Running head: THE BOOK OF NEGROES

The Book of Negroes

Malika ONeill
The Lincoln University
April 23, 2016

The Book of Negroes

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has
fulfilled the law. For the commandments, You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder,
you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and any other commandment, are summed up in this
word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore
love is the fulfilling of the law. Romans 13: 8-10. Although Aminatas father taught her the
Quran and how to read in Arabic, I reflect through a bible verse that symbolizes all the
injustices that have come upon Aminata for the purpose of this paper. In the movie, The Book of
Negroes, by Lawrence Hill, Aminata Diallo was an African woman from Bayo, in western
Africa, who was taken from her mother Mama Diallo and her father Mamadu Diallo at age 11.
She experienced numerous injustices that greatly impacted her lifes development. She

THE BOOK OF NEGROES

2

experienced abuse, rape, betrayal, slavery, racism, sexism, starvation, being a widow,
helplessness, grief and many other injustices. As a young child she witnessed the deaths of both
of her parents as she was captured and taken into custody. Her parents tried to fight for her
resulting in them losing their lives. Aminatas father would always tell her to find her way home
and later in the movie she does just that.
Abuse can be defined as verbal, physical, mental, spiritual and even psychological. Abuse
symbolizes the improper use of something or the misuse someone. Aminata Diallo, experienced
abused throughout the entire movie from being raped by her slave owner, to the starvation she
endured as a child while being captured. She experienced betrayal when her daughter May, was
taken and sold as well as when Mr. Lindo, a Jewish man that Aminata was sold too and grew to
trust, was found to had taken part of the selling of her child. Mr. Lindo also lied about Aminatas
daughter, May being infected with smallpox illness and passing away.
Multiculturalism and social justice play a huge part in the counseling process and the
relationship between therapist and client. If I had Mrs. Diallo as a client I would implement
multiculturalism by first having an open mind and wiliness to accept change. I use the word
change because I believe that in order to be multicultural as a counselor you have to also be
transparent and allow yourself to embrace some level of being uncomfortable. Multiculturalism
symbolizes the diversity between the therapist and client. I believe that it is important for
counselors to be educated and aware of other cultural backgrounds that differ from their own.
According to Ratts, M. J., & Pedersen, P. (2014), due to the lack of multiculturalism, research
has been ineffective and clinical practices diverse clients into white culture. I believe this is
important because it doesnt recognize the accomplishments of minority groups and just gears
clients into a white culture rather introduce them to multiple cultures. I would educate myself on

THE BOOK OF NEGROES

3

slavery and also her cultural background such as her hometown, her language, slave trades etc.
For me I have experienced racism but not to this extent. My goal would be to acknowledge what
I do not know but also educate myself in areas that would help me better understand Mrs. Diallo.
Social justice and multiculturalism intertwine and if used together will enrich the outcome of
therapy for both the counselor and the client. The overall goal of social justice is to empower
individuals. Mrs. Diallo accomplished a lot in her development. As a child she knew multiple
languages that people twice her age and even the British men did not know. She was educated on
how to read and write and her mother at a young age taught her how to catch babies. Thus, these
are examples why multiculturalism is important in counseling. As Mrs. Diallos counselor I
would make sure to praise her on those accomplishments despite the barriers that taunt her and
the injustices that she experienced throughout her life she has been blessed with the ability to.
Using social justice in counseling will indeed help the therapist guide the client to their fullest
potential. Implementing social justice in counseling will allow the client to be able to get the best
out of therapy. Social Justice demonstrates fairness to the client and allows the counselor to build
a trusting relationship.
There are five forces of counseling and out of the five forces of counseling; the one I would
select in working with Mrs. Diallo would be the fifth force, social justice. The key concepts to
this force of counseling are personal is political critical consciousness, advocacy, competence,
and past and present oriented, which I believe all are important in working with Mrs. Diallo. This
force is goal oriented by setting forth goals such as externalizing oppression; connecting clients
problems with systemic barriers and helping them become able to move forward without the
baggage weighing them down. Mrs. Diallo, in my opinion needs more than just traditional
therapy, she needs and advocate someone that will work in communities to unjust systematic

