DOCSLIB.ORG

Reconstruction

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Reconstruction A NATION DIVIDED, 1832-1877 Reconstruction Resource: Life Story: Matilda Hughes (1830–1907) Portrait of Matilda Tixley Hughes Portrait of Matilda Tixley Hughes. Milwaukee County Historical Society. © Women and the American Story 2021 Page 1 of 7 A NATION DIVIDED, 1832-1877 Reconstruction Matilda Hughes was born in Fayette County, Kentucky, on June 17, 1830. She was one of seven children. When she was very young, Matilda was part of a legal battle over her status. According to her mother and uncles, the entire family was supposed to be free because of an agreement made with a past enslaver. The man who owned them disagreed. Matilda’s uncles sued for their freedom and won their case with the help of abolitionist lawyers. But when the uncles started a case to free Matilda, her mother, and siblings, their enslaver sent the whole family further South. They were separated and sold to new owners before the case was decided. Matilda and her sister Mary Ellen were bought by Edward McGee, a wealthy plantation owner who lived with his family in a grand home in Memphis, Tennessee. Matilda was made to work as the cook in his home. Edward gave Mary Ellen as a gift to his sister- in-law. The close relationship between Edward and his in-laws meant that Matilda stayed in close contact with Mary Ellen. Working as a cook in a wealthy household was difficult, exhausting work. To make matters worse, Edward’s wife was cruel and demanding. After three years in the household, Matilda married Louis Hughes, her enslaver’s personal servant. Within a year, she gave birth to twins. But her happiness was short-lived. Mrs. McGee worked Matilda so hard that her body could not produce enough milk to feed the twins. Nor did she give her enough time to properly care for the babies, and they grew ill. One morning, after Mrs. McGee threatened to whip her, Matilda took her children to the local slave market, where she offered herself for sale. Louis knew about her desperate plan and supported her. They both hoped she might convince Edward to sell her to a new enslaver, where she might have a better chance of keeping her babies alive. The slave market alerted Edward, who brought Matilda back to his home. He and Mrs. McGee took turns whipping her cruelly. They swore they would never let her leave the household. The twins died before they reached their first birthday. © Women and the American Story 2021 Page 2 of 7 A NATION DIVIDED, 1832-1877 Reconstruction When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Edward declared his allegiance to the Confederacy, while Matilda and Louis looked for any chance to escape their enslavement. In 1862, Edward moved his whole household further South to Mississippi to escape the Union troops threatening to invade Memphis. Matilda was forced to stay with the family at Edward’s father’s plantation in Panola County, Mississippi, while Louis was sent to Edward’s plantation in Bolivar County. Union soldiers soon captured Edward, and Louis took the opportunity to try to claim his own freedom. Then Confederate soldiers swiftly caught Louis. They beat him and put him in jail in Panola. Before Louis was placed in jail, Edward’s father forced Matilda to witness her husband’s injuries and humiliation to discourage her from trying to escape. Two months later, Matilda joined Louis in a second failed escape attempt. They were cruelly whipped and forced to visit the site where other enslaved people had been hanged. When Union soldiers began to close in on Panola, Edward’s father sent Matilda and Louis to a salt works near Mobile, Alabama, where they reunited with Edward. Edward died transporting more of his enslaved people to the salt works, and Matilda and Louis passed into the control of his father. At the salt works, Matilda gave birth to their third child. When Union troops threatened to take over the works, Matilda, Louis, and the baby were sent back to Edward’s father’s plantation. Matilda and Louis started a new business, taking in the hotel guests’ laundry. They were so successful they moved into a larger home and expanded their business. When the Confederacy surrendered in April 1865, Matilda and Louis should have been automatically freed. But Edward’s father refused to release any of his enslaved people. In June, Louis made yet another attempt to escape the plantation, leaving a very © Women and the American Story 2021 Page 3 of 7 A NATION DIVIDED, 1832-1877 Reconstruction distraught Matilda behind. This time he succeeded in reaching Union lines. He hired two soldiers, who returned with him to the Panola plantation and helped him liberate Matilda, their child, her sister, and nine other people. On July 4, 1865, Matilda and Louis arrived in Memphis and began