Let Us Descend

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains depictions of enslavement and references to sexual assault and violence.

Under cover of night, Annis and her Mama (Sasha) steal away from their cabin so that Mama can begin to teach Annis how to fight with a spear. Deep in the Carolina woods where the two live with the family of the white enslaver who fathered Annis, Mama tells the young girl that her grandmother had been a warrior, one of the many wives of a “Fon king.” Although such women were important because of their royal status, they were warriors first and wives second. Annis, who is still a young girl, finds these lessons difficult, but she is soon caught up in the rhythm of her weapon and is able to move fluidly with the spear. They return in the early hours of the morning to the cabin, which they share with Nan and her children: other enslaved members of their household.

In the morning, Mama and Annis rise early and hurry to the house of Annis’s “sire” to begin their day’s work. Annis notices the sire’s white daughters, her half sisters, still asleep in their beds.