THE BOOK OF NEGROES

4

barriers and make a change. Majority of Mrs. Diallos issues do not stem from internal
development it stems from external environmental factors that were put upon her. I believe this
force would be beneficial to Mrs. Diallo because it also focuses on the counselor and changes the
counselors role to better coexist with the clients needs in therapy.
Throughout the movie, Aminata continuously did one thing that was such empowering to me.
She was given multiple names, multiple hats to put on and roles to play but through everything
she never forgot who she was as an individual person. Therefore I would identify her with the
identify complexity. She knows the core values that identify her as an individual. She knows her
age and ethical background as well as her sexual orientation and abilities. She knows who she is
and throughout the movie from start to finish she stood her ground to remain who she was.
Multiple people changed her name and her role and she would always remind them of whom she
was which showed strength and awareness so for this reason I would identify her with the
identity complexity. Her environment tried to overpower her and in some aspect did just that but
Aminata, continued to fight for who she was as a person and despite what have been taken away
from her she still self-identified herself to what she believed and knew she was.
Although most people would use the social justice identity model in working with Mrs.
Diallo, I choose to use the heterosexual identity model in Mrs. Diallos case. This model goes
unseen a lot in todays society because most people see it as being a norm but do not realize the
growth in the development of heterosexuality. I chose this model because although Mrs. Diallo
has experienced many injustices, she has always experienced many great times and memorable
experiences, starting with her husband. It represents the part of her life that is solely hers, a
decision that she made because it was what she, herself, wanted to do and I think that is also
important to point out. After reviewing the stages of the model it explains the development of

THE BOOK OF NEGROES

5

Aminatas and Chekuras relationship. The first stage is the unexplored commitment stage where
individuals may unconsciously explore the heterosexual identity. When Chekura was helping the
people that captured Aminata, he favored her in a way he did not favor anybody else. He
provided her with water and food and at times even allowing her to go free by removing the
chains around her neck, hands and feet. I believe it was then that these had an attraction to one
another without consciously realizing it. Stage two, active exploitation status, describes the
exploitation of one sexual needs and values, Ratts, M. J., & Pedersen, P. (2014).
Years after Aminata and Chekura were separated in the slave trade, Chekura managed to find
Aminata and they reunited as friends but eventually explored a relationship with one another,
emotionally and intimately. Stage three, diffusion status is when individuals do not involve
themselves in commitment or exploration. Throughout the movie, Aminata and Chekura were in
a relationship even when they were apart for long periods of time, therefore I do not believe that
this was explored throughout the movie. Stages four and five describe how individuals deepen
there understanding of their individual and group sexual identities. Aminata and Chekura married
after a short period of time, Ratts, M. J., & Pedersen, P. (2014). They understood that they lived
different lives a distance from each other but still managed to make it work and no matter what
Chekura always seemed to return and Aminata always seemed to be waiting for him.
Working with Mrs. Diallo will indeed require the competency of the counselor. There are
many characteristics of being a competent counselor such as self-awareness, the ability to build
trusting relationships, flexibility in response styles, ability to care for self, observation skills,
assessment skills as well as many other characteristics, Monroe (2011). As mentioned before I
would implement multiculturalism into this process and also the ability to be transparent.
Although I classify as African American, which would be considered different from Mrs. Diallos

THE BOOK OF NEGROES

6

background, I still share similarities with Mrs. Diallo and would educate myself to understand
Mrs. Diallos background. To demonstrate this I would give Mrs. Diallo insight on who I am as a
counselor. This will allow her to see me as a counselor open up and make her feel comfortable. I
would demonstrate to Mrs. Diallo that I am confident in what I do as a counselor and develop a
treatment plan that is SMART (specific, measureable, attainable, realistic, and timely) for Mrs.
Diallo. Be observant is also a big one because a client should know that his/her values are being
respected and attentive to. I believe the biggest thing for Mrs. Diallo is too develop a trusting
relationship. Shes been betrayed throughout her life and as a counselor I would need to build a
relationship with her that reflects transparency and geniuses.
African American history is equipped with cultural traditions as well as built on slavery and
racism. African Americans experience both of these ways of living and learn to embrace the good
and bad. Slave trades were very popular in the 16th century, where slaves on from the central and
western Africa were sold and transported to what was called the new world. Throughout
history a lot of injustices were diminishing but at the same time other injustices were evolving.
Aminata knows all too well what it feels like to be a part of a slave trade and what it feels like to
be discriminated against. She also has fought for the slave trades to be stopped and in my opinion
thats her way to give back and help her people. I believe that experiencing these things although
not African American, Aminata may have the same difficulties in counseling.
African Americans may have a fear of the therapeutic process due to the loss of trust within
their community and the disclosure of information that comes with therapy. Ratts, M. J., &
Pedersen, P. (2014), refers to racial barriers and how African Americans may be withdrawn due
to racial factors but in my opinion I believe that even if they seek counseling within their own

