Mellon Scholars Summer Program – Subject Guides

From Object to Author: Black Female Caregivers, Self-Representation, and the Archive

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Overview:

From Object to Author: Black Female Caregivers, Self-Representation, and the Archive examines the lives of Black women and girls who, despite being consistently represented in archives not of their own making during the 19th and early 20th centuries, forged their own records to speak for themselves. These women—often relegated to roles as caregivers, nannies, and wet nurses—were frequently documented in records owned by white individuals and families. Yet, within some of their own families and homes, they preserved their stories, identities, and legacies ensuring their voices prevailed beyond the margins of history.

From Object to Author also explores how Black women navigated and defied the social limitations of their time to assert their humanity and autonomy. It highlights the paradox faced by African American women and girls who, white caring for white children—children often taught to view them as inferior—developed relationships with those in their charge. These bonds were not born of choice or affection but were instead shaped by systemic oppression and the constraints of their roles. Through these dynamics, the project illuminates the resilience, dignity, and quiet resistance of Black women as they carved out spaces for self-representation in a world determined to silence them.

About the Author:

This subject guide was assembled by Birdie Bachman, a rising Junior at Smith College (class of 2028, studying abroad at the University of Edinburgh 2026-2027) pursuing a degree in Government with a minor in History. Birdie is currently the Civil Rights and Education Justice Intern with the Spokane NAACP, working to inform marginalized citizens of their rights as constituents of school districts throughout the Spokane, WA area.

Keywords

Contributors:

  1. Kimberly Wallace-Sanders (1962 – present)
  2. Erica Dunbar (1972 – present)
  3. W.E.B. Du Bois (1868 – 1963)
  4. Harriet A. Jacobs (1813 – 1897)
  5. Phyllis Wheatley (1753 – 1784)
  6. Minnie Thomas Littleton (years live unknown, famous portrait taken in 1868)
  7. The Liberator newspaper (1831 – 1865) — Massachusetts
  8. The American Anti-Slavery Society (1833 – 1870) — Pennsylvania
  9. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill — North Carolina
  10. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture — New York

Subject Headings:

  1. African American Children / Youth — Social Conditions — 19th century
  2. African American — Mothers and Motherhood— United States
  3. African American — Nannies / Caregivers — United States
  4. African American — Wet Nurses — United States
  5. African American — Authors — United States
  6. African American — Women — Household Employees — United States
  7. African American — Women — United States
  8. African Americans — Suffrage — United States
  9. Women — Black — in Popular Culture
  10. Women — Self-Authorship — United States

Genre Terms:

  1. Anti-Slavery Literature
  2. Biographies
  3. Diaries
  4. Family Histories / Papers
  5. Handbooks / Instruction Books
  6. Journals (Personal narratives)
  7. Ledgers
  8. Novels
  9. Photographs
  10. Slave Narratives
Annotated Bibliography

Resources at LCP:

Martha S. Gielow, Mammy’s Reminiscences and Other Sketches (New York, 1898).

This collection of short stories and poems of the Antebellum South written by Martha S. Gielow of Alabama offers a glimpse at the experiences of African American women from the perspective of a southern white woman. Though it received much praise by critics of her time, Gielow’s depiction of African Americans using the exaggerated Eye Dialect, or “Mammy” trope, through stories including “Plantation Nursery Scene,” “Mammy’s Reminiscences,” and “Blow, Li’l’ Breezes, Blow” continues to promote the harmful narrative of unintelligent Black women.

Emily P. Burke, Reminiscences of Georgia (Ohio, 1850).

A memoir by New England native and author Emily P. Burke, Reminiscences of Georgia examines the real-life experiences of 1840s Georgia, ranging from topics such as plantation life, the struggles of poor Southern whites, enslavement, and much more. An interesting thing to note: Burke dedicates the book to her own “Mammy” and makes sure to note that, while she does not “claim any literary merit for this little volume of Plantation Folk lore, [she makes] no apology for presenting it to the public.” Her inspiration for the narrative was to depict an accurate version of the “Mammy” figure whom she states “have been so grossly exaggerated and caricatured by the ‘minstrel’ performers [to be almost] unrecognizable by those who knew and loved them.”

Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (North Carolina, 1861).
A slave narrative originally written under the pseudonym Linda Brent, Harriet Jacobs exposes the uncomfortable and upsetting realities of African enslavement. The autobiography examines what life was like for herself and other girls born into slavery, including graphic depictions of sexual exploitation and abuse, coming of age in the Antebellum South, the loss of family, the rigorous labor of being the nanny and caretaker of her enslaver’s young children, and her eventual escape for freedom and emancipation.

