Previous
Babies / Children
The bit of kente cloth—traditional West African woven cloth—that Teenie and Tidbit treasure represents the resistance on the part of Black slaves to sever their connections to Africa. Teenie’s mother, who was abducted from Africa, managed to keep a scrap of kente cloth from her home, even hiding it in her mouth at various points along her journey to the American colonies. Especially since Teenie didn’t grow up speaking her mother’s native language, the kente cloth represents Teenie’s only tangible connection to her ancestral homeland.
In Fort Mose, Amari has the opportunity to build a loom and weave cloth of her own—something she’s wanted to do for years but which was a profession reserved for men in Africa. This offers hope that in the colonies, slaves and freed Black people alike will be able to hold onto their cultural traditions and tweak them to suit their own purposes. Amari’s opportunity to weave represents a significant change from what weaving entailed in her village in Africa, but it will nevertheless allow her to keep the knowledge of how to make the cloth—and the symbolism woven into the cloth—alive for future generations.
Kente Cloth Quotes in Copper Sun
The Copper Sun quotes below all refer to the symbol of Kente Cloth. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 40
Quotes
“What did your mama keep a-tellin’ you while you be with her?”
“She tell me stories about Africa and about her own mother, and she tell me, ‘Long as you remember, ain’t nothin’ really gone.’”
Amari, blinking away tears, hugged him. “You gonna always remember?”
“I ain’t never gonna forget nothin’ she done tell me,” the boy said with great seriousness. He squeezed the leather pouch.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Copper Sun LitChart as a printable PDF.
Kente Cloth Symbol Timeline in Copper Sun
The timeline below shows where the symbol Kente Cloth appears in Copper Sun. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1. Amari and Besa
...Mother and Esi are spinning yarn for Father, a master weaver of her tribe’s special kente cloth . Mother gently scolds Amari for not helping them spin, but Amari wishes she could...
(full context)
Chapter 18. Roots and Dirt
...if they remember, nothing is ever really gone, and she pulls a small scrap of kente cloth out of her apron pocket. Amari is in awe. Teenie explains that when they kidnapped...
(full context)
Chapter 30. Tidbit’s Farewell
...then watches Teenie tie a leather pouch around Tidbit’s neck. She pushes the piece of kente cloth into the pouch. Teenie tells Tidbit he’s going to go be a free man, but...
(full context)
Chapter 40. Time to Meet the Future
...Teenie is glad because Tidbit is glad. She asks Tidbit why Teenie gave him the kente cloth and asks if he still remembers her words—that if he remembers, nothing’s gone. She asks...
(full context)
