Kojo
Chapter Summary
In the chapter titled “Kojo”, the story starts with a ship called Alice being searched by the police. All the black workers are rounded up to be interrogated about a theft, one by one. Kojo, though, has anxiety about anyone wearing any sort of formal uniform, so he decides to leave the ship, and asks one of his colleagues to pretend to be him during the roll call. Since he leaves work early, he decides to visit the workplace of his wife, Anna, and adopted mother, Ma Aku, at the Mathisons – an old rich white family, whose family’s house was once a safehouse in the Underground Railroad. Whenever Kojo visits, he always helps out with the cleaning since Anna is pregnant (with their 8th child) and Ma Akua is old and sick.
Kojo always tries to be a good and present father for his kids since he was not able to be with his parents – who were enslaved. He knows all of his children’s characteristics and loves his family very much.
The next day at work, Anna shows up, which concerns Kojo because she never comes to see him at work. She tells him that he is needed at the Mathisons as soon as possible. This scares Kojo due to Ma Aku’s sickness, however it turns out that the Mathisons have called Kojo over to warn him of a new law being drafted by the southern countries: The Fugitive Slave Act. They warn that if it is passed, law enforcement can arrest any black person, even one who is free, as an alleged runway. The Mathisons encourage Kojo and his family to move up north since both Kojo and Ma Aku are runaways; Anna and the children were born free. However, Kojo decides to keep the family in Baltimore since he knows that Ma Aku will not move and would not call another country home unless it was the Gold Coast. He also does not want to move because of Anna’s pregnancy. Months later, on the morning of Agnes’s wedding, news spreads that the law has passed. This causes chaos, and many black families move north.
Kojo teaches all of his kids – especially the younger ones – how to act when they are approached by law enforcement and to always show their free papers. Anna due to her being eight months pregnant, has some trouble remembering to carry her documents with her when going to work and this causes Kojo to panic. It isn’t until one day Anna does not come home, where Kojo seriously panics and goes searching for her everywhere, even going to the Mathisons for help, where they try to use their connections in finding Anna. With Kojo being restless waiting for the Mathisons, he asks his son-in-law Timmy to draw a picture of Anna, so that he can show it to people and to ask if they have seen her.
With little to no success until the Mathisons bring a young black boy and ask him to tell Kojo what he has seen. The boy recalls that on the day Anna went missing, a white man asks a heavily pregnant black woman to give a ride home in his carriage. Hearing this, Kojo immediately states that she has been kidnapped and sold as a slave, and sorrowly goes home and tells Ma Aku, where she hugs him and lets him cry.
Ten years pass and Kojo never gives up on his search for Anna, however this causes a rift between him and his children, who due to his behavior do not want to be near him. One day at a bar, a man sitting next to him says that war is coming, while the bartender thinks it's a sham and that the US would not go to war. The man however is persistent.
Character Analysis
Kojo
Son of Ness Stockham and Sam.
Nickname: Jo
Ma Aku
Ma Aku can be perceived as a mother figure to Kojo, helping him escape slavery and reach freedom, unlike his parents. She takes care of Kojo and his family and helps them when needed. She also helps Kojo’s parents, Ness and Sam, when she tries to help them escape; however, she was only able to get Kojo with her. Ma Aku is a character of importance because she reminds Kojo of his family and bloodline by telling him stories of his homeland, trying to keep home in his mind.
Anna
Anna is Kojo’s wife, and the mother of his eight children. She was born free; however, she becomes enslaved by the end of Kojo’s chapter. She is perceived as a devoted mother to her children as well as a loving wife to Kojo. Anna does not fear slavery as much as Kojo does, perhaps because she was never enslaved. She instead has legal paperwork which should’ve kept and her children safe. However, despite the legal documentation, she gets taken when is pregnant with H, and she gets sold into slavery.
Mathison
Mathison is Ma Aku’s and Anna’s employer. He is a wealthy white man residing in Baltimore. And his character is friendly, and helpful, unlike most white characters perceived throughout the novel. He speaks nicely to Kojo, Anna and Ma Aku. Mathison’s character is of significance since he tries to help Kojo find Anna when she goes missing. He also warns the family of the new law and tries to help them by double-checking that they have their paperwork in order.
