Sarah Moore (American Girl)

Sarah Moore is Addy Walker's first and best friend. Sarah has the same skin tone as Addy, big dark bright eyes, and very short hair like a boy's. It is unsaid why Sarah's hair is short, but it is likely that her hair is more kinky than Addy's and thus kept clipped short for ease. It it may also be to make working in a hot, stuffy environment easier, as often working class women kept their hair short. Sarah's family escaped enslavement from a plantation in Virginia about a year before Addy and Ruth arrived. Sarah is very kind and friendly to Addy, making quick friends with her as soon as they meet. She is also very patient and served as a good teacher to Addy when she first arrived in Philadelphia, both on and out of school. Mrs. Ford finds Sarah to be loud and lively and misses her presence in Changes for Addy. She is a little more cynical, street-smart, and practical about the oppression in the North than Addy is, partially because her family has been in Philadelphia longer and she has already been through the struggles Addy has yet to experience in free life. Sarah has learned many of the harder lessons Addy learns early in her arrival, including the way Harriet Davis treats people and the way blacks and whites are segregated from each other. She and Harriet do not get alone at all. Harriet is disparaging of Sarah openly, and Sarah refused to be her "slave" when she started school last year; this is why Harriet does not like her. Sarah is quite self-conscious and does not think highly of herself often. Her family is poorer than Addy's, and her shoes and clothes are not always in the best condition. Sarah's mom is a laundress, and Sarah is expected to assist her as they make more money when she is there to help. She later drops out of school to help her family make ends meet.