Seattle Reads -- Plus Film and Discussion Series About Slavery

2009 Seattle Reads “My Jim”

by Nancy Rawles

the campus community is invited to

Meet the Author

Thursday, May 21st, noon – 1:30pm, Room BE1110

Nancy Rawles' powerful, moving novel is a harrowing account of slavery and a testament to the power of love and longing for freedom, survival of families and tradition.

In My Jim, the author re-imagines Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the slave's perspective. The story follows Jim's family as they struggle to cope with his loss after his escape down the Mississippi.

My Jim is told in the voice of Sadie, the wife of Huck's enslaved traveling companion.

The novel recasts Jim as more than a runaway drifting down the Mississippi River with a delinquent youth, more than the gullible victim and moral father figure to Huck in Twain's work.

In telling the familiar tale from a different perspective, Rawles considers the shattered families of many slaves.” [from Seattle Public Library]

Slavery: Past & Present - a film & discussion series

Gorée: Door of No Return

Tuesday, May 26th, 10-11am, Library Room A

This documentary looks at the origins of slavery in the Americas, and the development of Gorée Island as a center of the expanding slave trade. Today, the island is a monument to an ignoble past.

Dreams Die Hard

Wednesday, June 3rd, 10-11am, Library Room A

Filmmaker Peggy Callahan profiles several people trapped in slavery across the United States.

The stories highlight these survivors’ passion for freedom and justice, not just for themselves, but also for victims of slavery worldwide.

Let’s gather to explore themes of slavery, love, freedom, survival, family, and tradition presented in Seattle author Nancy Rawles’ novel, My Jim.