The Glory Field Summaries
April 1900, Curry Island, South Carolina
(pg. 71-137) - ANS-About 30 years have passed, and Lizzy and Richard Lewis' child,
Elijah, is the protagonist. Moses and Saran now have 8 acres of land bordering Live
Oaks, but their not being able to pay taxes is a problem, and they worry about losing
their land. Suddenly, a blind boy, David Turner, is lost when on a trip with Foster. Hamlin
Turner, David's wealthy father, offers 35 dollars for someone to find David. Elijah and his
cousin Abby volunteer to get the money, and Elijah is confident he will be able to find
David, as he knows the whole place well. Sheriff Glover also volunteers to go with Elijah
and Abby, so they head off. Elijah originally steers toward Key Island, where he thinks
David is, but once on the island, he realizes that it is not Key Island.
However, Elijah finds David and Foster, who is holding on to David. Foster has a
broken leg. Elijah calls Sheriff Glover over (Abby is keeping the boat anchored). They
get successfully back to Curry Island, but Sheriff Glover gets all the credit and is in the
newspaper, where Elijah's name is not mentioned. However, Elijah does actually get 35
dollars later, because Hamlin says that his boy is more important than any amount of
money.
Elijah gives the money to Saran and Moses, who call it "stuck money", which is money
that sticks in a black person's hand for more than two minutes, instead of money that a
slaveowner gives then takes right back after making some "calculations" on a pad. A
new man in town, Frank Petty, wants to borrow Elijah's boat, the Pele Queen. Elijah tells
him no. Drunk and armed with his fellow drunk friends, Frank Petty plans on beating
Elijah that night. However, Sheriff Glover comes by Elijah's house and warns the family.
With 17 dollars in his pocket which Saran and Moses pushed upon him, Elijah goes up
north to Chicago and stay with Joshua Lewis.
August 1994, Harlem, New York
(pg. 291-368) - ANS-Luvenia is the great-aunt of Malcolm Lewis, a musician who starts
a music group called String Theory. Malcolm works for Luvenia. We learn that the Glory
Field is about to become a resort, and the Lewises are having a family reunion on the
Glory Field.
Malcolm holds auditions for String Theory, and a Chinese girl, Jenn Po, auditions. She
plays amplified cello. She is extremely talented and wants to try a new kind of music,
instead of the classical music she usually plays. Malcolm and his drug-addicted cousin,
,Shep, are given money to fly to the Glory Field. Shep takes responsibility of his money,
though he spends it on drugs as soon as he can, so the two boys have to ride the bus.
The bus trip is not very pleasant, as Shep throws up. The boys are kicked out and ride
in the back of a truck (which is transporting tannery products) to the Glory Field. At the
family reunion, they meat Dr. Jennie Lewis, Tommy's widow and Planter Lewis,
Tommy's father. Tommy died in Vietnam.
The Lewis family brings in the final crop of sweet potatoes from the Glory Field.
Epilogue
(pg. 369-375) - ANS-Malcolm Lewis, fifteen-years-old, is the main protagonist in the
book's final portion. It is August 1994 in Harlem, New York. Elijah is the only son of
Charles and Celia Lewis. Luvenia Lewis is his great-aunt. Shep Lewis, Malcolm's
cousin, is also introduced in this story. He is the same age as Malcolm, but the pair are
polar opposites. While Malcolm sees his family as a source of love and support, Shep is
a drug addict who thinks he cannot live up to the high standards of the Lewis family.
Malcolm thinks that Shep is a lost cause. Shep thinks this, too. Malcolm is still at
school, but is also a talented musician and composer. He works part-time in his
great-aunt Luvenia cosmetics factory. He does not think too much about life, the past,
and what it means to be a part of the Lewis family. It isn't until his journey to the reunion
with Shep that he starts to see things differently. His great-aunt Luvenia asks Malcolm to
find Shep and take him to the reunion in the hope that the journey may help Shep
recover.
However, it is also apparent that Luvenia asks Malcolm to do this so that he can learn
something too. Malcolm takes his life for granted, and this will be the first time he has
had to take care of another human being. On arrival at the Glory Field, Malcolm
experiences another awakening. There, he not only meets the rest of the family, but
also Robert (Planter) Lewis, Tommy's father. While helping Planter and the rest of the
family bring in the last crop of sweet potatoes from the fields, Malcolm is told stories
about his ancestors, and the shackles worn by Muhammad in 1753.
Malcolm realizes he is a part of something special, strong and unbreakable. The
importance of his ancestors and his family finally dawns on him. In the Epilogue, the
shackles bought by Planter at the auction are passed on to Malcolm, follow
January 1964, Johnson City, South Carolina
, (pg. 209-290) - ANS-Tommy Lewis is the grandson of Abby, Elijah's cousin. Tommy is a
basketball star who plays for the Curry Cougars. The section begins with a basketball
game, Curry vs Delaney (formerly Calhoun), the heavy favorite. After the Curry Cougars
win the championship, Leonard Chase, a basketball scout, offers Tommy an opportunity
to skip his last year of high school and go to college, as long as he does not get mixed
up in any riots or marches. When he gets home, Tommy gets news that his white friend,
Skeeter, has been bitten by a rattlesnake. Tommy's family rushes Skeeter to the
hospital, where he makes a recovery. However, when Skeeter is attacked by the KKK
for marching with the blacks and almost loses an eye, Tommy wants to do something.
At a press conference, he shackles himself to Sheriff Moser, a sheriff who does not
allow protests in Johnson City. When Sheriff Moser tells Tommy to unshackle him as
this is an "illegal demonstration", Tommy tells him that when his ancestor was sent to
America to be a slave, they shackled him with these shackles. He tells the Sheriff that
the slave catchers only gave him the shackles, and that they did not give him the key.
Tommy ends up in jail with a white man named Bobby Joe. Bobby Joe is given a pistol.
When he is released, Tommy finds out that Leonard Chase will not help him get into
college.
July 1753, off the coast of Sierra Leone, West Africa
(pg. 3-8) - ANS-The first part of the story tells of Muhammad Bilal, who is also called
Hammad by his descendants (though he doesn't know it!). Muhammad is eleven years
old when he is captured by slave catchers. As revealed later in the story, Muhammad
was fighting a lion (Simba) when the slave catchers came. They caught him after he
had killed the lion and was on the ground, exhausted. The slave catchers were of the
same race as Muhammad. They were not white.
The story starts when Muhammad is on the crowded slave ship. He is shackled. The
shackles reappear later in the book as well. The chapter describes a man with a dry
throat and the dust on the ship. The place where Muhammad is sent to is Curry Island.
March 1864, Live Oaks Plantation, Curry Island, South Carolina
(pg. 9-70) - ANS-Things jump almost 100 years to Lizzy Lewis, a slave who works on
the Live Oaks Plantation. She is probably fourteen. She is related to the Lewises by
marriage (the slaves take the last name of their owner). Lizzy lives withMoses and
Saran. Moses is the great-grandson of Muhammad.
Moses' brother, Joshua, has escaped. Joshua is married to Neela, who is owned by
Foster. Neela and Joshua were married secretly, because Foster wanted to split the
children, though Lewis did not. When Joshua find out that Foster is going to be selling
some slaves, he figures Neela will be sold and runs away in advance.