The Children
Kojo and Anna’s right children were named in alphabetical order: Agnes, Beulah, Cato, Daly, Eurias, Felicity, and H.
Agnes is the eldest child of the house, when she turned sixteen and got a cleaning job at the Methodist church. She also marries the pastor’s son, Timmy, two weeks later. Like all her siblings, Agnes does not worry about slavery as her father does. She and her siblings were all born free with proper documentation like their mother.
Pastor John
Pastor John is a pastor in a church that Kojo and Ma Aku went to. He is committed to Christianity, as he kicks out Kojo and Ma Aku from congregations once for “teaching Jo ways of old African witchcraft” (Gyasi 119). He also officiates his son’s wedding to Kojo’s daughter Agnes.
John Jr
John Jr is the pastor’s son and Timmy’s brother.
Timmy
Timmy is the pastor’s son. He is also Agnes’s husband. He is friendly and helpful since he tries to help Kojo find Anna when goes missing. Timmy’s character is important because he draws Kojo a picture of Anna so Kojo can go around and ask people if they have seen her.
James Hamlet
James Hamlet is a Baltimore runaway. He was the first to be taken away after the new law came out. James was captured and convicted in New York. James Hamlet’s character is essential in this chapter since he represents the first, but not the last, to get affected by the new law that was passed down, where any runaway slave had to be returned to the South.
Poot
Poot is Kojo’s colleague who works with him on the ships. Poot is of caring nature since he covers for Kojo when the police come. Poot, like Anna, was born a free man. He has lived in Baltimore and has worked on ships almost his whole life. He is also a loyal friend to Kojo, as he would protect him when needed. For example, when Kojo lit fires on the ships, Poot would put the fire out. Poot also told the boss he’d quit if the boss fired Kojo, which demonstrates Poot’s loyalty to Kojo
Major Themes and Images
Freedom (Papers)
The theme of freedom is very prevalent in this chapter, after escaping slavery as a baby, Kojo is the first free man since his grandmother. Both his mother and grandmother were slaves. Kojo’s wife is also a free woman, and therefore so are their kids. This theme of freedom is symbolized by the papers and also by the name “Freeman”, that many of the black people in Baltimore had. The papers become a very important symbol by the end of the chapter as that is all Black people have to prove that they are in fact free people and not slaves. However, as the chapter nears an end, it is shown how actually useless the papers are, as Anna (Kojo’s wife) gets captured anyway, despite owning the freedom papers. This represents the systematic ways in which racism operated, because as a Black person, even if you were legally a free person under the law, you do not actually have freedom.
Alice
A recurring symbol throughout this chapter are the boats Kojo works on, specifically the “Alice”. He works on making the boats, which Ma Aku feels very unsettled by. She thought it was wrong for Kojo to be building the very things that had helped enslave his ancestors, and bring them to America. Kojos own grandmother Esi was brought to America in such a ship. These slaves ships represent the violence the slaves were subjected to, and the dehumanizing conditions in which they were kept. So, for Kojo to be working on them can be seen as him contributing to this issue.
Key Quotations
“Somebody had robbed old Alice, which meant the police would come sniffing around the boat, asking all the ship workers if they knew anything about it. Jo's reputation was spotless. He'd worked on the ships in Fell's Point for nearly two years and had never given anybody any trouble. But still, whenever a boat was robbed, all the black dockworkers were rounded up and questioned." P. 104
This quotation in the chapter of Kojo indicates racism towards the black community, which is a motif seen throughout the story. When any boat's belongings get stolen, they blame the black people in the boat. Even if Kojo managed to escape the boat with the help of his friend, racism and the fear of being targeted for being black became part of his daily life, making him feel exhausted. Despite Kojo being able to avoid problems on the boat and leaving the police not knowing about it due to them not distinguishing between every black person, he was jumpy around the police. Indeed, the police have been harsh and ruthless towards the black community, which triggers this fear whenever he sees any black person.
