In today’s moment in Black History, we will highlight Sylvia Dubois (circa 1788/1789 – May 27, 1888), a fierce African-American woman born into slavery on Sourland Mountain, New Jersey.
You know how Madea handles disrespect with a purse and zero patience? Well, Sylvia Dubois was basically the real-life, 19th-century version…except she didn’t need a purse. She used a chair.
She was tall and strong (5’10" and 200 pounds in her prime). Sylvia endured brutal abuse from her domineering mistress, wife of tavern owner Dominicus "Minna" Dubois. Her mother, Dorcas Compton, had been whipped with an ox-goad just three days after giving birth for not working fast enough…a cruelty that scarred the family.
Around 1808, in her early 20s and mother to a young child, Sylvia’s mistress struck her again. Sylvia fought back, grabbing a chair and beating her enslaver unconscious. Fearing she'd killed her, she fled to New York with her baby. Minna (away on jury duty) tracked her down but offered freedom instead of punishment: take her child back to New Jersey, and forbade her return…he'd write her a pass to make it official. Sylvia accepted, reuniting with her mother in Flagtown.
In 1812, her grandfather, who was a free man who’d bought his own freedom…purchased her formal legal release for $100 (which Sylvia repaid herself through hard work). He bought land on Cedar Summit, opened Put's Tavern, and Sylvia settled nearby to care for him, later inheriting and running it (until it burned down). She worked as a field hand, servant, ferry operator (outsmarting rivals for fares), and tavern owner, raising several children amid lingering Northern slavery despite gradual emancipation.
Her story lives on in physician C.W. Larison’s 1883 book: Silvia Dubois (Now 116 Yers Old): A Biografy of the Slav who Whipt Her Mistres and Gand Her Fredom…which was phonetic spelled to preserve her voice. (She claimed 116; but records say closer to 99–100 at the time of her death during the 1888 blizzard.)
Fun fact: This act of defiance took place in New Jersey…the so-called "slave state of the North”…showing that resistance could shatter chains anywhere, even where slavery was quieter but no less real.
Her life reminds us that freedom sometimes starts with one unyielding stand.
Remember…Education is freedom of mind and never should be colorblind.
No comments:
Post a Comment