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“…who belonged to William Westcott…”
Isaac Westcott, who appears in the 1828 Westcott plantation documents and whose identity I verified with later census records, is the only remaining Westcott in the Westcott Cemetery in Montgomery. At some point in the last hundred years—it’s unclear when, but after this portion of the city became predominantly populated with African Americans—descendants of the Westcott family had their interred ancestors exhumed and moved to another cemetery. Isaac remained. His stone is approximately twelve inches high.
“…told Anarcha to go to the barn…”
See “…ring a bell in a pattern…,” above.
“Anarcha was grabbed from the rear…”
The story of Anarcha’s rape derives from a number of sources. Most prominently, the Westcott plantation records from 1828 and 1841, indicating an almost fourfold increase in the total number of enslaved persons on the plantation—many under fourteen years of age—that leaves little doubt that the plantation was gaining workers through the routine rape of enslaved women, as was common at this time. Hence, it is very likely that Anarcha’s pregnancy was a rape planned for this purpose. I have chosen to represent uncertainty in the record by leaving Anarcha unaware herself of who the father of her child was. The Westcott plantation materials are held at the Montgomery County Archives in Montgomery, Alabama.
As to Anarcha remaining silent during the rape, I am admittedly relying on Sims’s description of her as a stoic character who “never murmured” during her surgical experiments. There are dangers to trusting Sims on any point; however, the fact that Sims offered unvarnished descriptions of Lucy’s and Betsey’s pain—he tended to use those descriptions to further reflect his temerity as a surgeon—suggests that if Anarcha expressed pain as well, he would not have shied away from indicating so. As is suggested later, Anarcha’s stoicisim may help explain why he experimented on her as many times as he did. All that said, the description of Anarcha’s rape is a speculative narrative choice, and it is possible—although perhaps unlikely—that she was impregnated in some other way.
Sims, J. M., & New York Academy of Medicine. (1858). Silver sutures in surgery. New York: S.S. & W. Wood, p. 60.
“…suspended from barn rafters…”
Narrative of Minnie Fulkes. Fulkes is describing what happened to her mother.
Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., Virginia Narratives, Vol. 1, p. 11.
Minnie Fulkes
“…something to make it die…”
Narrative of Lou Smith.
Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., Oklahoma Narratives, Vol. 1, p. 302.
Lou Smith
“…across a frozen river…”
Narrative of Eliza Harris.
Rawick, G. P., Hillegas, J., & Lawrence, K. (1978). The American slave: A composite autobiography: supplement, series 1. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Pub, Vol. 5, Indiana and Ohio, p. 245.
Eliza Harris
“…chased down by dogs…”
Narrative of Mary Reynolds.
Rawick, G. P., Hillegas, J., & Lawrence, K. (1978). The American slave: A composite autobiography: supplement, series 2. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Pub, Vol. 8, Texas, p. 3294.
Mary Reynolds
“…or a stud buck…”
Narratives of John Cole and Rias Body. It’s impossible to overstate the prevalence of breeding programs on plantations.
Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., Georgia Narratives, Vol. 1, p. 228.
Rawick, G. P., Hillegas, J., & Lawrence, K. (1978). The American slave: A composite autobiography: supplement, series 1. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Pub, Vol. ??, Georgia, p. 68.