“She said there was something evil about them building up the things that had brought them to America in the first place, the very things that had tried to drag them under.” P. 104
In this quotation, Akua, who is like a mother figure of Kojo, describes her fear of boats by telling H that boats are evil and dragged them into the waters so H has to stop building one. Akua had gone through a lot regarding slavery and how she always felt like freedom would never be an option for her, so in this quote, she displays concern and associates building boats with the past traumas she has gone through. Ma Aku had traveled by sea during slavery and suffered in the water as several enslaved people lost their lives due to the harsh conditions they were put in because of the slave traders. Therefore, Akua fears water and boats because of what she went through when coming to America. The fear of water and boats Akua, Ness, his mother, and Esi, his grandmother, share, but Kojo does not due to his disconnection from his family since a young age.
"His free papers named him Kojo Freeman. Freeman. Half the ex-slaves in Baltimore had the name. Tell a lie long enough, and it will turn to truth." P. 105
In this quotation, Kojo understands that the white people have "free" in their names, and Kojo holds the word “free” as his last name, and later on, most ex-enslaved people in Baltimore took that last name. Kojo is not a slave, but slavery and the police have always had him in fear. Even though he has "free" as his last name, racism, slavery, and fear have always been part of his life. Furthermore, he has the last name "free," but his pregnant wife, Anna, does not, so she has been taken into slavery. He fears being a target of the police due to his complexion, which becomes anxiety in his life, but the last name "free" helps him become free.
“Jo only knew the South from the stories Ma Aku told him, same way he knew his mother and father, Ness and Sam. As stories and nothing more.” P. 105
In this quote, the stories are used to shows the the view Kojo has on what water and boats are, which is the opposite than what it means to other people in the stories Ma Aku tells him. Kojo’s feeling to the water is love and that is because he did not go through what Akua has gone through in the South from trauma in the water. Kojo did not know about the traumas his ancestors went through during their trade to the United States of America, and because of his disconnection from his family, he would not feel the fear of the waters. Therefore, he had not inherited the fear of water like Akua, Ness, his mother, whom he did not know well, or other individuals who were part of slavery.
“She was a little strange, a little off, still dreaming of the country she’d been ripped from years and years before. She could often be found looking out at the water, looking as if she would jump in, try to find her way home.” P. 106
In this quotation, Kojo sees that Akua is behaving in a strange manner, and especially when she is gazing into the water she seems distant. Akua’s gaze made Kojo feel that she was acting strangely as he referred to her "a little strange" and from her gaze she seems like she is trying to find her way back home. After being forced to America, Akua’s adaptation was the hardest because it was a new environment to her that did not include her home. Akua had many memories of her home and would have always wished to return. Akua's gaze indicates how she was never over the trauma from the water, which continued haunting her and reminding her of the trauma of being taken away from her home into the western land.
“...until the pastor and the father said she was teaching Jo the ways of old African witchcraft and kicked them out of the congregation.” P. 106
After Kojo had asked Akua what to do when he liked a girl, Ma Aku said that when a boy likes a girl, he is obligated to bring the father of the girl a gift. Afterward, Kojo goes by the river to find a gift and he finds a frog and catches it as a gift and goes to the church to the father of the girl he likes and give it to him. It was funny to Ma Akua that he caught a frog as a gift, and she laughed during the congregation. However, as Christianity takes over the Gold Coast, the pastor gets mad at Ma Akua as he assumes that she was teaching Kojo witchcraft and kicks out Kojo and Akua from the church. The act of kicking them out of the church demonstrates how Kojo and Akua felt like outsiders when the spread of Christianity has occurred in the Gold Coast.
"Being a good father felt like a debt Jo owed to his parents, who couldn't get free." P. 107
Kojo did not face slavery back home, but his parents were not lucky enough to be free like him. Due to the circumstances, his father, who has never been free, was never around to be a father to him. Being dissociated from family and heritage is what Kojo has been feeling his entire life after losing his family. Family separation was frequent during this era, and although Kojo felt "free," he felt like he owned his parents' debt for being a good father to his children and being there for them. This shows that even when he has the last name "free," he is not free from his obligations and responsibilities.
