Abina And The Important Men Essay

Abina and the Important Men is a powerful graphic book that follows the trial of Abina Mansah in 1876. Abina is originally from Asante which is now today Ghana. She is sold into slavery even though slavery has been outlawed by the British. Abina is sold to a man named Quamina Eddoo in Saltpond by her current Master who she thinks she is supposed to marry. She escapes from Eddoo in the middle of the night and goes to a town called Cape Coast where she heard that all people were free. When she gets into the town she starts talking to some of the locals who are working and they tell her that she needs to find a place to live and work or the British will put her in jail. She approaches a man named James Davis. He informs her that she has to get a job and a place to stay. As she begins to cry he offers her a job as a maid for him. Abina is happy with her new life until one day she sees Quamina Eddoo in town. She runs back to James and begs him to help her put Eddoo in jail for having slaves. He agrees to help her so, the next day Davis visits with the Magistrate, William Melton. Mr. Melton tells Davis that he is putting him in a tough situation because the British rely on these men to produce palm oil for them and that they do not want to start a legal battle. Eventually, Melton agrees to hear out the case. One of the very first
Part one “The Graphic History” is a graphic representation of the story which is told by the author, Trevor R. Getz. Part two “The Transcript” is a document which the story was based on. Part three “The Historical Context” is all the background information about Abina and where she was originally born in West Africa. The author, Getz, took the transcript of Abina’s trial and created a great graphic history of her story. All of these parts combined help better interpret the story of Abina Mansah. Historians tell the story of Abina by interpreting and translating her sorrowful