Slave mothers resisted forced family separation.
Some Mothers Were Not Our Biological Mothers
America owes a lot to Black Mothers. During slavery times many a master’s child was cared for by a Black slave woman. America's elite families used Black women as nursemaids, cooks, nannies, servants and mistresses. Thomas Jefferson owned his wife’s half-sister, a slave named Sally Hemings. Hemings was a nanny for Jefferson’s youngest children.
African-American mothers tried to hold their families together as best they could. From the early 1600’s to the end of U.S. slavery in 1865, a Black woman’s child was property of the slave master. Normally, the child was safe from harsh conditions of forced labor for the first five years or so, but eventually, when the child was old enough for light chores it was sent to work.
Harriet Tubman, the great liberator of the Underground Railroad, recalled the times when her mother told her to hide in the woods to avoid being taken away by their owner. The young girl stayed hidden in the woods for several days at a time. Frustrated, Harriet’s master suspended his intentions temporarily and allowed the girl to stay with her family. Eventually, the stalling tactics failed and Tubman was rented out to a neighboring plantation in the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
It is clear, mothers were the slave child’s first teacher of the realities of the world. They taught us, the descendants of Black slaves, to survive at all costs. We endured the crime of American Slavery for centuries. We persevered.
Sometimes someone other than our birth mother took on the responsibility of mothering, protecting and teaching. Sometimes it was an aunt, or an older sister. Sometimes, there was no blood kinship to the caretaker. Sometimes the surrogate mother was a man.
To all the mothers who cared for the children, whether they gave birth or not, I acknowledge your sacrifices and courage. Happy Mother’s Day!
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