Amanda J.W Gibson and William John Truitt, Golden Thoughts on Chastity and Procreation: Including Heredity, Prenatal Influences; Sensible Hints and Wholesome Advice for Maiden and Young Man, Wife and Husband, Mother and Father (Illinois, 1903).
This Edwardian-era manuel provided relevant (to its time) sexual education, moral guidelines, and more to young people of the early 1900s although being specifically targeted to African American youth. Published by Professor John William Gibson, Mrs. Amanda J.W. Gibson, this book was structured to educate individuals at every stage of life, starting at early adolescence and ending once the original audience became parents. Though it was primarily intended to be read by upper and middle-class Americans, the handbook was used amongst the literate lower and working class population who didn’t receive adequate health advice living in poverty or while working within a white household.

Joseph Edcil Winters, M.D., The Relative Influences of Maternal and Wet-Nursing on Mother and Child (New York, 1886).

This 1886 medical handbook by Dr. Winters proposed the argument that maternal nursing was most important for an infant’s survival and wellbeing. It heavily opposed wet-nursing and other forms of cross nursing unless absolutely necessary for a mother. This guide examined many aspects of expressed Western opinions on milk-sharing, including the belief that, unless a mother was completely incapable of providing breast milk to their own children, it was unfathomable for Black or non-white women to feed white infants.

Frances Smith Foster, The House of Bondage, or, Charlotte Brooks and Other Slaves by Octavia V. Rogers Albert; with an Introduction (New York, 1890).

This biography on the life of “Aunt” Charlotte Brooks, a formerly enslaved Black woman, depicts the graphic realities of living in enslavement and one’s venture to freedom. Along with interviews of other former slaves, Foster narrates the life of Brooks during her experiences of forced motherhood and the eventual separation and death of her family, her role as a nanny for the white children of the plantation while also balancing the harsh work of field labor. The House of Bondage also expands on the influences of religion and faith in the daily lives of enslaved individuals, and how it helped them persist through unimaginable hardship.

Local Resources:

Wall text (section 408) for Becoming Revolutionaries (1760-1775) exhibit. Declarationof Independence: The Promise of Equality. Elizabeth: An Enslaved Woman, Museum of the American Revolution, Philadelphia.

Elizabeth “[Mum]Bet” Freeman was a formerly enslaved woman in Massachusetts who worked as a domestic worker and nanny both during and after her emancipation. Elizabeth is known as being the first enslaved African American woman to successfully file a lawsuit for her freedom, winning her legal battle in 1781 and setting the stage for the eventual abolition of slavery in the northern state of Massachusetts.

Personal conversation with Eastern State Penitentiary staff member, 2026. History of Incarcerated Women.

During their years of operation (1829-1971), the Eastern State Penitentiary recorded Thirty-Three women who gave birth within the prison. These mothers were given two options: keep your baby with you in the prison or give it up for adoption. Records show that only 4 women decided to keep their babies inside the penitentiary and their personal cells while the rest chose to give it away. In addition to these women, it is important to note that Black women were specifically targeted during the 19th century. In 1831, the very first female prisoners were admitted to the penitentiary all of whom were women of color.

Jarena Lee. [History Maker: Jarena Lee]. Wooden Placard. Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal, Philadelphia.
Jarena Lee (1783–185?), a pioneering Black woman, broke down barriers by becoming the first female preacher in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the first Black woman to publish an autobiography in the United States. Born to a free-but-poor Black family, Lee was sent to work as a live-in domestic worker for the Sharp Family in New Jersey, later moving to Philadelphia, PA where she continued similar work. After attending sermons delivered by Bishop Richard Allen, the founder of the AME church, Lee was inspired to pursue the ministry herself. Although Jarena Lee was never granted an official title, her groundbreaking work paved the way for future generations of female clergy members.

Reference Books:

Doyle, Nora. Maternal Bodies: Redefining Motherhood in Early America. University of North Carolina. Chapel Hill Press, 2018.
Nora Doyle’s book Maternal Bodies examines the physical and emotional burdens of motherhood endured by enslaved women, highlighting how reproductive labor became both a form of suffering and a strategy for survival under the brutality of enslavement. The book exposes the harsh realities enslaved mothers faced, including the forced separations from their children, malnutrition, and physical abuse, while critiquing sentimental literary portrayals for obscuring these truths. Through a careful analysis of historical records and literary works, Maternal Bodies reveals how enslaved women’s bodies were simultaneously sites of exploitation and resistance, reshaping dominant narratives of motherhood in early America

Webster, Crystal L. Beyond the Boundaries of Childhood: African American Children in the Antebellum North. University of North Carolina. Chapel Hill Press, 2021.