their new life together. After 35 years, Matilda Hughes was finally free. Six weeks later, Matilda heard a rumor that her mother was living in Cincinnati, Ohio. Matilda had not seen her mother since they had been separated at the slave market decades ago. She was very eager to do whatever it took to reunite with her. She and her sister, Louis, and the baby set out for Cincinnati. When they arrived, they found not only Matilda’s mother but her eldest sister too. Matilda’s mom and sister had reunited while working as nurses for the Union Army and moved to Cincinnati together under the orders of a Union general. Shortly after this reunion, the entire family set out for Windsor, Canada. They did not trust that the United States government would protect their rights, and Canada had long been known as a safe place for formerly enslaved people. In Windsor, Matilda and the women of their family set up a successful laundry business, while Louis took whatever work he could find to support the family. During this time, Matilda gave birth to twin baby girls. In 1868, Louis secured a job at a new hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Matilda joined him with their children. The hotel hired Matilda to oversee their staff housing. Within a year, the enterprising couple had started a new business, taking in the hotel guests’ laundry. They were so successful they moved into a larger home and expanded their business. Louis eventually reunited with his brother, whom he had been sold away from in early childhood. Matilda supported Louis in pursuing his life-long dream of becoming a nurse. In his later years, Louis wrote a memoir detailing his life under and after slavery. This is the reason so much is known about his life and Matilda’s life. © Women and the American Story 2021 Page 4 of 7 A NATION DIVIDED, 1832-1877 Reconstruction Life after slavery was not easy for Matilda. She and Louis both worked hard to support their family, and they often endured long separations while Louis traveled for work. But Matilda found joy in both her freedom and her renewed connections with her family. When she passed away in 1907, her life stood as a testament to all that Black women had endured and achieved during and after slavery in the United States. Vocabulary • Confederacy: Relating to the group of states that seceded from the United States before the Civil War in order to preserve slavery. • salt works: A place where salt is made. • Union: The name for the states that remained a part of the United State during the Civil War. Discussion Questions • What hardships did Matilda Hughes face as an enslaved woman before the war? • How did Matilda try to claim her own freedom? What was the outcome of these efforts? • What does this life story teach us about the experiences of formerly enslaved people in the Reconstruction era? • Why is it important to study Matilda’s story? Suggested Activities • Include this life story in any lesson about slavery and/or life after emancipation. © Women and the American Story 2021 Page 5 of 7 A NATION DIVIDED, 1832-1877 Reconstruction • To learn more about family reunification in the Reconstruction era, read Information Wanted. • To help students understand why Matilda and Louis moved to Canada, explore Backlash Against Black Workers and the life story of Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas. • Matilda Hughes found success as a laundry worker after she took her freedom. To learn more about this trade and its history, explore Laundry Workers: Tools of the Trade and Laundry Workers’ Strike. • Matilda’s body was so ravaged by hard labor that she was unable to keep her twin babies alive. For another example of how Black women’s bodies were exploited for the benefit of white enslavers, read the life story of Anarcha, Betsy, and Lucy and the resources Urban Slavery and Resistance. • For other perspectives on the hardships faced by enslaved women, read Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Plantation Slavery, Urban Slavery, Life Story: Harriet Robinson Scott, Life Story: Sojourner Truth, Life Story: Anarcha, Betsy, and Lucy, Life Story: Harriet Tubman, Life Story: Susie Baker King Taylor, and Life Story: Elizabeth Keckley. • Teach this life story together with those of Louisa Smith, Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Keckley, Susie Baker King Taylor, and Harriet Tubman for a variety of perspectives of how enslaved women took their own freedom and responded to the Civil War. • To learn more about the challenges and opportunities Matilda faced as a free Black woman in the United States, explore any of the following: “All Bound Up Together,” Information Wanted, Backlash Against Black Workers, Calling Out Sexual Violence, Claiming Political Power, Laundry Workers’ Strike, Life Story: Susie Baker King Taylor, and Life Story: Elizabeth Keckley.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Elizabeth Keckley, Confidante to Mary Todd Lincoln Lady Edison?” It Was Rare Enough to Be a How Would a Child Born a Ter’S Son As a Wedding Gift
