Table Of Content

^ m ^ \m* ^^^^ %m: fl^ 8 <:wG( The Power of the So-called Powerless Edited by Giro Sepulveda with Lea Hardy The Ladies Oakwood of The Power of the So-called Powerless OakwoodCollegePress Huntsville,Alabama © Copyright GiroSepulveda2003 Allrightsreserved PrintedintheUnitedStates ISBN #1-888867-16-7 The Ladies Oakwood of The Power of the So-called Powerless Edited by Ciro Sepulveda with Lea Hardy Content Introduction 7 Chapter One 13 AnnaKnight GiroSepulveda,withTiaGravesand DeJuanKnight Chapter Two ' 31 EvaB. Dykes Giro Sepulveda Chapter Three 45 Chessie Harries NataUe A. Griffin Chapter Four 55 C. E. L. Baskerville GamiliaRogers Chapter Five 69 , Inez Booth SenecaVaught Chapter Six 83 AlmaBlackman LeeR. Gort " Chapter Seven 91 JannithLewis ^' ^ ; ; .'..; LaviniaBaxter ChapterEight ' '" , ' ; ^ ' 111 WilliemaeErving AnitaDupree ChapterNine 124 MineolaDixon LaviniaBaxter ,- , Chapter Ten 137 Artie Melancon ^^ NackechaMaddix ..> ^•.. ". " ChapterEleven : 150 Eurydice Osterman AngelaWarden '"^ 5 Epilogue 163 Index 167 TheLadiesofOakwood Introduction WhenJohnKnight, elderlyownerofasmallplantationinthe pineyhillsofsouthcentralMississippi,arrivedonhorsebackinAu- gusta, Georgia, inthe springof 1856, the small settlementboasted two stores, ablacksmith shop and acottongin, with anoldcourt- houseatthecenteroftown.Onahighbluffabovethelanding,shaded byrows ofsycamores andfragrantcedars, stoodthe inn atwhich Knightstayed. Itwasthetrading seasoninAugusta, anddozens of visitorswalkedthroughthestreets,takinginthesightsandsoundsof abrightspringmorning. Thetwostoresintownhadpreparedfortheseasonbybringing inunusualitems to attractmorecustomers. One storehadahorse tradershowingoffhisstalHonsandmares.Theotherwasdominated byaslavetrader. Itseemedasifacountryfairwasabouttobegin. Theslavetrader,asmalltimebusinessmantryingtomakeitbig, hadherdedhis slavesintotownthedaybeforeJohnKnightarrived. InthebiggercitieslikeNewOrleansorMobile, slavesweresoldon 7 TheLadiesofOakwood New auctionblocks atthelocalslavemarket. Inthe 1850's, Orleans hadthelargestslavemarketinthenation. Everyyear,thousands of slavesinchainstraveledtoNewOrleansdowntheMississippiRiver, becausethehighestpricesforslavescouldbeattainedinthatcity.The largeslave-tradingcompaniesmaintainedteamsofrepresentativesin many northern slave states, who purchased, transported and sold slaves.InthesmalltownofAugusta,theitinerantslavetraderavailed himselfofanyopportunitytosellhishumans. Inthe 1850's, the price ofslaves was higherthan ithad ever beeninthehistoryoftheUnitedStates. Althoughitvariedwiththe economicconditionsofthetimes,slaveryinthedeepSouthwaspassing throughitsgoldenage. AndattheheartoftheAmericanslavetrade was "KingCotton."Whencottonincreasedinprice, slavepricesin- creased, andwhencottonpricesfell, slaves couldbeboughtatrela- tivelycheaperprices. Themostexpensiveslaveswerestrongyoungblackmaleswho couldworkinthefields. Light-skinnedslaves,especiallyiftheywere white enoughto "pass," werelowerinprice, because theyusually createdtoomuchtroublefortheirowners. Manyofthelight-skinned slaveswereconstantlyrunningawayortakingtheirownerstocourt, arguingthattheywerefreemen. However,ifthehght-skinnedslave hadatradesuchas blacksmithingorstoneworking,thepricecould behigher. Light-skinnedwomen slaveswere anothermatter. They werehighlyvaluedbecauseinthedeepSouthandparticularlyouton thefrontier,theycouldbeusedasbarmaidsorprostitutes. Whenheheardthecommotion acrossthe street. Knightwas justmountingabeautifulwhite-stockingedsorrelmarewhichhehad boughtfromthehorsetrader.He sawthatthe slavesalewasaboutto begin.Thebeardedtradercrackedhiswhip,tossingprofanitiesinthe airto attract attention andcustomers. Ababy cried. Somepeople ploddedtowardtheauctionwhileothershurriedaway,uncomfort- able withthe scene ofgrief. Two husky blackmenrolled away a barrelofcidertomakeroomforthedisplayofhumanflesh.AsKnight arrived,thewhipcrackedonceagainovertheheadofayoungslave who carried a baby in her arms. The baby was light-skinned and appeared to be about a year old as the mother clutched her, tears streamingdownherface. 8