Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Everybody knew what she was called, but nobody anywhere knew her name. Disremembered and unaccounted for, she cannot be lost because no one is looking for her, and even if they were, how can they call her if they don’t know her name. Although she has claim, she is not claimed . . . It was not a story to pass on. Toni Morrison, Beloved . . . not all silences are equal and . . . they cannot be addressed—or redressed—in the same manner. To put it differently, any historical narrative is a particular bundle of silences, the result of a unique process, and the operation required to deconstruct these silences will vary accordingly. Michel-Ralph Trouillot, Silencing the Past In 1831, a will is recorded in South Carolina. The testatrix is Lucy Buchanan, a free Black woman. Like most wills, Buchanan’s included a request that her debts be “punctually paid out of such perishable property” that she might own at the time of her death. She left the remainder of her estate in real and personal property to a local white slaveholder, a man she described as a “friend” and who she named executor of her estate. She asked that he hold this property in guardianship for his son until such time as the son arrived at the age of twenty-one. At that point, the estate would fall to the son and in succession, his “heirs and assigns forever.” Her estate included, she stated, “my son William who is a Slave.” She further stated that she believed this decision represented “the best disposition that according to the laws of this state I can make for his welfare.”1 To date, I have found no other record of Lucy Buchanan or her son—no letters written by either of them or about them, no document created by the state. It is therefore with just the will that Lucy Buchanan and William enter the archive as far as I am aware. Moreover, it is not even clear that the will is a legal declaration. On the line that called for Buchanan’s signature, her name appears in typeset and inserted between her first and last name is the letter “X,” neither of which is unusual. An X-mark signature, typically a mark of handwriting illiteracy or disability made in lieu of an actual signature, is considered legally valid when properly witnessed, and there were witnesses to Buchanan’s will. But what exactly did they witness? Clearly, they did not witness Buchanan making an X signature as the X mark is, like her name, typeset. Was she even present for this non-signed but signed document? These problems notwithstanding, the will provides important insight into Lucy Buchanan’s life, including the violence of slavery that adhered to it. The lack of a signature represents but part of the violence of the system of human bondage that created and operationalized the spectacle of a free Black mother of an enslaved child. Lucy Buchanan’s attempt to extricate herself and her child from this spectacle commands my attention. I linger with her justification for remanding her child—a child enslaved to her—to the care of a white slaveholder. Perhaps the young man to whom she ultimately wills her son is the child’s biological father, but that is pure speculation. I focus on her statement that leaving her child enslaved with this man was the “best disposition” she could “make for his welfare” under the laws of the state in which she lived, South Carolina. It was not what she wanted for her son, only what she thought was best for him under the circumstances.2 It dawns on me that Buchanan used one of the master’s tools—a will—to protect her child the best way she knew how. With this decision, she also telegraphed the violence that attached to her, inserting her testimony into the archive of slavery.3 Entering the archive of slavery is to confront what Foucault calls “the jostling violence of the facts they tell” and Arlette Farge terms “the rustling voices of the population.”4 The archive of slavery is a boisterous place where the violence of slaveholders jostles against the resistance and “rustling voices” of the enslaved, of the kind that characterizes Buchanan’s will and so many documents in which enslaved people cry out despite the curatorial efforts embedded in the archive that aimed to silence them. The “jostling violence” appears in the papers of slaveholding women who talked about Rose, an enslaved woman who led a rebellion in South Carolina during the Civil War. In letters to each other and diary entries, slaveholding women reported on Rose’s activities and celebrated her death at the hands of Confederate scouts.5 But Rose’s presence in for the “jostling violence” in But Foucault and I this violence as of the of the to into what the archive of slavery and make presence The and women at the of of “the jostling violence of the are people he as and who led and of them or he and who but for with would have left no at all in the historical them as of people not so to as at Lucy I did the people he as to were no just as boisterous as the of as with the archive of the “jostling violence” in the archive where and who could not have would have a The in the of papers or that from the the is out by and not that from the of the but also as as when that the enslaved are in the It is to the jostling of slaveholders in the and have to it. slaveholders and to hold people in the of human and and them. are so that it is to them even on