The World of Mary Bowser: Q&A with Lois Leveen
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P s AUTHOR The World of Mary Bowser: Q&A with Lois Leveen INSIGHTS , As an author, how do you make the life of someone who lived EXTRAS one hundred and fifty years ago feel real to readers today? As you wrote the story from Mary’s point of view, how could you conjure up what she might be thinking? & That’s what drew me to this story: the chance to interweave research and imagination. I love to learn lots of details about the more period I’m writing about, and what I uncover sparks my inven- tion of plot and dialogue. ... For example, reading is extremely important to Mary. It’s something that is forbidden by Virginia law and by Mistress Van Lew. It’s what her mother and Bet both conspire to give her. It’s what she relies on once the war starts, first to smuggle messages from the prisons and later to gather intelligence in the Confeder- ate White House. But as important as reading is for a slave or a spy, it’s crucial to Mary in a more personal way. When she is living in Philadelphia, reading is really her first great love. Lit- erature touches her emotionally and allows her to connect with other people. In that way, she isn’t so different than readers of The Secrets of Mary Bowser. When I considered what Mary might be reading, it helped me understand how she would think and feel and act. Of course, I am a literature geek, so I love reading literature from all eras, and for readers who are interested, I’m happy to share Mary’s reading list. Much of what she would have read for school would have been written by classic Roman authors—the novel men- SecretsofMaryBowser_i_x_1_486_final.indd 465 3/23/12 8:41 AM ... tions Ovid, Pliny the Elder, and Seneca—or British authors— Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Shakespeare’s contemporaries, John Donne and Edmund Spenser. In the novel, she’s especially in- more spired by literature written by American authors, many of whom & were former slaves or other abolitionists. (Some of these works are still in print and can be found at any bookstore, and all of them are available online in free digital copies.) EXTRAS , Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave and “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” Ralph Waldo Emerson, “History” INSIGHTS Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African Benjamin Franklin, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin AUTHOR Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie s and “The Village Blacksmith” P Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin Frances Watkins, Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects Phillis Wheatley, Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley, a Native African and Slave The most entertaining item Mary reads is Godey’s Lady’s Book. This very popular monthly magazine included the latest fashions, travel articles, how-to craft projects, and stories about “celebrities,” like the British royal family—it wasn’t so differ- ent from women’s magazines today. One book I’ve always loved is Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. Because it wasn’t published until after the Civil War, I couldn’t include it on Mary’s reading list. But I reread it many times as I wrote The Secrets of Mary Bowser, because Alcott was masterful at depicting dances and charity fairs, and showing subtle difference in what sort of dresses were worn by young ladies depending on whether their families were well-off or not. SecretsofMaryBowser_i_x_1_486_final.indd 466 3/23/12 8:41 AM P s What else did you find helpful for creating this novel? Visual sources are very important to me. They let me put AUTHOR myself and my readers in Mary’s world. I kept nineteenth-century maps of Richmond and Philadelphia tacked up on the wall, along with photographs of both cities and of the characters in the novel. The more specifically I can picture what Mary saw, the better I INSIGHTS can convey it to readers. , EXTRAS & more ... Van Lew mansion Mary Bowser and Elizabeth Van Lew grew up in this Church Hill mansion, one of the grandest antebellum homes in Rich- mond. The house and garden were destroyed in 1911 to make way for a school. Some historians believe the site was chosen for demolition because certain Richmonders were still angry that “Crazy Bet” remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War. Photograph courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Detroit Publishing Company Collection, LC-D4-500382 SecretsofMaryBowser_i_x_1_486_final.indd 467 3/23/12 8:41 AM ... more & EXTRAS , INSIGHTS AUTHOR s P St John’s Church St. John’s Church, located directly across Grace Street from the Van Lew mansion, is where Patrick Henry delivered his famous speech proclaiming, “Give me liberty or give me death!” Al- though it was extremely unusual for slaveowners to have their slaves baptized or married in this church, parish records show that Mary “a colored child belonging to Mrs. Van Lew” was baptized on May 17, 1846, and that Mary and Wilson Bowser were married on April 16, 1861, indicating how exceptional Mary Bowser was in the eyes of the Van Lews. Photograph courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints & Photo- graphs Division, Civil War Photographs, LC-B811-3366 SecretsofMaryBowser_i_x_1_486_final.indd 468 3/23/12 8:41 AM P s AUTHOR INSIGHTS , EXTRAS & more Confederate White House ... Nicknamed the Gray House for its stucco exterior, this Rich- mond mansion was home to Jefferson Davis and his family, as well as to slaves and servants who waited on them during the Civil War. Today it is part of the Museum of the Confederacy, and you can tour the rooms described in The Secrets of Mary Bowser and imagine what it was like to live—and spy—there. Photograph courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Detroit Publishing Company Collection, LC-D4-43165 SecretsofMaryBowser_i_x_1_486_final.indd 469 3/23/12 8:41 AM SecretsofMaryBowser_i_x_1_486_final.indd 470 Ps AUTHOR INSIGHTS, EXTRAS & more... or stablesor that part were antebellum of urban lots. assignedsleep in to sections assuch “outbuildings,” kitchens of panes finished or floors. InRichmond, beenmighthave slaves cabins lacked any amenities—even lived in whichslaves window theCompared to elaborate the mansions worked, in whichslaves Photograph courtesy of Lois of courtesy Leveen Photograph Slave cabins 3/23/12 8:41 AM Ps AUTHOR INSIGHTS, EXTRAS & more... 3/23/12 8:41 AM Mary Bowser Photograph source: James A. Chambers, U.S. Army Deputy, U.S. James A. Army source: Chambers, Deputy, Photograph Office of the Chief, Military Intelligence Officethe of Chief, This photograph is rumored is Thisphotograph Mary beof to Although Bowser. her hard to lookingmake out confidently it’s at she’s the viewer, features. seems She hidden in plain sight—just as was she during the Civil War. SecretsofMaryBowser_i_x_1_486_final.indd 471 SecretsofMaryBowser_i_x_1_486_final.indd 472 Ps AUTHOR INSIGHTS, EXTRAS & more... Beymer, HarperBeymer, & Brothers Publishers: 1912 Scouts the and of Spies North and South, mind than the typical Southern belle. her on more Lew inseemed youth, have her to Bet Van Even Photograph originally published in originally published Photograph Elizabeth Van Lew Van Elizabeth OnHazardous Service: WilliamGilmore 3/23/12 8:41 AM P s AUTHOR INSIGHTS , EXTRAS & more Elizabeth Van Lew’s cipher ... When Bet Van Lew died in 1900, her family found a yellowed scrap of paper hidden in the back of her watch. The paper con- tained this cipher, which she created to encode the messages the spy ring smuggled out of Richmond to the Union command. She carried it with her for nearly forty years after the war ended. Originally published in On Hazardous Service: Scouts and Spies of the North and South, William Gilmore Beymer, Harper & Brothers Publishers: 1912 SecretsofMaryBowser_i_x_1_486_final.indd 473 3/23/12 8:41 AM.