“She and Anna led Jo into the parlor, where Mathison and a handful of other white men were sitting on the plush white couches, the cushions so full they looked like small hills, or the backs of elephants.” P. 110
In this quotation, Mathison asks for Kojo, so Ma Aku sends Anna to bring Kojo. Upon calling Kojo, Ma Aku and Anna were worried and curious as it was unfamiliar for Mathison to call Jo "Kojo." Further, Mathison and the other white men who are sitting on the couch seem like the "backs of elephants" or "small hills," which means that they look intimidating when aligned in such a way. Moreover, the suspense arises when Ma Aku and Anna wait for Kojo's arrival to know what Mathison wants when he calls out Kojo by his real name. However, calling him Kojo instead of Jo is a sign of respect for Kojo's culture.
““Taking away your name is the first step,” he’d said somberly. So somberly that Jo hadn’t felt it wise to ask what he was thinking—the first step to what?” P. 111
In this quotation, When Ma Aku calls Jo "Kojo," Mathison asks her the meaning of the name. Ma Aku explains that it means born on Monday, and it is an Ashantis name for the boys. After that, Mathison did not want to call Kojo Jo because he believed it was the "first step" to stripping someone from their heritage and culture. The way Mathison phrased his sentence made Kojo hesitant to ask him what he meant by "the first step." As Mathison understands, the phrase means that taking the first name was the first step to strip the individuals from their identity and freedom.
““The white man told us he was the way, and we said yes, but when has the white man ever told us something was good for us and that thing was really good? They say you are an African witch, and so what? So what? Who told them what a witch was?” P. 114
In this quote, Ma Aku explains the complications to Kojo on the matter of the white man's god. To her, the white man's god connects to what she has of memory of the white man whom she was taught to respect as his way is the only correct way. She reveals to Kojo that being exposed to anything the white man says is the proper way, and his way must be accepted and respected because it is the white man who said it. She argues that the white man never tells them anything that benefits them or their community and calls them witches, so the white man is wrong in his situation. The entitlement of white people has conditioned the black community into believing and respecting all they say, and that entitlement comes from the position of power. The white man, in this case, does not think of anything good about Africans but witches and slaves.
“Jo used to worry that his family line had been cut off, lost forever. He would never truly know who his people were, and who their people were before them, and if there were stories to be heard about where he had come from, he would never hear them. When he felt this way, Ma Aku would hold him against her, and instead of stories about family she would tell him stories about nations. The Fantes of the Coast, the Asantes of the Inland, the Akans.” P. 121
In this quotation, Kojo feels that he has lost his heritage, and he develops the need to know about his family as he thinks that he does not know his people’s past and might never listen to the family’s stories if there are any. Kojo never truly knew his grandmother, Esi, nor his mother, Ness, so to compensate for this, Ma Aku, the mother figure to Kojo, tells him stories from other sides of his culture but not of his family to fill the feeling of emptiness he has. Ma Aku intends to tell him stories from different sides of his culture because she wants to show Kojo that there are more stories to hear about his people than the family he did not know, and there is more to his culture than his family.
Historical Context & Additional Resources
In the 1800s, Baltimore’s population was considered relatively diverse compared to neighboring states. According to the Baltimore Heritage Area Association, the aftermath of the Revolutionary War led to the expansion of Baltimore’s economy, with an increase in immigrants from Europe. This new economy was comprised of slaves, European immigrants, white people, and free black people (Handler and Wallman 441). In 1830, over 75% of the African American population in Baltimore City and County were free, as seen by the chart provided by the U.S. Census Bureau (Baltimore’s Civil Rights Heritage). However, Baltimore’s industry heavily depended on African American labor, regardless of whether they were slaves or free. In fact, they built the first American railroad in 1814 and paved roads throughout the landscapes of North America (Schley 443).
The Secession movement involved 11 Southern states that believed that the constitution allowed them to leave the United States, forming the Confederate States of America (Gienapp). In 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was passed federally, and people exploited it heavily to re-enslave runaway slaves and any black person (Baker 26). Southern states enforced this as their industries depended on the exploitation of slaves. In the Northern states, the Underground Railroad was practiced by community members to provide shelter to fugitive enslaved people and African Americans in Safehouses (Onion). William Garrison was one of the prominent abolitionists that protested to end slavery in the United States before the Civil War (Oldfield).