    Vol. 11, Issue 2 Dr. Jeanne Ramirez Mather, Ed. March 2009 Who was called “The Elizabeth Keckley, Confidante to Mary Todd Lincoln Lady Edison?” It was rare enough to be a How would a child born a ter’s son as a wedding gift. While well known for her self- woman inventor in the 1800s, slave in Virginia grow up to Liz suffered various episodes of centeredness and unstable tem- but combine that with only an become the confidante to Mary abuse as a young slave, it was perament, but unlike most Liz elementary school education, Todd Lincoln? Since 2009 is between age fourteen and twenty- could see past all of this. Ap- and starting a career of inventing the bicentennial of Abraham four that she bore the brunt of both parently Liz recognized that as a child, and it becomes obvi- Lincoln’s birth, it seems appro- physical and sexual abuse, result- Mary’s life as a child was any- ous how Margaret Knight even- priate to introduce the reader to ing in her one and only child, a thing but perfect, and that they tually would be referred to as the child born Elizabeth son. shared an unhappy childhood. “The Lady Edison.” Born in Hobbs. Eventually she went back to Liz eventually would be in 1838 in Maine, Mattie was At her birth, Liz was con- live with her master’s widow and charge of caring for the Lincoln raised with her two older broth- sidered the daughter of literate children, and develop into ers by her mother.
    [Show full text]
  • Racial Identity in Women's Life Writing of The
    University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--English English 2018 AMERICAN MNEMONIC: RACIAL IDENTITY IN WOMEN’S LIFE WRITING OF THE CIVIL WAR Katherine Waddell University of Kentucky, [email protected] Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.13023/ETD.2018.169 Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Waddell, Katherine, "AMERICAN MNEMONIC: RACIAL IDENTITY IN WOMEN’S LIFE WRITING OF THE CIVIL WAR" (2018). Theses and Dissertations--English. 71. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/english_etds/71 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the English at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--English by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained needed written permission statement(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine) which will be submitted to UKnowledge as Additional File. I hereby grant to The University of Kentucky and its agents the irrevocable, non-exclusive, and royalty-free license to archive and make accessible my work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known.
    [Show full text]
  • Image Credits, the Making of African
    THE MAKING OF AFRICAN AMERICAN IDENTITY: VOL. I, 1500-1865 PRIMARY SOURCE COLLECTION The Making of African American Identity: Vol. I, 1500-1865 IMAGE CREDITS Items listed in chronological order within each repository. ALABAMA DEPT. of ARCHIVES AND HISTORY. Montgomery, Alabama. WEBSITE Reproduced by permission. —Physical and Political Map of the Southern Division of the United States, map, Boston: William C. Woodbridge, 1843; adapted to Woodbridges Geography, 1845; map database B-315, filename: se1845q.sid. Digital image courtesy of Alabama Maps, University of Alabama. ALLPORT LIBRARY AND MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS. State Library of Tasmania. Hobart, Tasmania (Australia). WEBSITE Reproduced by permission of the Tasmanian Archive & Heritage Office. —Mary Morton Allport, Comet of March 1843, Seen from Aldridge Lodge, V. D. Land [Tasmania], lithograph, ca. 1843. AUTAS001136168184. AMERICAN TEXTILE HISTORY MUSEUM. Lowell, Massachusetts. WEBSITE Reproduced by permission. —Wooden snap reel, 19th-century, unknown maker, color photograph. 1970.14.6. ARCHIVES OF ONTARIO. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. WEBSITE In the public domain; reproduced courtesy of Archives of Ontario. —Letter from S. Wickham in Oswego, NY, to D. B. Stevenson in Canada, 12 October 1850. —Park House, Colchester, South, Ontario, Canada, refuge for fugitive slaves, photograph ca. 1950. Alvin D. McCurdy fonds, F2076-16-6. —Voice of the Fugitive, front page image, masthead, 12 March 1854. F 2076-16-935. —Unidentified black family, tintype, n.d., possibly 1850s; Alvin D. McCurdy fonds, F 2076-16-4-8. ASBURY THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. Wilmore, Kentucky. Permission requests submitted. –“Slaves being sold at public auction,” illustration in Thomas Lewis Johnson, Twenty-Eight Years a Slave, or The Story of My Life in Three Continents, 1909, p.
