Hi. I’m AJ Sam, author and self-publisher of A Journey Far: Ibere.
This blog regarding my first novel, A Journey Far: Ibere, shares the challenges I faced bringing this work to fruition. But first, I’ll begin with an outline of the story. Spanning the 15 years preceding the U.S. Civil War, it has the subtitle, Ibere, which is Yoruba for Beginnings. I chose it because Yoruba was the predominate language in the west-central region of Africa during the Middle Passage of the 16th through the 19th centuries.
A Journey Far: Ibere has 4 divisions: Who Am I?, The Uglies, Running to the Future, and Transitions. I created the four stories within the story to correlate with stages of development of the main character’s lifespan – from a child of 6 to a young adult of 20. As a retired elementary school educator, I recall seeing kids arriving as kindergarteners and leaving 6 years later as middle-schoolers. They are the same people, but not really. They’ve grown up, they’ve gone from babies to pre-teens. And I wanted that to be part of your reading experience, discovering James’ maturation through the turning pages.
Additionally, I created the divisions to give you, my readers, a chance to catch their breath. My novel is a 406-page book – each division a journey containing a definite beginning and conclusive ending. And with the four divisions, it’s akin to getting FOUR 100-page books for the price of ONE book. How sweet is that? Let’s look at each division.
The first division of A Journey Far: Ibere, is Who Am I? There, James, the protagonist, is taken from his family and sold into slavery at the age of 6 to be the playmate of the master’s son, Carlton. Isolated in Johnson Hall, he’s unknowingly educated by Carlton. James also interacts with Ruth – the only other slave living in Johnson Hall. She nurtures him and fills his maternal void. However, James spends most of his time alone during the day and he sneaks into the only room he’s forbidden to go in – Master Johnson’s study. With the assistance of two special characters – a Webster dictionary and a stately grandfather clock – James self-educates himself. Eventually exiled from Johnson Hall and to the slave quarters, James is introduced to the brutality of slavery and horrors he never imagined. Isaac, one of the young slaves living in the shack, befriends and helps him survive this new existence. For the first time in his life, James is immersed in the culture of his people. The “Who Am I” question is answered.
In the second division, The Uglies, James, now 9 to 14 years of age, becomes acclimated to his new reality, not with King Cotton but Tyrant Tobacco as his friendship with Issac grows. Also, he falls in love with another slave – Chloe, and their relationship blossoms in the desolation of their existence. James becomes the target of the sadistic overseer, Rogers, and he learns to survive this more physical form of slavery while his sense of self continues to develop. The specter of forced breeding, the main business of Master Johnson’s empire, weighs heavier on James with each passing day.
In the third division, Running to the Future, James’ 14- to 18-year-old body filled with rage as his awareness of self and his situation evolves. Isaac is gone. Chloe is gone. And he’s left alone and lonely as Rogers’ assaults escalate. His first escape attempt fails as Rogers nearly beats him to death. He survives however and eventually escapes to the North with help from a trio of heroes. There, a tenuous and limited freedom is revealed to him.
Finally in Transitions, the fourth division, James acclimates himself to the late 1850s – early 1860s New York City. With the support of Mrs. Howard, a French immigrant and other Abolitionists, James finds a home, employment and enters college where he befriends Bobby Harris, a free black man from Boston who has been juxtaposed throughout the novel. James experiences the disparate definitions of the term “freedom” as he traverses the streets of New York. During his daily journeys as a fugitive slave from home to work to college, and back home, James matures into a soul-searching, 20-year-old man. A Journey Far: Ibere, ends with the attack on Ft. Sumter, SC, which precipitates the beginning of the U.S. Civil War.
Now, before I continue, I need to say this. This book – this novel is not a children’s book. It’s written for a mature audience. A Journey Far: Ibere, doesn’t have any gratuitous language or violence. One of my reviewers said it best, however, when she wrote that it is “Raw”. Some of the vocabulary is offensive, especially to me as an African American male and a man of God, and especially in the first half of the book.
Several events, maliciously barbaric, serve to accurately describe the existence James lives in. In the scenes in the story where the vocabulary and situations appear, they are necessary – I feel they are necessary to maintain the, the authenticity of the story. Yeah, in Historical Fiction, the history must be factual AND the fiction should be realistic. This vocabulary, these situations described the way people talked, the way people thought, the way people felt, what the people did at that time in our country’s history. It required a harsh edge.
So, the dilemma with A Journey Far: Ibere is – language. Foul language. Mean language. Profane language. Hurtful language. Derogatory language. Brutal cursing by characters spewing the “n” word, the “GD” word, and the “A” and “S” words like they were noxious nouns, vicious verbs, and acrimonious adjectives. Thank God I didn’t have to worry about the F-bomb, since people weren’t using that back in the 1850s. But as I got into the development story I realized I had a decision to make. Do I change A Journey Far to A Journey “not so” Far by making this story acceptable and proper for a minister of the gospel to write? Should I sanitize it, should I tip-toe around the vulgarity of this time in America? Or should I make the story real. I chose realistic.
I made it authentic with the language the people who viewed African Americans as property used. And honestly, the language bothers me. There’s an emotional invoice I had to pay. I had to decide between authenticity and inaccuracy. I had to decide if I was going to take my readers into the heartless heart of slavery in 19th century America. Or was I going to sugar-coat it so as not hurt people’s feelings?
There’s a lot of states right now (including my home state) who, in one form or another, are knee-deep in this debate. Struggling with what to say about history, how much to share about history, and who to share this history with? I had that fight with myself back in 2015. I decided then that I was going to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth – that could be supported by historical research – so help me God. I decided that the language that was necessary to express the emotional impact of that time in our history had to be included.
You may question, and rightfully so, should I write words on a page that I don’t feel comfortable saying in public? Believe me, I understand the question – it’s a controversial decision. It’s a decision that’s hard to explain. But if I am to describe the horrors of slavery – in words and deeds, both physical and mental, and with the emotional and legal entanglements – then I must use the situations created and the language spoken by those who supported the culture of the time.
You see, I think good literature leaves us thinking – it can leave us happy and sad at the same time. Good literature stays with us long after we’ve read it. Good literature changes us, hopefully for the better. I hope – it’s my hope – that this is an example of good literature. Literature that makes the writer uncomfortable writing it, literature that makes the publisher uncomfortable publishing it, literature that makes the reader uncomfortable reading it. But literature makes all of us glad we took the journey.
It is my hope that not only are you enlightened and entertained by A Journey Far: Ibere, but that you learn more about the history of our country, the history of African Americans in our country, this United States of America. It is my prayer that I helped you realize how far this nation, under God, indivisible has come – as well as the formidable journey yet to come.
In addition, I wish everyone will be persuaded of the necessity of this story and stories like this being made available to all and recognizing the benefits of weaving these stories into the tapestry of this great country called America.
A Journey Far: Ibere. Yes, it’s a story of hurt. Humiliation. Heartache. But it’s much more than that. It’s a story of relationships. It’s a story of discovery. It’s a story of victory. It’s a story of faith. It’s a story of hope. It’s a story of love. It’s a story of America. A Journey Far: Ibere.
A Journey Far: Ibere is available in paperback and eBook formats worldwide, including Amazon, and Barnes & Noble, and in an audiobook format worldwide, including Spotify and Google Play.
Enjoy the journey.
AJ Sam