Send Judah First: The Erased Life of an Enslaved Soul
Yuda is only twelve when her Ivory Coast village is raided by slavers. In Virginia, Yuda is purchased by a plantation owner increasing his stock before African slaves are banned in 1808. Her family is lost forever, and Yuda’s final shred of identity—her name—vanishes when her master dubs her Sukey. Sent to help the cook, Sukey quickly learns English and to tolerate Master James’s nighttime visits, but Aunt Sally teaches Sukey more than tortured obedience; the old woman tells Sukey to knead her anger into dough and feed her hate to the masters.
Sukey is sold to Virginia’s Belle Grove Plantation, where she is baptized as Judah.
Brian Johnson’s Send Judah First is a remarkable novel inspired by “Judah” and the other 276 names entered in Belle Grove’s List of Enslaved. Mr. Johnson felt immediate kinship to Judah, joined by their love of cooking, and has done a terrific job of bringing faceless names in a ledger to life.
Mr. Johnson also brings readers to painful realization that the “benevolent master” is no more than fantasy. Belle Grove’s slaves endured whatever punishment their owner deemed fit. Judah and her sons were kept together, but she was parted from the man she loved, and compelled to yield body and free will to her master. Some slave owners salved their consciences by calling their chattels “family members,” but in a letter, Judah’s mistress deplores the death of Judah’s twelve orphaned children for the work it devolves to her, then complains of inconvenience in losing her cook.
Send Judah First encompasses a brutal topic with strength and beauty, but without graphic depiction. A story of survival and quiet resistance, it’s a great read for teens and adults alike, and I recommend it to all.
