In America's past-precisely around the mid 19th century- it is known that the country revolved around treating African Americans inhumane, revealing how much of a hypocrite parts of the country can be. Today in the 21st century, the topic of slavery is still being emerged. The era comprised of Americans with dark skin color receiving different rights. Paulsen’s novel Nightjohn reveals the horrid and dark times for people in the institution contrary to being fiction.The novel includes descriptions of their received harsh restrictions/brutal punishments, similar details about parents, and their determination to learn that proves the novel incorporates nonfiction facts. To begin with, the supposed fictional novel includes the…show more content… In the novel, like the rest of the slaves, Sarny was separated from her birth mother at age 4. She was then raised by Delie who is a breeder. Sana Butler, author of Sugar of the Crop, wrote a book of real interviews with freed slaves. A short conversation in the book, Sugar of the Crop, states, " ' So he didn't grow up with his parents?' 'no.' " (p. 123, paragraph 2&3). People in the institution were separated from parents-just like Sarny. The historical fiction novel includes facts based on the occurrence of being separated from parents. Based on the Mingo White Interview, Mingo White-a former slave, states, "The only caring that I ever knew about was given to me by a friend of my father...My father and mother were sold from each other, too, at the same time I was sold..."(paragraph 3). Concluding to all the evidence gathered, people who were enslaved didn’t live with their birth parents, which teaches historians the horrible things that slaves went through.Paulsen genuinely adds accurate information about, on how slaves are separated, leaving the readers informed. These similar details can be corroborated to Nightjohn which proves that there are not only fictional facts in the…show more content… In Nightjohn, John teaches Sarny how to read and write. Later on, Sarny and John helps and supports others by teaching them how to read and write at night at the pit schools. Heather A. Williams is a Presidential Professor and a Professor of African Studies at the University of Pennsylvania who wrote a book with reliable information that confirms the historical accuracy of Nightjohn. According to the adapted excerpt from Heather Andrea Williams' African-American Education in Slavery:Self-taught, she states, "there were 'pit schools'...Some slaves copied letters and words...in the dirt”(paragraph 2). To learn reading and writing is a restriction for people in the institution as detailed in the novel Nightjohn. However, slaves are so determined to learn that they break the rules knowing they are at risk of getting caught. The source reveals that despite the genre of Paulsen’s novel, the novel’s contained information can inform readers. Frederick Douglass is an African American reformer and an abolitionist. As specified in the autobiography, the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he states, "...I went to live with Mr. and Mrs. Auld, she very kindly commenced to teach me the A, B,C." In Nightjohn, John taught Sarny the alphabet and then later in pit-schools. Douglass was also taught the alphabets which shows that Paulsen included historically accurate facts. All in all, Nightjohn has
