THE WEIGHT OF FREEDOM’S PRICE

**The Weight of Freedom’s Price: A Story of Survival**

I was born into slavery. My earliest memories are of the blistering heat of the Southern sun and the endless fields of cotton stretching out before me. My name is Isaiah, and for most of my life, I knew nothing of freedom. It was a word spoken in hushed tones, something too costly to dream about. Yet, deep within me, a fire flickered, one that even the overseer's whip couldn't extinguish.

My days were filled with back-breaking labor, and my nights with exhaustion so deep it numbed me. But I held onto the stories my ancestors passed down—tales of our people before they were stolen from their homeland, before they were made to bow their heads in submission