    [Show full text]
  • How Mixed-Race Americans Navigated the Racial Codes of Antebellum America
    James Madison University JMU Scholarly Commons Masters Theses, 2020-current The Graduate School 5-7-2020 Under cover of lightness: How mixed-race Americans navigated the racial codes of Antebellum America Alexander Brooks Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/masters202029 Part of the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Brooks, Alexander, "Under cover of lightness: How mixed-race Americans navigated the racial codes of Antebellum America" (2020). Masters Theses, 2020-current. 48. https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/masters202029/48 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the The Graduate School at JMU Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses, 2020-current by an authorized administrator of JMU Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Under Cover of Lightness: How Mixed-Race Americans Navigated the Racial Codes of Antebellum America Alex Brooks A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of History May 2020 FACULTY COMMITTEE: Committee Chair: Rebecca Brannon Committee Members/ Readers: Gabrielle Lanier David Owusu-Ansah Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Miscegenation 3. North 4. Upper South 5. Lower South 6. 1850s Turbulence 7. Liberia 8. Conclusion ii Abstract This thesis investigates the way people of mixed “racial” ancestry—known as mulattoes in the 18th and 19th centuries—navigated life in deeply racially divided society. Even understanding “mulatto strategies” is difficult because it is to study a group shrouded in historical ambiguity by choice.
    [Show full text]
  • 1. Slavery, Resistance and the Slave Narrative
    “I have often tried to write myself a pass” A Systemic-Functional Analysis of Discourse in Selected African American Slave Narratives Tobias Pischel de Ascensão Dissertation zur Erlangung des Grades eines Doktors der Philosophie am Fachbereich Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft der Universität Osnabrück Hauptberichterstatter: Prof. Dr. Oliver Grannis Nebenberichterstatter: Prof. Dr. Ulrich Busse Osnabrück, 01.12.2003 Contents i Contents List of Tables iii List of Figures iv Conventions and abbreviations v Preface vi 0. Introduction: the slave narrative as an object of linguistic study 1 1. Slavery, resistance and the slave narrative 6 1.1 Slavery and resistance 6 1.2 The development of the slave narrative 12 1.2.1 The first phase 12 1.2.2 The second phase 15 1.2.3 The slave narrative after 1865 21 2. Discourse, power, and ideology in the slave narrative 23 2.1 The production of disciplinary knowledge 23 2.2 Truth, reality, and ideology 31 2.3 “The writer” and “the reader” of slave narratives 35 2.3.1 Slave narrative production: “the writer” 35 2.3.2 Slave narrative reception: “the reader” 39 3. The language of slave narratives as an object of study 42 3.1 Investigations in the language of the slave narrative 42 3.2 The “plain-style”-fallacy 45 3.3 Linguistic expression as functional choice 48 3.4 The construal of experience and identity 51 3.4.1 The ideational metafunction 52 3.4.2 The interpersonal metafunction 55 3.4.3 The textual metafunction 55 3.5 Applying systemic grammar 56 4.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Florida Thesis Or Dissertation Formatting
    FREE IN THOUGHT, FETTERED IN ACTION: ENSLAVED ADOLESCENT FEMALES IN THE SLAVE SOUTH By COURTNEY A. MOORE A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2010 1 © 2010 Courtney A. Moore 2 To my parents, Brenda W. Moore and George Moore, my first teachers, and my wonderful family in North Carolina and Florida, my amazing village 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Throughout the course of this process I have received the support of countless individuals who have tirelessly given of themselves to make my dream a reality. Professionally, many teachers and professors have shaped my intellectual growth, equipping me with the skills and confidence needed to excel academically. I would like to thank the faculty and staff at Southwood Elementary, Central Davidson Middle and Central Davidson High Schools, especially Ms. Dorothy Talbert. Since elementary school Ms. Talbert encouraged me to conquer my fears and move toward the wonderful opportunities life held, even up to her untimely passing this year she was a constant source of encouragement and cheer. I am also indebted to the Department of History at North Carolina Central University, specifically Drs. Carlton Wilson, Lydia Lindsey and Freddie Parker. Observing these amazing scholars, I learned professionalism, witnessed student-centered teaching at its best, and had the embers of my love for history erupt into an unquenchable fire as I learned of black men and women who impacted the world. My sincerest gratitude to the History Department and African American Studies Program faculty and staff at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
    [Show full text]
  • Slave Narratives, Captivity Narratives, and Genre Transformation in Keckley's Behind the Scenes
    University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--English English 2021 Wilderness of Freedom: Slave Narratives, Captivity Narratives, and Genre Transformation in Keckley's Behind the Scenes Hannah Gautsch University of Kentucky, [email protected] Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2021.205 Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Gautsch, Hannah, "Wilderness of Freedom: Slave Narratives, Captivity Narratives, and Genre Transformation in Keckley's Behind the Scenes" (2021). Theses and Dissertations--English. 132. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/english_etds/132 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the English at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--English by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained needed written permission statement(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine) which will be submitted to UKnowledge as Additional File. I hereby grant to The University of Kentucky and its agents the irrevocable, non-exclusive, and royalty-free license to archive and make accessible my work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known.
