Vanessa M. Holden - Surviving Southampton: African American Women and Resistance in Nat Turners Community

W OMEN , G ENDER , AND S EXUALITY
IN A MERICAN H ISTORY

Editorial Advisors:

Susan K. Cahn

Wanda A. Hendricks

Deborah Gray White

Anne Firor Scott, Founding Editor Emerita

A list of books in the series appears at the end of this book.

SURVIVING
SOUTHAMPTON

AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN AND RESISTANCE
IN NAT TURNERS COMMUNITY

VANESSA M. HOLDEN

2021 by the Board of Trustees
of the University of Illinois
All rights reserved

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021935901
ISBN 978-0-252-04386-4 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-252-08585-7 (paperback)
ISBN 978-0-252-05276-7 (e-book)

Chapter 4 is derived in part from an article published
in Slavery and Abolition 38, no. 4 (2017), 673696,
2017 Taylor & Francis, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0144039x.2017.1304612.

For Gram and Abuelita, my great-grandmothers.

Your memory is a legacy.

Your example of survival taught me to trust silence.

Your life stories taught me to persevere.

Acknowledgments

This book began with a question I asked as an eager undergraduate history student: How did Nat Turner survive for months and evade capture after the Southampton Rebellion? That question became my senior honors thesis at Randolph-Macon Womans College (now Randolph College). Nearly fifteen years of work later, what began as a question about enslaved women and their inexplicable absence from the narrative of Americas most famous slave rebellion is now a book that centers community, resistance, and survival.

The mentoring I received as an undergraduate at Randolph-Macon Womans College prepared me for graduate study and encouraged me to think like a scholar. Mara Amster, Heidi Kunz, and Julio Rodriguez each had an immeasurable impact on my development as a thinker and writer. John DEntremonts mentoring and enthusiasm for my work helped me to proudly pursue a career as a professional historian.

In my time at Rutgers University, an entire network of scholars embraced me, supported my development as a scholar, and mentored me. I am grateful to Carolyn Brown, Indrani Chatterje, Dorothy Sue Cobble, Ann Fabian, Nikol Alexander-Floyd, Marisa Fuentes, Ann Gordon, Alison Isenberg, Temma Kaplan, Julie Livingston, Beryl Satter, and Camilla Townsend. Each took great care at different moments in my graduate career to support and mentor me, and each shaped my scholarly trajectory. Nancy Hewitt taught and continues to teach me lessons about who I want to be as a scholar. She was like a bonus adviser who always had time for me and contributed to my metamorphosis from student to scholar. Suzanne Lebsock, my adviser, taught me to find womens lives in Virginias archives, to account for space and place, and to consider all of the ways my historical subjects were connected in antebellum Southampton County. She challenged me and guided my methodology. Deborah Gray White, also my adviser, became the coach who got me to the finish line in grad school. Her encouragement, sharp editorial eye, and instruction to persist, bird by bird, bolstered my resolve and continues to serve as a model for mentoring in my life as a scholar and a faculty member.

The Virginia Historical Society, now the Virginia Museum of History & Culture, awarded me an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Research Fellowship to work in their archives. Their archives expanded how I could cover enslaved and free Black children, and their staff provided invaluable assistance. The Library of Virginia and its librarians also offered me assistance and support at many stages of my research.

A number of colleagues at both Michigan State University and the University of Kentucky have helped me on my journey with this project. At Michigan State, Emily Conroy-Krutz, Pero Dagbovie, Denise Demetriou, LaShawn Harris, and Leslie Moch offered help, friendship, and support and continue to do so. Anastasia Curwood, Amy Murrell Taylor, and Karen Petrone eased my transition to a new institution as I wrapped up the project and have graciously spent time mentoring me and engaging with my work. Their help and friendship have made it possible for me to thrive at the University of Kentucky and to finish this project. Joe Clark, Phil Harling, DaMaris Hill, Kathi Kern, Kathryn Newfont, Melynda Price, Gerald Smith, Derrick White, and George Wright have all had a huge impact on my time at UK and are important supporters of my scholarship.

I am indebted to many mentors and friends in the field of Black womens history. Thavolia Glymph, Leslie Harris, Darlene Clark Hine, Tera Hunter, Jennifer Morgan, and Stephanie Smallwood have all engaged with me and my work, providing valuable insights and suggestions at professional meetings, seminars, and panels. I am forever grateful to Daina Ramey Berry and Erica Armstrong Dunbar for shaping my thinking and bolstering my resolve to finish writing this book. I also thank Amrita Chakrabarti Myers, Deirdre Cooper Owens, and Tamika Nunley for reading chapter drafts, laughing with me, and giving of their time to help me shape this work. Special thanks to Sally Hadden for her thoughtful reading and help with antebellum legal history.

From the start, Dawn Durante has stood by me and this project. She has worked through numerous drafts, crafted excellent suggestions, and stayed with me through various life changes. Her brilliance and kindness as an editor have saved this project more than once. I am so grateful that we got to work together at the University of Illinois Press.

I also thank Allison Miller and Rebecca Tuuri for their insistence that I do my work and put it out into the world. Conversations with John Adams, Robin Chapdelaine, Chris Mitchel, Svanur Ptursson, and Sara Rzeszutek have always lifted my spirits and pushed me forward. Kelly Dittmars support has known no bounds. Kate Scott helped me through the final writing stages of the dissertation and continues to encourage me. Wendy Christopher offered patient advice that still guides me. I thank Yomaira Figueroa-Vsquez, Tacuma Peters, Tamara Butler, and Delia Fernandez for being my crew and Tanisha Ford and Treva Lindsey for their kindness and friendship. Jessica Marie Johnson has been my trench buddy and co-friendspirator; I am so honored to do this work with her.

My family and my kin have made my work possible. My parents, Jeff and Shelly, encouraged me to read and ask questions from an early age. They taught me to respect education and to challenge narratives. They raised me to find and tell the truth. Bryce and Doug, my first friends and my two-man cheering squad, I am so lucky to have brothers like you who support me and love me without condition. Jessica Eckman and Liz Latty, chosen cousins, you are the models of kin I strive to imitate. Clare Rittschof, my steadfast friend, thank you for getting me to go outside. Karen Marcus, thank you for encouraging me to write and live in truth. Camille Dungy, there is no way to capture how our friendship has shaped me and made me glad. Callie Violet, this project is only a little older than you are and being your godmother has grounded me. I am proud to be your Auntie V.

Mariama, your practice as a writer inspires me. Your presence as a voice of reason and calm has kept me. This life with you and Sir Henry sustains me. Thank you, love. Thank you.

Authors Note on Language and Sources

Writing the history of Black Virginians requires the use of archival materials and transcriptions of oral histories that reflect the racist attitudes of the people who produced them and the racial terms and language of the times. Reproducing, quoting, and citing these sources necessarily runs the risk of reifying dehumanizing violence against Black people and white denial of Black peoples humanity. I have taken great care in choosing my words, selecting direct quotations, and attending to this possibility. But intent does not mitigate impact. The sources and their creators are not perfect. In a book about violence and resistance, Ive cultivated an ethic of care that considers the impact of historical terms and language.