Woodhouse, and toted books which were wrapped to hide them. A group of 25-30 children would daily go to Mrs. Woodhouse, another free woman of color who took it upon herself to educate those of her race. Blatantly breaking the law, Dolly gave Susie into the hands of Mrs.
In 1855, it was still illegal for people of color to learn to read and write, especially if they were in bondage. One thing that Dolly understood was that Susie deserved an education.
She saw the regular slave auctions as those of her race were sold off like cattle to the highest bidder. Susie, as a young child, would also witness the horrors of slavery. In 1874, her life savings of $3,000 was lost during the collapse of the Freedman’s Savings Bank, a misfortune that befell many freed blacks after the war. Her grandmother was an industrious freed woman who traded goods to earn a living, along with being a laundress and taking care of bachelor rooms. Her time in Savannah became the most formative in her childhood. When she was seven, Susie and her brother were sent to live with her grandmother, Dolly, in Savannah. Grest was fond of her and her siblings and even allowed them to sleep at the end of her bed until her husband came home. The first seven years of her life, she spent with her mother in the care of the Grest Family in Liberty County, Georgia. Susie was the eldest of nine children, three of which died in infancy. According to her, she had five ancestors who served in the Revolutionary War on her mother’s side. Colored Troops, late 1st South Carolina Volunteers”, makes it little surprising that Susie would later accomplish so much. Her family history, as detailed in her memoirs “Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33rd U.S. Susie King Taylor, born Susie Ann Baker on August 6th, 1848, is known to be the first black nurse to serve in the Union army, as well as the first formally enslaved woman to open a school for free colored children in the state of Georgia during the war. I had seen this picture many times before in my travels and studies of the Civil War, but it wasn’t until recently that I became aware of this woman’s story and struggle.
I’m a little late to the party for Black History Month, but better late than never.
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