The Man Who Was Almost a Man is the story of Dave Saunders, a black youth living in the post-Civil War South and working as a field hand on a plantation. Dave chafes under the authority of his employer, struggles with debts incurred as part of the share-cropping system, and longs for a gun as an expression of manhood and equality. The story deals with maturity, racism, bondage, the history of slavery in America, and the challenges faced by black communities after the Civil War.
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