when the of with enslaved people them from they could not but about the enslaved and they did so in that did not It is therefore that have to the enslaved as so in the archive and voices as so or that it is to of about them. even Foucault that the would and to no if all it did was to and but it It is not and it people and not to silence but to the and boisterous of the enslaved in the by the of the enslaved people the of the and women who most of the papers that have to in and The they are the of my and many of These of and of of and out of and with the and papers of and for it is not that there is a of Lucy Buchanan and her son in the they it is the in which the archive was and out that what is most important to know about this the enslaved are so and that what of them can of of the they that can Moreover, in these in the of one it of and slavery have the and found them and have that facts from the the of a that the violence that to is as have in the that the archive of slavery is on a of and one might even in is there in the archive in on and it is to in as that of slavery are not only an of but to the and of when place the focus on I if by this the of as as can about the of enslaved and to be from I if this to what to as a a from which the voices of enslaved people cannot if they only as The archive of slavery is not a where the of slaveholders are of such and that the voices of enslaved people cannot be is not the archive of the enslaved with which The archive have is one in which enslaved people and with to I for of her of the archive of and how it was this time for her to how the of enslaved women the of and to of Black women the legal and in who In the Black women on the in which they were she they to into the and the Civil a from which the of enslaved people cannot or be or even in I and that to confront and what can as is and the but the that who and by to what was about and to them and ultimately could The and of enslaved people of this is not to that the the are to hold that The and letter or a in a letter or diary a legal to in and not to them historical or But the presence of enslaved people in the archive at it is a and that slaveholders also not The voices of enslaved people in the archive and in all Lucy Buchanan’s in the archive is and But she is not an so in the archive that cannot of about her, that a for her with and the historical are all and from but it is this that have to I have written this way of the archive me to it as a place where and for are of and and to the people who them the they I slaveholders would have in the and of the archive created from papers most of them were from the knew papers were of of and the jostling of voices that created a archive and to was the made when she the story of her and Rose’s on a part of the a archive created and by the enslaved and the as of the and the and the the lost and the found The enslaved people inserted into the including the into the papers of slaveholders and Like on a created by the and and an are the slaveholders in the and of enslaved people who in of slaveholding an that the of Black people for and the of into a are the wills in which slaveholders witness to a free mother to a for her enslaved who and Black mother to make to the what they were to and what they could not The can be is is to as best can the of enslaved people that slaveholders to and and that would It is to the no are to the created or the result of or the that to In her in to the of what can and cannot know about many she as as the that is found in the of her can be a of her with leaving with only of her she presence in the archive as a where of or or an a or an from the and of and her from the to the of her in that no of the life, no to her no of the of her or of what looking at such a might But there is to story just as there is to Lucy in was in line with the of of and on of silences and but has as in the of of slavery and for who enslaved women in In her important to the out to the of enslaved in the she about the of and the in by on the of enslaved and the of enslaved people in the She how it is to the of enslaved women also “the of that to from these it to a historical out of that which and and to the of the it even when “the women who in the . . . a into under the of but are But the is it to know of as all can know about enslaved women is can be from an of the or from the of her and and to can be from a a or a from the of and is no To the of enslaved people as to know because the on which are so is to to a that that it was to a of the enslaved because they left no or the in which they are But there are other The and in the archive cry out for the of and for have the Lucy Buchanan’s in the violence of is but it is a that a of her, a of her with by a of other documents that might about her, the will is Her name is and it of the she thought and Her with as a enslaved is but one of her Buchanan’s will that a of her She as she the white who her last will and an Buchanan’s will the of slaveholders and it Buchanan jostling with them. It any of the archive as a of and The archive was what most it to of any of or The of where it is not The of and and and that can be neither are there in of as for of the archive is with cannot be enslaved who are to be and and In the Buchanan’s on any of Her will is of the of the archive of Like of other it the archive into