in the head. The Preacher took off with Mr. Leroy's money and ran with it. -
The Crazy Axe Man
After Mr. Leroy got the news that the Preacher stole his money, he was furious. He threw an axe and it stuck way up in a tree and then he ran away. Rumors were going around saying he was chunking axes at the moon. Nobody felt safe with a crazy axe man on the loose. -
Elijah Gets Involved
Elijah was on his way to the church meeting, walking through the woods, when he got caught by Mr. Leroy. Mr. Leroy wanted to go get his money back and free his family himself, but he wanted Elijah to go with him since they were friends and Elijah could read and he was also mature. Elijah agrees to go with him and so he gets his stuff from Cooter's house and they hop on Jingle Boy and set out for Michigan. -
R.I.P. Mr. Leroy
Elijah and Mr. Leroy made it to Michigan and they also found the man that helped Mr. Highgate. Mr. Alston gave them an idea of where the Preacher might be. As they head off to the stable where the Preacher might be, Mr. Leroy starts to slide off the horse and then he just dies. There wasn't no warning or anything, he just died. Elijah promised him that he would still go get his money back and free his family. -
That Bear-fighting Dog!
Elijah finally rode Jingle Boy to the stable where the Preacher might be. There was huge dog, almost the size of a bear guarding the stable. The dog tried to attack Elijah but he threw his chunking stones at him and knocked the dog out! The dog did actually leave Elijah punctured with 3 holes in his stomach, but they weren't too bad. -
The Bundles
Elijah enters the stable and he feels something strange about the stable. He said it smelled like sadness. Elijah looks up and he sees the Preacher standing with his arms wide open on the other side of the barn. They both stare at each other for a while. But then, Elijah hears a humming sound coming from 1 of the 5 bundles in the stable. He walked over to see what it was and at first he thought it was a demon because it had 4 arms but then he realized it was a human! -
Meeting the Slaves
The 5 bundles were fugitive slaves that were trying to get free but slavers caught them. They were all chained up to the barn, none of them had any clothes on, and they all looked beat up and worn out. The girl, Chloe had a baby with her. Elijah grabbed the water for them and every slave. After talking with them for little, Elijah was determined to set them free. -
Nothing Will Work!
Elijah sits and thinks about how to free the slaves. He tries to pull the chains off, chisel them off, and scoop them out of the rock, nothing worked. He even went back to Mr. Alston to see if he would help, but he said nothing could help these slaves. At the same time, Elijah found out that the Preacher was hung up and he was dead. Elijah doesn't know what to do now. -
Baby Hope
Even though Elijah couldn't get Mr. Leroy's money back, free his family, or free the slaves in the stable, he decides to take Chloe's baby back to Buxton and raise her there as a free African American!
