A slave attacks Nicholas Spark, one of the ship's mates, and Spark shoots and kills him. The crew is drunk much of the time, the ship dirty, and discipline lax. The journey continues and conditions worsen. He hates himself for playing the fife and being part of the entire situation. He sees the sailors with the same lack of pity they have for the slaves. The flogging only makes him think more about everything that is going on around him. He is immediately taken back on deck and flogged for being disobedient. He refuses to play the fife and goes to his quarters. As the journey to America continues, Jessie realizes how much he hates everything around him, including the slaves, as they represent his own enslavement on the ship. Jessie is shocked by what is going on, but tries to keep himself focused on staying alive and getting home to his family, if he ever will. Many of them are still alive when they are tossed into the water, where they are eaten by sharks or drown. Whenever a slave becomes ill they are thrown overboard at once so that the illness will not spread to other slaves. Once they are taken onto the ship, they are packed as tightly as possible into the hold, ending up on top of one another. Jessie cannot believe the treatment of the enslaved people that he observes.
When they get to Africa they travel the coast and the captain uses a small boat to go and meet with the African chiefs who are selling people into slavery. The captain, Cawthorne, seems mad, the first mate, Nicholas Spark is cruel, and the sailors are concerned solely with making money through the slave trade. During the crossing to Africa, Jessie tries to learn as much about the ship and the way things are done there as he can. After he is captured, he is taken to the ship 'The Moonlight', a slaver. One evening while he is walking home, Jessie is kidnapped. Jessie Bollier lives in the area with his mother and sister. In the rain, drunken riverboat workers and slaves alike are celebrating.
It is the beginning of 1840 in New Orleans. The book received the Newbery Medal in 1974. There he is forced to play the fife in order to keep the other slaves dancing, and thus strong when they arrive at their destination. Jessie is captured from his New Orleans home and brought to an American ship. It tells the story of a thirteen-year-old boy, Jessie Bollier, who is put in a position which allows him to see the African slave trade in person. The book not only includes a historical account, but it also touches upon the emotional conflicts felt by those involved in transporting the slaves from Africa to other parts of the world. It tells the story of a boy called Jessie Bollier who witnessed first-hand the savagery of the Atlantic slave trade. The Slave Dancer is a historical novel written by Paula Fox and published in 1973.
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