When the boat finally docked late in the afternoon, it was met by several other slaves, the owner’s wife, Elizabeth, and a white overseer named Andrew Perkins, who was quite deferential to the owner and seemed to be a polite and gentle man. Mr. Mordecai pointed out the five slaves to Perkins, assumed that the supplies would be properly unloaded, and walked to the big house with his wife. Perkins immediately changed character, cursing the slaves, giving excessive orders in harsh terms, and then ordering the new slaves to step forward.

He walked slowly around them, prodding each one with the butt of his riding whip. Finally, he asked, “What are your bloody names?” One by one, the four men responded, and when Quanimo gave hers, he shouted, “What the hell kind of name is that?”

She mumbled, “Dunno, sah, jes muname.”

Perkins thought for a minute and said, “You need a short one, like ever’body else. From now on, your name is Quash.”

Later, Quanimo learned that this was the way it was entered on the plantation’s books, and what her white masters and the other slaves would always call her.

Quash quickly learned the Georgia laws and plantation rules designed to control slaves: they needed a written paper to leave the plantation; no more than seven males could travel together without a white to accompany them; they could not carry a firearm, purchase liquor, or buy or sell anything; large assemblies were prohibited, as was the playing of drums, horns, or other loud instruments that might call slaves together. Some of the prohibitions were ignored, such as assembling and playing music, but they could be imposed at any time and the slaves were made to feel that they had special privileges when the laws were not strictly enforced. Also, some of the best slave musicians were ordered to play for plantation owners’ parties.

Quash was assigned to one of the smallest shacks, where she found two women and five small children living. Her part of the space was four nails on the wall, and a place on the floor large enough for a tick filled with rice straw. There was a small clump of palmettos behind the shack, where all of them relieved themselves. Sarah, a middle-aged woman, was from Sierra Leone, and Ida, a few years older than Quash, thought she was from Ghana. Both had been on the plantation for four years and had never worked anywhere except in the fields or in the large garden.