Slave raiders attack Bayo, kill Aminata's mother, and capture eleven-year-old Aminata after burning the village.

Aminata is marched in a chained coffle for three months, then branded and loaded onto a slave ship.

Chekura, who had worked for the slavers, is betrayed by them and forced onto the slave ship as a captive.

A slave revolt erupts aboard the ship; Fanta murders Sanu's newborn baby and Sanu jumps overboard to her death.

Aminata arrives in South Carolina and is sold to indigo planter Robinson Appleby on St. Helena's Island.

Georgia, a plantation slave, scoops up the collapsed Aminata and takes her in as a protector and teacher.

Mamed, a half-white Muslim slave, discovers Aminata is Muslim and secretly teaches her to read and write.

After learning about Chekura's secret visits, Appleby rapes Aminata as punishment.

Appleby sells baby Mamadu in the middle of the night; a defiant Aminata stops working and is sold to Lindo.

Aminata arrives in Charles Town with Solomon Lindo, who teaches her accounting and handles his correspondence.

The Revolutionary War breaks out in New York and Aminata seizes the chaos to escape from Solomon Lindo.

Aminata works as scribe and translator, entering Black Loyalists' names into The Book of Negroes.

Appleby falsely claims ownership of Aminata in a New York court, but Lindo disproves it and sets her free.

White mobs riot through Shelbourne and Birchtown, giving the Witherspoons the chance to sail away with May.

Aminata testifies before the British Parliament about her enslavement and becomes famous throughout London.

Pool 1 follows the headline events of Aminata Diallo's extraordinary life, from her capture in Bayo to her hard-won freedom in London. After slave raiders kill her parents and march her to the coast, she crosses the Atlantic under harrowing conditions to be sold on a South Carolina indigo plantation. She endures brutal treatment under Appleby, loses her infant son in the night, and is eventually sold to Solomon Lindo in Charles Town. The outbreak of the Revolutionary War gives her the chance to escape in New York, where she works registering Black Loyalists in The Book of Negroes. A court battle over her freedom is won with Lindo's help, but in Nova Scotia she loses her daughter May to the Witherspoons during white riots. The story ends with Aminata's triumphant testimony before the British Parliament, where fame finally brings her long-lost daughter back to her.

Aminata's journey from freedom to slavery and back.

Aminata's father Mamadu wakes her at night to share mint tea and tells her about his journey to Timbuktu.

During the coffle march to the coast, Aminata delivers Sanu's baby girl, who is named in her honor.

Aminata works as translator during body inspections aboard the slave ship, earning special privileges from the white captors.

Healthy captives are auctioned in Charles Town; Chekura, Biton, and Fanta are all separated from Aminata.

Aminata and Fomba are marched and loaded onto a canoe headed to Appleby's plantation on St. Helena's Island.

Aminata proves her midwifery expertise by successfully delivering twins for a Fulfulde slave on a neighboring plantation.

Aminata and Chekura marry by jumping the broom in a ceremony celebrated with music and gifts by fellow slaves.

Aminata gives birth to a baby boy and names him Mamadu, after her murdered father.

A smallpox epidemic sweeps Charles Town, killing Mrs. Lindo, Dolly, and both their young sons.

Chekura reappears in Charles Town and tells Aminata their son Mamadu died of smallpox in Savannah.

In New York City, Aminata meets Sam Fraunces, the renowned Black tavern owner who agrees to help her escape from Lindo.

Aminata builds a shack in Canvas Town and teaches Black New Yorkers to read at St. Paul's Chapel.

Chekura reunites with Aminata in New York, shares stories of his years apart, and they conceive their second child.

Aminata goes into labor in Birchtown with only Daddy Moses present and gives birth to her daughter May.

British naval officer John Clarkson arrives in Birchtown and Aminata agrees to serve as his secretary for the Sierra Leone voyage.

Pool 2 covers the significant secondary events that fill in the texture of Aminata's long life across continents. Beginning with her father's bedtime lessons in Bayo, it traces her through the Atlantic crossing, her sale into slavery, and her growth on the plantation as a midwife and learner. Her marriage to Chekura, the birth of baby Mamadu, and the devastating smallpox epidemic in Charles Town each mark turning points in her relationship with those around her. In New York, her friendship with Sam Fraunces and her teaching work in Canvas Town establish her as a trusted community leader. The pool closes with her arrival in Nova Scotia, the birth of her daughter May, and the pivotal arrival of John Clarkson, whose offer sets in motion her final great migration back toward Africa.

The secondary moments that shaped Aminata's world.

Aminata's father Mamadu is shot dead by a slave trader while trying to free his bound daughter in burning Bayo.

As the slave ship departs Africa, Aminata turns for a last look at her homeland and vows to return to Bayo.

Chekura warns Aminata away from Biton, who is secretly planning a violent revolt that could get her killed.

Landing in Charles Town, Aminata sees Black Africans moving freely without chains and realizes what freedom looks like.

Chekura finds Aminata through the secret fishnet network and meets her hiding in the woods outside the plantation.

Solomon Lindo visits Appleby's plantation and tricks Aminata into revealing she knows how to read and write.

Appleby burns Aminata's gifts, shaves her head, and humiliates her publicly in front of all the plantation's slaves.

Aminata confronts Solomon Lindo about his role in arranging the sale of baby Mamadu; Lindo denies all involvement.

Colonel Baker reveals that Black Loyalists who served the British will be listed in The Book of Negroes and taken to freedom.

Aminata insists Chekura board a Nova Scotia ship without her as she is detained on false arrest charges.

Aminata returns to Shelbourne after helping Birchtown rebuild to find the Witherspoon house abandoned and May gone.

Clarkson delivers news that Chekura's ship sank with no survivors; Aminata decides to join the exodus to Africa.

Thomas Peters is stabbed by an African slave trader on the Freetown docks while trying to free a coffle of captives.

Aminata overhears Alassane and his men plotting to sell her into slavery and escapes alone into the African night.

Daughter May appears in the crowd outside Aminata's London engagements and the two are reunited after decades apart.

Pool 3 focuses on the key moments of revelation and decision that bend the course of Aminata's life. From her father's murder to her defiant vow to return home, each event marks a shift in her understanding of the world and her place within it. Betrayals large and small — Lindo's hidden role in Mamadu's sale, the promise of The Book of Negroes, Chekura's forced departure — require Aminata to choose survival over despair again and again. In Nova Scotia, the theft of May and the news of Chekura's death push her toward Africa, where Thomas Peters's murder and Alassane's treachery test her resolve to its limit. The pool closes with the moment that gives her life its deepest meaning: her reunion with May in London, where her lifelong act of bearing witness finally finds its rightful audience.