    [Show full text]
  • Fall 2008 – No
    The National Underground Railroad National Park Service Network to Freedom Program US Department of the Interior National Capital Region Washington, DC THE CONDUCTOR (Fall 2008 – No. 24) New NCR Network to Freedom Members The Site of John Little’s Manor House (DC) in Kalorama Park was the residence of freedom seeker Hortense Prout who was found in a Union army camp. The Northampton Slave Quarters and Archaeological Park (Prince George’s County, Maryland) was the starting point for eight bondsmen escaping from the Sprigg family. The Freedom Site for Emily Plummer (Prince George’s County, Maryland) is now called Riversdale, and was where her husband brought her back from jail in Baltimore. NATIONAL HARRIET TUBMAN PARKS APPROACHING REALITY The momentum toward national commemoration of Harriet Tubman is growing. Along with Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman is a bigger-than-life figure identified with the Underground Railroad and known by school children across the United States. Tubman’s House in Auburn 1 Despite the fact that the Harriet Tubman acreage is within Blackwater National Special Resource Study has not yet been Wildlife Refuge or is private property presented by NPS to Congress, a bill to adjoining the refuge. The Harriet Tubman establish two NPS units has been National Historical Park in upper New introduced to Congress. On August 1, York State would include Tubman’s 2008, US Senators Benjamin L. Cardin home, the Home for the Aged she and Barbara A. Mikulski from Maryland founded, the local AME Zion Church, and joined Senators Hilary Rodham Clinton the cemetery where she is buried.
    [Show full text]
  • Grade 7, Unit 3 - Behind the Scenes
    Grade 7, Unit 3 - Behind the Scenes Companion Resources for the ELA Guidebooks for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities The Companion Resources for the ELA Guidebooks for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities were created to facilitate access and opportunity with a high-quality curriculum, improve professional learning between content area specialists and expert teachers of special education teachers, and increase options for these students to participate in an inclusive and least restrictive environment. This DRAFT version of the Companion Resources is being made available for Teacher Leader Summit training purposes only; the full set of Companion Resources will be made available prior to the start of AY 2020-2021. Grade 7, Unit 3 - Behind the Scenes Unit Overview Grade 7 Modified Unit Overview Guidebook Text Behind The Scenes Original and adapted versions of Behind the Scenes Unit Description We will read Behind the Scenes by Elizabeth Keckley and a series Students with significant cognitive disabilities will have access to of related literary and informational texts to explore the question: both the original and adapted versions of Behind the Scenes by How do different perspectives of the same event differ? We will Elizabeth Keckley to explore the question: How do different express our understanding through an essay that analyzes the perspectives of the same event differ? To address this question, author’s position on slavery and Mrs. Lincoln. students will create a permanent product to explain Keckley’s positions on both slavery and Mrs. Lincoln. Essential Question How do different perspectives of the same event differ? How do different perspectives of the same event differ? Culminating Task In the Preface to her memoir Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a In the Preface to her memoir Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House, Elizabeth Keckley Slave, and Four Years in the White House, Elizabeth Keckley discusses two topics, slavery and Mrs.
