Maryland
State
Archives
Legacy of Slavery Research Program
Presentation
Objective:
The aim of this presentation is to help the
audience
understand the resistance of African American women on and off the Plantation during slavery in 19th
Century Maryland.
The audience
will be introduced to different Women and situations.
Overview:
African American women played a major role in the
abolition
of slavery in the state of Maryland.
Prior to the ending of slavery black women were very resistant to the
institution
of slavery. Many people rebelled against slavery in the state both on
and off
of the plantation. Black women were treated as the lowest class during
slavery
whether they were free or enslaved. Since black women were treated with
disrespect, they were underestimated in their opposition to slavery.
Right
under the nose of the dominant white male society black women were
crafty in
their rebellion. They used their situation to their advantage. Black
women were
resisting for numerous reasons, but mostly for the injustice that their
people
suffered under the influence of slavery.
Topics and People:
(Notable African
American women will be
introduced as they apply to the subject matter.) This
presentation
will be discussed in three parts, resistance on the plantation, running
away,
and assistance to those in flight.
I.
Resistance on the plantation took form in a
number of
ways
a.
Harm to the master’s family- Slave women in
Maryland
could easily
cause harm to the family of their owner because of the task they were
given.
Some women were trusted as caretakers as well as cooks. There were
slave women
who were nurses on the Poplar Hill a plantation belonging to the
Darnall
family. We know
this because of property inventories.
1.
On November 6, 1834, Judith, who belonged
to Dr.
John Bayne, kills his two sons John and George aged 7 and 5 years old.
John
Bayne lived at Salubria Plantation in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
Judith admits to having previously poisoned Dr. Bayne’s infant daughter
Mary
Catherine two years prior. Judith, who is only 14 at the time, is
eventually
tried and hanged for the crime. By 1864, John
Bayne who was an advocate for slavery and strict punishment of
runaways
eventually spoke out in favor of emancipation once he saw the
inevitable ending
of slavery. We can
find this information in Newspapers. The
children of John and Mary Bayne that were killed by Judith are buried
at Apple Grove Cemetery
in Fort Washington.
Newspaper states that they don’t know why she did this because she came
from a
nice family. (PG County Pictorial
History and Stones and Bones) Don’t know why she killed his
children.
2.
Louisa Harris, a mulatto slave
belonging to Charles
Cockey is mentioned in a petition dated June 1853 as “notoriously
vicious &
turbulent and dangerous to the safety of himself and family”. Louisa is
to be
sold “beyond the limits of the State of Maryland”.
She has instilled fear in her master and his family. Cockey also states
that
Louisa is in the habit of running away. (Baltimore County
Register
of Wills Petitions and Orders)
b.
Destroying Property- Women on the
plantation would
burn the homes or crops of their masters in resistance to their
situation. (Judith, mentioned
prior to,
also attempted to burn the dwelling house down. She admits this crime
at her
interrogation.)
c.
Enticing Slaves to runaway- Common
amongst
the free African American population in Maryland.
Women in Maryland
used various methods to entice slaves including word of mouth and
literature.
In various Maryland
newspapers you can find notices of caution from trespassing onto the
owners
property and attempting to entice slaves.
Mary
Toogood
On October 31, 1844,
Mary
Toogood, a freeborn African-American, was convicted by the Anne Arundel
County
Court for enticing a slave to run away. Mary was born in Baltimore City
but resided in Anne
Arundel County,
and was living there at the time of her arrest. Her father
Benjamin
Toogood was a slave, but was eventually manumitted.
II.
Runaway’s- (Law
passed in 1850 to render the northern states unsafe for escaped slaves.
If an
escaped slave made his way to a northern state and found himself
encountered
there by hunters or catchers, he could legally be taken back to slavery
in
spite of his residence in a free
state because of this overriding federal law.
Free
citizens of free states
could also be legally conscripted to aid in a slave's return to
slavery. This
law galvanized the abolitionist movement in the north.) Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Running away
was a risk
for the slave and the owner. In the act of 1715 no slave could travel
by land
or water 10 miles from his or her masters house without a note from his
or her
owner. In the act of 1806 it says that
if there is a runaway slave from the state of Maryland their master or owner will
pay a
fine of $6.00.
a.
Why were women running away- Freedom and
relief from
abusive treatment, closer to relatives?
1.
Legally Free-
·
Refusal by the owners to free their
slaves led
to slaves fleeing the plantation. Other slaves wanted to purchase their
freedom, or a relative’s freedom, only to be refused by their masters.
In the
case of Caroline Hammond, a fugitive from Davidsonville, MD
her father (a free man) tried
to purchase his family’s freedom and the Mistress refused to accept the
money. “When father wanted to pay off the
balance due, $40.00, Mrs. Davidson refused to accept it, thus mother
and I were
to remain in slavery. Hammond and her mother eventually escaped to Pennsylvania. (Rawick)
2.
Physical and Sexual Abuse
·
Slave women suffered at the hands of
their masters
physically and sexually. Women like men on the plantation received
punishment
in the form of beatings if they upset their master.
·
Hannah a slave from Cambridge, MD
said that because they used her so bad, beat and knocked her about she
ran
away.
3.
