A Time for Everything (49 page)

The end of the war didn’t mark the end
of the African American struggle. While not held in bondage, former
slaves were far from sharing the freedoms of white Americans. They
were often forced into indentured servitude, like Lucy and Tipp
were, as I discovered in an article entitled “Not Free Yet” on
PBS.org. Former masters often threatened their former slaves with
violence or prison time, going so far as to have them convicted of
“crimes” so they would have to work in order to keep from being
locked up or paying huge fines. Sometimes they took advantage of
their former slaves’ illiteracy, promising fair wages and land if
they would simply sign their X on the dotted line. In the
tumultuous, war-torn South, one couldn’t blame these freed men and
women for agreeing to remain under contract in exchange for what
they hoped was a better situation. Striking out on their own could
be deadly in a society that hated and resented them. But once bound
by contract, they soon realized they were no better off than
before.

Former slaves weren’t the only ones who had to rebuild their
lives around tremendous obstacles after the war. Veterans like Beau
and Harry came home to dead loved ones and plundered properties. If
they were lucky enough to not have lost a limb, they could still
work, but the South’s economy had bottomed out. Keeping the land
they once called home sometimes wasn’t possible. Wounded men were
also more likely to come home addicted to morphine. Some historians
argue about the numbers of addicts created by the war, (The
Straight Dope.com) but considering how army doctors at the time
used opiates to treat everything from wounds to diarrhea, it’s
probable that a great many soldiers became dependent on morphine.
Opiates were also widely used in civilian life. Many high-bred
ladies kept a bottle of laudanum in their medicine cabinets to
combat menstrual cramps, headaches, and even to achieve the pale
complexions that were fashionable in the day, as we can see in
Polly’s example.

Our story didn’t rely solely on
characters with addictions and wounds. A few straight-laced, actual
historical figures made special appearances to guide our characters
along and balance things out a bit. One in particular was an Irish
minister named Joseph McGee. His story intrigued me enough to make
him instrumental in helping Beau with Lucy and Tipp’s escape to
freedom. This young, determined man survived bouts of illness, a
swordfight (which he won), homelessness, and angry mobs to start a
mission for fugitive slaves in Nashville in 1863 and later founded
a school for freed slaves. He died a young man of 36, disappointed
that his efforts were overshadowed with better-funded schools such
as Fisk University. But it was McKee’s efforts that helped pave the
way for freed slaves in middle Tennessee to receive the education
they so rightly deserved. His inclusion as a fundamental character
in this story is partly a way to honor his forgotten
contributions.

Many more facts and events
went into the making of this book, but they are too numerous to
list here. Visit my website at
www.mystiparker.com
for
additional information.

About the
Author

Mysti Parker is a wife,
mother, and shameless chocoholic. While her first love is romance,
including two series and an award-winning historical, she enjoys
writing flash fiction (the weirder the better) and children's
stories. When she’s not writing, Mysti works as a freelance editor,
serves as a mentor in a 7-week writing course (F2K), and reviews
books for SQ Mag, an online speculative fiction magazine. She
resides in Buckner, KY with her husband, three children and too
many pets.

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