School Days - a boy

I used to read a lot of story books back in school. Our school library collection was huge and so we never fell short of books to read. That would be the year 2000. One of the books I read then had a character of a black slave boy who just gained freedom along with his family. He wished to discover the world and go on an adventure. The story was beautiful though I don't remember it fully now. Only a feeling remains in the deep chasms of my heart. I copied a sketch from the book into my drawing book. Drawn using pen and ink.