“…calomel and turpentine…”
“…a better recipe for cotton…”
“…off to Louisiana.”
“…the field their mother had been in…”
“…right there in the fields.”
“…pregnant girls were kept around the house…”
“…praised her from the porch…”
“When the baby began to move…”
“…all night in the sickroom…”
“…the girl named Mede…”
Lu Lee
“…calomel and turpentine…”
Narrative of Lu Lee.
Rawick, G. P., Hillegas, J., & Lawrence, K. (1978). The American slave: A composite autobiography: supplement, series 2. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Pub, Vol. 6, Texas, p. 2299.
Lu Lee
“…a better recipe for cotton…”
Narrative of Doc Quinn.
Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., Arkansas Narratives, Vol. 6, p. 8.
Doc Quinn
“…off to Louisiana.”
Narrative of Ellen Cave.
Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., Indiana Narratives, Vol. 1, p. 50.
Ellen Cave
“…the field their mother had been in…”
Narrative of Millie Evans.
Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., Arkansas Narratives, Vol. 2, p. 240.
Millie Evans
“…right there in the fields.”
Narrative of Hannah Allen.
Rawick, G. P., Hillegas, J., & Lawrence, K. (1978). The American slave: A composite autobiography: supplement, series 1. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Pub, Vol. 2, Numerous States, p. 139.
Hannah Allen
“…pregnant girls were kept around the house…”
Narrative of Frank Gill.
Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., Alabama Narratives, Vol. 1, p. 110.
Frank Gill
“…praised her from the porch…”
Narratives of Lucindy Allison and Peter Brown.
Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., Arkansas Narratives, Vol. 1, pp. 42, 311-12.
“When the baby began to move…”
Documents I rely on later in the book sometimes permit inferences about Anarcha’s personality. Sims’s letter about her nursing skills suggest that she was bright and precocious, and later letters from the Maury family suggest that she could be assertive. There is nothing about her earliest feelings about motherhood, and while there are a wide range of emotions in the WPA narratives in regard to love, family, children, etc., I opted for this muted reaction, which was consistent with how I have suggested her pregnancy came about and with the overall balance of the narratives.
“…all night in the sickroom…”
Narrative of Willis Williams.
Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., Florida Narratives, Vol. 1, p. 354.
Willis Williams
“…the girl named Mede…”
A receipt for the purchase of three slaves, including Mede, was discovered in an old piece of furniture. I’m very grateful to Gerald Thompson, a descendant of the Westcott family, for having made his extensive genealogical materials about the family available to me. Thompson is in possession of a great trove of photos and documents, and has done extensive work to recreate the history of the family.