Beyond the Boundaries of Childhood explores the cultural, social, and historical analyses of the African American Child experience during the Antebellum period in the Northern States of America (ex: young Black girls working as domestic laborers and caretakers), as well as what it would have been like to be a Black parent. Webster addresses harmful historical stereotypes of specifically Black women such as claims they were “unfit parents” and replaces these narratives with examples of how the bond between a [black] mother and her child were not lost simply due to their race. Webster eventually links these historical accounts to modern instances of Black childhood being stolen with stories such as that of Tamir Rice.

Jones-Rogers, Stephanie. They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South. Connecticut, 2019.
They Were Her Property explores how white women in the Antebellum South actively participated in, perpetuated, and benefited from slavery, particularly through their control over Black women forced into domestic roles as nannies, caretakers, and wet nurses. These Black women were subjected to extreme instances of exploitation including the separation from their children and the requirement to nurse white infants at the expense of their own while white women wielded power over their reproductive and maternal labor. Yet, even within these oppressive conditions Black women demonstrated resilience and resistance.

Additional Sources:

Harriet E. Wilson, Our Nig, or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black: in a Two-Story White House, North: Showing that Slavery’s Shadows Fall Even There (Boston, 1859).

Knight, R.J. Mother, Home, and Mammy: Motherhood, Race, and Power in the Antebellum South. University of Sheffield, Department of History thesis. 2017.

Strausbaugh, John. Black Like You: Blackface, Whiteface, Insult & Imitation in American Popular Culture. New York, 2006.

Forster Music Publisher Inc, words by Jesse G. M. Glick, music by Frederic Knight Logan and Abe Olman, “When You Sang Hush-A-Bye Baby To Me”, (Sheet Music Piece, 1918)

Ade, Yewande. “The Complicated History of Wet Nursing and Black Breastfeeding.” Medium. History Street, April 9, 2022. https://medium.com/history-street/the-complicated-history-of-wet-nursing-and-black-breastfeeding-8c4f7b96209a. 

“AFRICAN and BLACK HISTORY: “Enslaved Mothers Were Commonly Separated from Their Own Infants and Coerced into Breastfeeding White Babies, a Practice That Caused Immense Emotional and Physical Trauma,” 2020. https://www.instagram.com/p/DSLFziuFWfV/.

Albuquerque, Lucílio de, and Museu de Arte da Bahia. Mãe Preta (Black Mother). 1912. Oil Painting. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Figura-1-Tela-Mae-preta-de-Lucilio-de-Albuquerque-1912-acervo-do-Museu-de-Belas_fig1_350757279.

Bennett, Teresa. “The Positive Effect — Black Women and the Burnout Epidemic: The History of Caring.” www.positiveeffect.org, n.d. https://www.positiveeffect.org/blog/black-women-and-the-burnout-epidemic-the-historyof-caring-part-3. 

Childress, Alice. Like One of the Family: Conversations from a Domestic Life . Independence Publishers, 1956. Ellzey Correspondent, Bill. “Local Author Writes Tales of Former Slaves in Houma before Civil War.” The Courier, June 4, 2009. https://www.houmatoday.com/story/entertainment/2009/06/04/local-author-writes-tales-of-former-slaves-in-houma-before-civil-war/26847097007/. 

Emory University. “‘Framing Shadows.’” Edited by Kimberly Wallace-Sanders. Emory News, 2019. https://news.emory.edu/features/2019/03/framing-shadows.

Ibiene. “The Tragedy of Enslaved Black Wet-Nurses….” Ibiene Magazine, November 2, 2022. https://ibiene.com/culture/the-tragedy-of-enslaved-black-wet-nurses/.

The Black Body Curve. “Who Loves You, Baby?,” 2019. https://www.theblackbodycurve.com/mammy.

The Library Company of Philadelphia. 

unknown. A Slave Nanny with a Child in Her Back. 1882. Photograph.

unknown, and Paul Getty Museum. Portrait of a Nurse and a Child. 1850. Daguerreotype. https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/104FWH. 

Weaver Parrish, Clara, and Martha Gielow. 

  • “Cum ‘Long Now An’ Let Mammy Rock You Ter Sleep.” 1898. Book. Mammy’s Reminiscences and Other Sketches .
  • “Hyear Our Babys Coach an Sa’…” 1898. Book. Mammy’s Reminiscences and Other Sketches. 

Wilson, Teisha. “Jarena Lee (1783–185?).” BlackPast.org, January 19, 2007. https://blackpast.org/african-american-history/lee-jarena-1783/.

Mellon Scholars 2026: Aselah DavyPhotograph of title page with Aaron Levy inscriptionShareholder Spotlight: Aaron Levy (1742-1815) and Hyman Gratz (1776-1857)