Escape from Slavery: The True Story of My Ten Years in Captivity and My Journey to Freedom in America
by Francis Bok
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In this groundbreaking modern slave narrative, Francis Bok shares his remarkable story with grace, honesty, and a wisdom gained from surviving ten years in captivity. May, 1986: Selling his mother's eggs and peanuts near his village in Southern Sudan, seven year old Francis Bok's life was shattered when Arab raiders on horseback, armed with rifles and long knives, burst into the quiet marketplace, murdering men and women and gathering the young children into a group. Strapped to horses and show more donkeys, Francis and others were taken north, into lives of slavery under wealthy Muslim farmers. For ten years, Francis lived alone in a shed near the goats and cattle that were his responsibility. Fed with scraps from the table, slowly learning bits of an unfamiliar language and religion, the boy had almost no human contact other than his captor's family. After two failed attempts to escape-each bringing severe beatings and death threats-Francis finally escaped at age seventeen, a dramatic breakaway on foot that was his final chance. Yet his slavery did not end there, for even as he made his way toward the capital city of Khartoum, others sought to deprive him of his freedom. Determined to avoid that fate and discover what had happened to his family on that terrible day in 1986, the teenager persevered through prison and refugee camps for three more years, winning the attention of United Nations officials and being granted passage to America. Now a student and an anti-slavery activist, Francis Bok has made it his life mission to combat world slavery. His is the first voice to speak for an estimated twenty seven million people held against their will in nearly every nation, including our own. Escape from Slavery is at once a riveting adventure, a story of desperation and triumph, and a window revealing a world that few have survived to tell. show lessTags
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Francis Bok spent his early childhood as a happy member of a Sudanese Dinka family. He took great pride that his father felt he would someday grow up and do great things. At the age of 7, Francis was allowed for the first time to go to the market to sell his family's goods. His mother put him in the care of 2 other children. Little did he know that this would be the last time he would ever see his family again. He was captured at the market and was bound in slavery for the next ten years.
This book is a fascinating read. It left me speechless and mortified to know that so much slavery still goes on all over the world. Bok reveals tremendous abuse and how he dealt with it and survived it, as well as about other children and their show more horrors. He covers his life of slavery, his escape and his mission now. A must read for everyone! show less
This book is a fascinating read. It left me speechless and mortified to know that so much slavery still goes on all over the world. Bok reveals tremendous abuse and how he dealt with it and survived it, as well as about other children and their show more horrors. He covers his life of slavery, his escape and his mission now. A must read for everyone! show less
I give it a 5... it will definitely make you think about what is going on in the world, and make you realize how fortunate we really are. Francis Bok was abducted when he was 7 years old and forced into slave labor in Sudan... this is just saying it mildly. Somehow he held onto his Christian beliefs and hope for a better tomorrow, and ended up escaping when he was about 18 and with help was able to make it to America. I don't want to say anymore because I feel like I might spoil it for the next reader. I would say enjoy this read, but it's definitely not that kind of book
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- Genres
- Biography & Memoir, Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, History
- DDC/MDS
- 305.5 — Society, government, & culture Social sciences, sociology & anthropology Social group - Age, Gender, Ethnicity People by social and economic levels
- LCC
- E184 .S77 .B65 — History of the United States United States Elements in the population Afro-Americans
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- (4.27)
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- English
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- Paper, Ebook
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