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Col.
Custis's Daughter
The Old Colored Woman
who has Received Title
to a Corner of the Arlington Estate
June 1866 [?]
A private bill passed the United States
senate which has quite a little History behind it. It was to
give a bedridden negro woman, eighty-two years old, title to
fifteen acres off of the northwestern corner of the Arlington
estate. The spot has been her home for half a century. Before
the war her white cottage was surrounded by tall trees and
pleasant stretches of grassland, and the place was beautiful as
well as homelike, But five years of camps and soldier
lawlessness stripped it of trees and fences and left it a
barren, poor place at best. The land now hardly feeds her little
family.
When the United States bought Arlington at
tax sale the old negro woman's land went with it, and she had
nothing to prove it was hers. But it seems she had a moral right
that is stronger that is stronger than the lower law of courts
and statute books. She was the daughter of G.W.P. Custis and the
granddaughter of Martha Washington. Col. Custis recognized her
as his child, and in 1826 [gave] her the land, on which she is
dying, for herself and her children. At the time she was freed
she had a daughter six years old, and a baby boy.
Soon after the laying of the corner stone for
the Washington Monument, when the latter was a man grown
[William Syphax], he wanted to go to Boston with the Hon Robert
C. Winthrop. He went to Alexandria to get his papers, for no man
of color could in those days travel about unless he had a master
to answer for him or papers to show that he owned himself.
The young negro [William Syphax] found in the
archives at Alexandria the paper which Col. Custis had signed
giving his mother her freedom and that of "her daughter
Bertha, six years old, and one male infant." An
octogenarian Quaker affirmed that the male child was the young
negro and he received his credentials.
But the most interesting fact in the family
history is that this old lady, who by act of Congress, is to be
allowed to end her days on her own bit of earth, was doubly
descended from the Custises. Her mother was Martha Washington's
maid. The family of Robert E. Lee inherited the respect for the
blood of the former slave woman, and they confirmed the legacy
of Col. Custis by saying that the bit of land was hers, as
though there was no deed to show in fact.
When Mrs. Robert E. Lee left Arlington, the
last farewell was spoken as she passed the old woman's cottage.
When after the war, Mrs. Lee visited Arlington, she found it a
waste. When nearly bedridden by rheumatism she rode up from
Alexandria to look over the place. As the carriage drove away
from it, she took one look at her old home and said: "I
never want to see Arlington again."
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Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in
America
By Melissa V.
Harris-Perry
According to the
author, this society has historically exerted
considerable pressure on black females to fit into one
of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the
Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless
Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to
white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of
those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the
relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable
temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as
an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the
characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television
shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry
points out how the propagation of these harmful myths
have served the mainstream culture well. For instance,
the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for
black females to feel a maternal instinct towards
Caucasian babies.
As for the source
of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their
own bodies during slavery given that they were being
auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless,
it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate
the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate
indiscriminately.
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Sex at the Margins
Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry
By Laura María Agustín
This book explodes several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work, that migrants who sell sex are passive victims and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest. Laura Agustín makes a passionate case against these stereotypes, arguing that the label 'trafficked' does not accurately describe migrants' lives and that the 'rescue industry' serves to disempower them. Based on extensive research amongst both migrants who sell sex and social helpers, Sex at the Margins provides a radically different analysis. Frequently, says Agustin, migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry, and although they are treated like a marginalised group they form part of the dynamic global economy. Both powerful and controversial, this book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the increasingly important relationship between sex markets, migration and the desire for social justice. "Sex at the Margins rips apart distinctions between migrants, service work and sexual labour and reveals the utter complexity of the contemporary sex industry. This book is set to be a trailblazer in the study of sexuality."—Lisa Adkins, University of London |
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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If you like this page consider making a donation
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Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
1950
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
____ 2005
Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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posted 29 June 2008
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