THE BOOK OF NEGROES

7

community from African American counselors, they would still experience some difficulties in
therapy due to oppressions that one may be dealing with. I believe that Aminata is also
experiencing these systematic barriers and I think that she could definitely relate to the racial
identity development in many ways. After analyzing the five stages in conjunction to the identity
development I believe that shes definitely encountered the five stages. The first stage represents
the beliefs and values in which are followed by the dominant culture.
Throughout the movie Aminata was always treated like being African was the wrong thing to
be and that being White, Jewish and even British were the right cultural to be. The second stage
is the encounter stage, where individuals may experience racial injustice in which Aminata had
truly experienced throughout her development. The third stage is called immersion/Emerson.
This stage symbolizes a lot of growth and describes the process when an individual has a new
awareness of his/culture. Aminata became very involved throughout the movie by reading,
writing and catching babies. The fourth stage, internalization, describes how individuals are
comfortable within their own cultures and development mind building relationships. Aminata
was accepting to who she was and also accepted those of a more dominant culture for who they
were despite the differences amongst them. Lastly, the internalization-commitment stage, during
this stage African Americans develop a sense of commitment and work towards fostering and
sustain positive change, Ratts, M. J., & Pedersen, P. (2014).
I would also implement the strength based counseling model (SBCM). The goal of the model
is to help clients make meaning of their life experiences. The reason I would subscribe to this
goal is because Mrs. Diallo needs to learn how to work through some of her barriers to realize
how they have impacted her life and make help her make sense of it all. This model will help

THE BOOK OF NEGROES

8

both the counselor and the client work through the areas and even role play some aspects that
will help Aminata gain trust and become more aware of her issues to better recover from them.
In conclusion, The Book of Negroes was without a doubt a very powerful and encouraging
movie for me. Aminata Diallo experienced a tremendous amount of injustice and throughout it
all she remained strong willed and determined to be truthful to herself and her family. She
experienced grief, rape, betrayal, sexism, racism, being a widow, abuse, starvation and many
more. If Mrs. Diallo were to walk into my office as a client I would provide her with resources
that can help enrich and further empower herself. Aminata expressed how she would love to tell
stories when she grew up although this was not in her familys tradition, with this I would
introduce her to support groups, story telling groups such as poetry or a writing club, help
hotlines, women centers, help for rape victims and I would also advocate for Mrs. Diallo and
provide her with the support from the community that are all in hands reach. I would research
these places and provide her with phone numbers and brochures to assist her in her recovery and
threptic process. The Counselor/client relationship is not only based on therapy but also
advocacy and how competent a counselor is when dealing with any case. If a counselor feels that
he/she is not confident or competent in working with a specific client or population he/she
should respectfully refer the client to someone could best help the client. The Book of
Negroes, was an excellent example of someone experiencing injustices and having to overcome
them, which may take some time and understanding. If I were to encounter a client such as
Aminata Diallo, I would strive to help her through these barriers by implementing the material
stated above.

THE BOOK OF NEGROES

9

References

Hill, L. (Director). (2015). The Book of Negroes [Motion picture on DVD]. United states.
Monroe, P., DR. (2011, December 12). 7 Characteristics of a Competent Counselor. Retrieved
from https://www.biblical.edu/faculty-blog/96-regular-content/424-7-characteristics-of-acompetent-counselor
Ratts, M. J., & Pedersen, P. (2014.). Counseling for multiculturalism and social justice:
Integration, theory, and application.