The Color of Fire

This is a somewhat harsh Ann Rinaldi book of an event that that most people probably have never even heard of. It's referred to as 'The Great Negro Plot' of 1741 in New York City.

This is at time decades before the colonies fought for their independence. It's a time when living conditions were still fairly primitive, and slavery was present both in the North and the South. There were still people working, though, on what amounted to a very, very early version of the Underground Railroad, helping slaves escape so they could live with Native American tribes in the area.

This story is about one slave, Phoebe who, of course, had her own problems being a slave. There were other problems, though, in that apparently there was extremely strong dislike of Catholics in the area at the time, and her tutor is suspected of being a Catholic priest, so there is one theme.

The other, larger theme lies in another slave at the house, and the suspicion that he is involved with other slaves in a series of fires. In effect, it was considered a slave uprising. The author does an excellent job showing how the fears of the white people led to a situation which was very similar to the Salem Witchcraft Trials which were only a relatively short time in their past.

Blacks would be picked up and tortured to get confessions, and they would implicate other blacks in the 'plot.' The leaders of those doing the questioning, though, considered Blacks of limited intelligence, and assumed that their 'real brains' behind the plot just had to be a white person, so even some whites were picked up for questioning.

This was also not a small number of people involved, either. It ended up that 17 Black men were hung. Another 13 Black men were burned alive at the stake. Two white men and two white women were also hung for their alleged involvement in this 'plot.'

In addition to all of this, Phoebe has to struggle with a major decision. A Black doctor has given her some poisoned food to give to two of the Blacks who are scheduled to be burned alive. It would kill them before the fires would become bad and thus would ease their suffering. She has to decide if this is the right thing to do, and if she is the person that can do it.

All of this is written in a very realistic manner, bringing the reader right into the midst of everything going on. Definitely an interesting, if upsetting, book to read.

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