Two things stuck out for me from these conversations that helped inform River Sing Me Home. The first was that people were quick to mention the ambiguities around the end of slavery—the fact that the apprenticeships persisted for so long, keeping people tied to the same plantation; the fact that even after apprenticeships ended, economic exploitation continued and people had little choice but to keep working as field laborers; and the fact that it was white plantation owners who received monetary compensation, while the field laborers received nothing.
