Big Red

Her father was a white slaveholder who was one of the counties doctors. Her mother was an enslaved woman he owned named Hannah. Her mother was said to be one third African, one third indigenous and no mention of the other third of her heredity. Strange enough most just assume white. Hannah was from South Carolina and was gifted to Dr. Jedidiah. It is said as soon as he saw her, he became sexually interested in her. He must have looked at her the way men thirsty for sex look at women who appeals to them. He must have had the hungry wolf look.

Hannah and her children were kept in quarters much nicer than the other enslaved people on his family’s 2,000 plus acre plantation. He would visit her quite openly and eventually fathered five children with her. After his death in 1870 she has land and livestock listed in the non-population report in the census in the same area where the family plantation was located. This is maybe why Big Red (Henrietta) learned how to brand animals and did it well.

Henrietta was very, very fair skinned with a heavy amount of red in her complexion. She stood about 5’11 and was very muscular build. Her hair was dark with deep waves that were the result of her mixed racial heritage. Born into slavery in 1854 she worked alongside her mother in the garden that her father had planted for their family. She knew her father was an important man, and many people did not like how he handled his family affairs. The way he showed his affection for her mother and them in front of others. This was very much a taboo in the antebellum south. Although they were on his property word did get out about town and many people were not pleased. The fact he kept a black woman, held her above others and never married made some people very angry at him.

People in town whispered behind the doctor’s back however he was still a doctor, a prosperous landowner and of course white. He still received invitations to the high society balls and many mothers of debutants tried to get him to notice their daughters. The town widows had their eyes on him too. He was a very handsome and plus a wealthy man. Most women whose husbands were slaveholders knew they (the husbands) were known to visit the slave quarters and enjoy having sex with the slave women. It was just a part of plantation life, and everyone knew it and just turned their heads.

Not many women branded animals unless maybe they were out west where many women did things most women in other places did not do. However, Big Red was an exception. Since her father was the master of the plantation, she could get away with doing somethings others could not do and if she wanted to help why not. No one was turning down an extra hand when it came to working. One of the older enslaved men taught her how to brand animals when she was a child. She could rope animals faster than most of the men and the smell of burning flesh did not offend her at all.

Many men were very intimidated by Big Red she was tall, healthy built and somewhat rambunctious. She was known to curse often, and this upset her mother a lot. The Doctor this is what most called Jedidiah Spencer would correct her from time to time however he did not seem to be worried about her high-spirited nature. I guess he felt she would get married anyhow since she was enslaved, and the standards were a bit different among them, so he thought. At least in his mind and the mind of other white folks who did not know what to think about enslaved people and their social customs. Most just did not think of them at all. They were property and had a low rank in society.

Since Big Red, her siblings nor her mother never left the plantation before 1862 they were not privy firsthand to the gossip that was heard in the city nor around the county about them and the Doctor. Their world was a small portion of the 2,000+ acres Dr. Jedidiah and his family owned. All they knew they had much larger quarters than the other enslaved people, eat well and had nice clothes compared to other enslaved people in the county. All this they knew only by hearsay. Sometimes the other enslaved people who would go into town with the doctor to pick up supplies heard things. Since most white people disregarded enslaved people, many would speak openly around them. As if they were invisible.

Many of the white women found it insulting that Dr. Jedidiah never married and had an open intimate relationship with a black woman he owned. One high society lady in town was so bothered by it she just had to say something to the sheriff about what she had heard about the good doctor and his behavior. She told the sheriff, “Not only does he have his “Slave Wife,” he openly takes care of the few free black people in the city.” Now dear lady said the sheriff, you need to stop that bad mouthing of the doctor right now! He is a fine doctor, successful planter and a very decent man. She stopped talking and went on her way. Although she was really upset and bothered by what she had heard about Dr. Jedidiah she was preparing her daughter to meet him at the next county Historical Society ball and hopefully he would show favor upon her and ask for her hand in marriage this would raise her status in the community.

As I continue the research of my family history I find more and more interesting people like Big Red, Dr. Jedidiah Spencer and Hannah. The issue of race and ethnicity are complicated especially for people who are descendants of people who were enslaved in this country from 1619 to 1865. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade a very lucrative however horrid business created a whole race of people totally detached from their heritage, original language and religion. Plus, not accepted by the American society. Many of them bi-racial and not owned by their white planter, overseer or other white men who were their fathers. Usually, the product of rape these people became trapped between two worlds.

Now in the 21st century as we fight against the resurgence of white supremacy in the US and the world, we struggle with the ghost of the past left by slavery and the Jim Crow system of the 17th through early 20th centuries. In our world today we have laws against discrimination and various injustices heaped upon the black populations in the US, Caribbean and South America. How do we grow from attempting to obey laws to seeing each other as humans first and foremost?