Fear of being sold
·
Many women were separated from their
families
during slavery. Children in Maryland
were often hired out to another family, which would separate them from
their
nuclear family. Women also feared being sold into a family who would
treat them
harsher than their current situation. Sometimes slaves were overworked
at their
current house, its possible that at the next house you could be
overworked and
abused.
b.
Women running in groups- (Friendship
Network)- In some
cases women ran away with other women, also living in the same
households when
they escaped.
1.
Charlotte
Giles and Harriet Eglin- ran away from their masters, Captain
William
Applegarth and John Delahay, together on a train. When approached by
their
master they used the alias Mary and Lizzie.
2.
Susan,
Jenny, and Mary Anne
There
was a Six
Hundred Dollar Reward for these women.
In Maryland
you found that women often time
ran away with men usually a spouse or another male. There were 60
passengers
that came in a single month from Cambridge, MD
as mentioned in William Stills
Underground Railroad pg. 97-99. Whole families, which included a man
and women
and between 2-4 children, would take, flight together. There were cases
of
women that ran away with their children in Maryland. (Daily National
Intelligencer:
Juliet
and her 3 children runaway, $25 reward, Nelly West and her children.) The
above-mentioned belonged to Mrs. M.L. Contee.
III.
Assistance to those in flight- Aiding
slaves in Flight
was a huge risk. Jail terms were issued out for those assisting
runaways.
a.
Abolitionist- there were female
abolitionists from the
state of Maryland
whose abolitionist activities took place within and out of the state.
Assistance came at a great price considering offenders were prosecuted
once
they were caught. (i.e.
Eliza Young was arrested for assisting her 3 daughters escape
from Samuel
Cooper). Two famous abolitionists are Harriet Tubman and
Francis
Ellen Watkins Harper. I chose these two
women to give examples of an abolitionist who was enslaved and an
abolitionist
born free.
1.
Harriet Tubman
Fled from slavery in Dorchester County, Maryland,
on October 3, 1849 with two of her brothers Ben and Henry. Biography
2.
Francis
Ellen Watkins Harper
Born free in 1824 in Baltimore, Maryland,
Biography
Francis Harper was a
poet,
novelist, and lecturer who spoke out for abolition and women’s rights.
Most of
Harper’s poems and novels
reflected the
life of black women on the plantation. Harpers poems were published in
Abolitionist periodicals. Two of her most famous works were Iola Leroy
and
Almost Forgotten. Harper used proceeds from her poems for the
Underground
Railroad. Frances Harper died on February 11, 1911.
b.
Food & Shelter- Shelter was provided in
different
locations including homes, barns, and churches. Women prepared meals
and welcomed
people into their homes. There were women in Maryland who ran to the Union Troops
and
enlisted as cooks. (i.e. Matilda Sanders). Julia Hill a free black
woman in Baltimore
City harbored a
slave girl in her house.
After a search of her home the girl was found between two beds.
c.
Financial- Women did finance people running
away.
1.
Anna
Murray Douglass- Anna Murray Douglass was born free in Denton, MD.
She financially funded the escape of Frederick Augusta Bailey from Baltimore to New York. Frederick who changed his
last name from Bailey
to Douglass eventually became her husband. Anna Douglass who was a
laundress
took care of the finances in the home while Douglass was away lecturing
on
slavery.
Maya Davis
Research Archivist, Legacy of Slavery in Maryland
Resources
Brown,
Hallie Q. Homespun Heroines and
Other Women of Distinction. (Ohio: Aldine Publishing Company,
1926).
Baltimore County Register of Wills (Petitions and Orders) Charles T.
Cockey vs. Louisa Harris: 29 April 1856. MSA T1206-449, 02/58/08/14.
Guy
Leonard, "Observation Group Clears Oxon Hill historical site for
demolition", MarylandGazette, 30 October 2003.
Rawick, George P. The American Slave, Vol. 16.
(Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Company, 1972).
Sargent, Jean A. Stones and Bones. (Bowie,
MD: PG County Genealogical Society, Inc., 1984).
Sprague, Rosetta Douglass. My mother
as I Recall Her. (Washington, DC: NACW Publishing, 1923).
Still, William. Underground Railroad:
A Record of Facts, Authentic Narratives, Letters, etc. Philadelphia,
PA: Porter & Coales, Publishers, 1872, 780 pp.
Virta, Alan. Prince
George's County: A Pictorial History. (Virginia Beach, VA:
Donning Company Publishers, 1984).
A.W.P., "Unparalleled Depravity", Daily National Intelligencer, November,
1834.
Special Collections (Biographical Series). Mary Toogood. 1844, MSA SC
5496-3361.
Special Collections (Biographical Series). Harriet Ross Tubman. 1849, MSA SC
3520-13562.
Special Collections (Biographical Series). Susan. 1851, MSA SC 5496-1306.
Special Collections (Biographical Series). Jenny. 1851, MSA SC 5496-1317.
Special Collections (Biographical Series). Mary Anne. 1851, MSA SC 5496-1327.
Maryland Commision for Women. Francis Ellen
Watkins Harper. Maryland State Archives, 2001.
Harper, Frances Watkins. Almost
Forgotten. http://ydr.com/history/cw-ycht/fharper.html
©
Copyright November 14, 2011 Maryland State Archives