    [Show full text]
  • Slave Narratives, Their Status As Autobiography and As Literature Author(S): James Olney Source: Callaloo, No
    "I Was Born": Slave Narratives, Their Status as Autobiography and as Literature Author(s): James Olney Source: Callaloo, No. 20 (Winter, 1984), pp. 46-73 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2930678 . Accessed: 14/06/2011 03:45 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=jhup. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The Johns Hopkins University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Callaloo. http://www.jstor.org 46 "I WAS BORN": SLAVE NARRATIVES,
    [Show full text]
  • Buck 1 Through Their Own Eyes: the History of Slavery and the United
    Buck 1 Through Their Own Eyes: The History of Slavery and the United States Civil War From Black Women’s Perspectives Alex Buck Honors Thesis, Spring 2017 Department of History Defended April 7th, 2017 Advisor Dr. Lee Chambers, Department of History Committee Dr. Lee Chambers, Department of History Dr. Matthew Gerber, Department of History Dr. Joanne Belknap, Department of Ethnic Studies Buck 2 Abstract Within the history of slavery in the United States, a new black feminist historiography has emerged that seeks to give more space to how the lives of black women fit into this history. This thesis contributes to this historiography by reading the diaries and memoirs of seven black women who were alive during the early to mid 1800s. These women, named Emilie Davis, Charlotte Forten Grimké, Harriet Jacobs, Elizabeth Keckley, Susie King Taylor, Sojourner Truth, and Bethany Veney, lived varied lives across the country. The thesis is divided into six chapters that explores various themes and commonalities between their lives, while simultaneously exploring what made each of their lives unique. Ultimately, this thesis proves that the lives of black women alive during this time period were much more nuanced than traditional historiographies give them credit for, and that there is much one can learn about their experiences through close readings of the diaries and memoirs that they left behind. Buck 3 Table of Contents Introduction 4 Chapter 1: Biographies 11 Chapter 2: The Freedwomen’s Experience 20 Chapter 3: The Slavewomen’s Experience 29 Chapter 4: Slave Agency 40 Chapter 5: Relationship to the North 60 Chapter 6: Broader Historical Context 7 2 Conclusion 89 Works Cited 9 4 Buck 4 Introduction The history of slavery in the United States is long and gruesome.
    [Show full text]
  • Elizabeth Keckley Designer and Dressmaker Samii Kennedy Benson Iowa State University, [email protected]
    International Textile and Apparel Association 2016: Blending Cultures (ITAA) Annual Conference Proceedings Nov 8th, 12:00 AM From Enslavement to Entrepreneurship: Elizabeth Keckley Designer and Dressmaker Samii Kennedy Benson Iowa State University, [email protected] Eulanda A. Sanders Iowa State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/itaa_proceedings Kennedy Benson, Samii and Sanders, Eulanda A., "From Enslavement to Entrepreneurship: Elizabeth Keckley Designer and Dressmaker" (2016). International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA) Annual Conference Proceedings. 145. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/itaa_proceedings/2016/presentations/145 This Event is brought to you for free and open access by the Conferences and Symposia at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA) Annual Conference Proceedings by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Vancouver, British Columbia 2016 Proceedings From Enslavement to Entrepreneurship: Elizabeth Keckley Designer and Dressmaker Samii Kennedy Benson and Eulanda A. Sanders Iowa State University, USA Keywords: Elizabeth Keckley, entrepreneurship, designer Background Women entrepreneurs encounter challenges that are different from their male counterparts, such as, access to financial capital as well as fewer mentors and support networks (Moore & Buttner, 1997). These typical challenges, plus her experience as a slave, add intrigue to Elizabeth Keckley’s story. Before she gained prominence as Mary Todd Lincoln’s personal dressmaker, Elizabeth Keckley was an African American slave who bought her own freedom by way of her entrepreneurial pursuits initiated on the planation. Some writings detail Keckley’s relationship with the first lady, less has focused on Keckley as a designer, dressmaker and entrepreneur.
    [Show full text]