In 1865, the Civil War ended and the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, however, according to Kim Gilmore, “slavery was abolished except as a punishment for crime” (197). Despite the abolishment of slavery, states underwent a set of laws, referred to as Jim Crow laws, that made racial segregation legal to restrict the freedoms of African Americans (Rothstein 205). According to Baltimore Heritage Area Association, Jim Crow laws enabled a new form of systemic institutionalized racism that was placed to punish and further exploit African Americans in residential areas, educational institutions, and the public.
The Effects of Segregation: Baltimore’s Map in 1937 (Wood)
After the Civil War, the Niagara Movement was formed to promote rights and equal opportunities for all Americans (Lemons 102). The leaders of this organization were a part of Baltimore church leaders such as Dr. Gamett Russel Waller and Dr. Harvey Johnson (Baltimore’s Civil Rights Heritage). As a result of such similar movements, the establishment of universities and schools for African Americans in Baltimore drastically influenced their economic opportunities and living standards.
"A story done by ABC News in 1999 about slavery as told by people who were slaves. Recorded in the 1940's"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZfcc21c6Uo
Works Cited
Baker, H. “The Fugitive Slave Act.” The Rescue of Joshua Glover: A Fugitive Slave, the Constitution, and the Coming of the Civil War, 1st ed., Ohio University Press, 2006, pp. 26–57. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1j7x57c.6. Accessed 1 Dec. 2022.
Baltimore’s Civil Rights Heritage. “1831-1884: Abolition and Emancipation.” Baltimore’s Civil Rights Heritage, 2018, https://baltimoreheritage.github.io/civil-rights-heritage/1831-1884/. Accessed 1 Dec. 2022.
Baltimore National Heritage Area. “A Lasting Legacy: Baltimore’s African American History.” Explore Baltimore, 6 Aug. 2020, www.explorebaltimore.org/city-history/a-brief-overview-of-baltimores-african-american-history. Accessed 1 Dec. 2022.
Gienapp, William. Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America: A Biography. Oxford UP, 2002.
Gilmore, Kim. “Slavery and Prison — Understanding the Connections.” Social Justice, vol. 27, no. 3 (81), 2000, pp. 195–205. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/29767242. Accessed 1 Dec. 2022.
Gyasi, Yara. Homegoing. Alfred A. Knope, 2016.
Handler, Jerome, and Diane Wallman. “Production Activities in the Household Economies of Plantation Slaves: Barbados and Martinique, Mid-1600s to Mid-1800s.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology, vol. 18, no. 3, 2014, pp. 441–66. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24572728. Accessed 1 Dec. 2022.
Lemons, J. Stanley. “Black Stereotypes as Reflected in Popular Culture, 1880-1920.” American Quarterly, vol. 29, no. 1, JSTOR, 1977, p. 102. https://doi.org/10.2307/2712263. Accessed 1 Dec. 2022.
Oldfield. “Abolition of the Slave Trade and Slavery in Britain.” The British Library, 2021, www.bl.uk/restoration-18th-century-literature/articles/abolition-of-the-slave-trade-and-slavery-in-britain. Accessed 1 Dec. 2022.
Onion, Amanda. “Underground Railroad.” History, 25 Jan. 2022, www.history.com/topics/black-history/underground-railroad. Accessed 1 Dec. 2022.
Rothstein, Richard. “From Ferguson to Baltimore: The Fruits of Government-Sponsored Segregation.” Journal of Affordable Housing & Community Development Law, vol. 24, no. 2, 2015, pp. 205–10. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26408163. Accessed 1 Dec. 2022.
Schely, David. “A Natural History of the Early American Railroad.” Early American Studies, vol. 13, no. 2, 2015, pp. 443–66. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24474896. Accessed 1 Dec. 2022.
Wood, Joseph. “The Historical Geography of Racial Segregation in Baltimore.” RepConference, 2017, repconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Wood_Historical-Geography-of-Racial-Segregation-in-Baltimore.pdf. Accessed 1 Dec. 2022.
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