a is the only archive of was not by slaveholders but by and women who and to slaveholders and who believed enslaved people were not to be or to be and at with But in the archive they are and presence represents and or of that into as a result of with but are not or In to the of enslaved people and the enslaved people as a result of an with have or are there in of of and or as part of the of the of in enslaved and of and on that the of enslaved the and in the of to that no Black a pass or a them as a free Black about But all these to an enslaved with Like Buchanan’s these and also mark and record with the and record enslaved and them as legal mark the of enslaved people that the that to the by who put them who that they might to a of Black people and Black at with the the In the archive of Lucy Buchanan making a decision, it that a free Black will with her son in of the that so many to in the or the name of they the archive by did a Black woman in a during the Civil who when a as a for a white her for In the archive are that the of enslaved people to in and laws Black from the of where presence as to slaveholding These laws the presence of that other as and with what and whom and how people with each other of and where human and and how at and each other as it of into laws also a boisterous Like other I for documents written by enslaved or as one of a for which there documents or for which documents would be In I linger in the archive with the of that are there in which enslaved people for a in I the of enslaved with as by slaveholders as a record not only of a that the of the slaveholding but that also the of the enslaved that led to the kind of into the of enslaved people as as to be and that can the violence in At any are not It is to violence or In last a from a from The of the that to the of In the a young the lost was at all . . . like the to for The out the of the how to in at how to the of or from the of the and it to or it a in own time and in the archive of slavery is like this in a where the archive represents that hold the of the But it not to them and them The in the of like all could be and were were not free to any did what they created the of Black the it were the as one that did the of historical and can only that they did a they The archive of slavery documents the violence of slaveholders and as as the of to be in not only to in but also they to to them. the archive is a boisterous part of the as from the of the against the of the is even in the what is the woman with any . . . the of such during the of her and that all the of such so be as an a in the of a that and to silence the of the the to the of how to the of enslaved women from put differently, how to make the of enslaved women for a of enslaved this have by any a woman be or it therefore and by this present that all in this or free only according to the of the that if any with a man or or the by the also as an the of William and an with The enter the archive in in a for in which they of them. the of the of a white and father, an enslaved made the The the of or white at the of or or to own and the of the people and Black free or To the and that might the the or of such women to be was an In these and other in the the are to the of as an as and other can a that a child was enslaved or free on the of or not the that the child to a woman free or one is like it. not on the of the mother or that the be the of a the slavery from an of the to an by the Lucy Buchanan the violence of the Her will to her as a enslaved free by the time she made the she enslaved, when her by could not hold a who could a Buchanan her own and into legal of her son as her is But the that she the same she the will that have a in her decision to her child enslaved to a white man she to him and She was no of the South Carolina that by required to the no who by the for the of the such be of and by an of of In free Black who left the state were from Buchanan in the state herself that she not But she to protect her son who was young to make it on his own if to the state. The that a child to an enslaved woman enslaved even the mother free was own kind of Buchanan’s will the to make and death for her son to a white commands as an of the “jostling violence” in the In Buchanan to the she the violence in to make such a in the legal of a free in making her she like a free But the will she is any that a free white mother would have to it was not for white to or enslaved to whom they were the biological The of white in and in with was to the and of enslaved The of slaveholders that they could about about enslaved The in letters to that included to enslaved people were a but part of The enslaved as in laws by and not to in legal no a and that of and in the in or a record of a in the are that into the of enslaved is the testimony of a who of on the part of a to is the of with her on a of from that was by the of an people they enslaved at the of and it in the many have they Black people in and with other people with whom they These place including on was a of that from “the with which to the of the to “the of enslaved for by the “the of enslaved women for the of “the enslaved people made from the them by and or not found to and the These of an important of the of the and be as white as a by which white people to one could make on a about These did not by enslaved people or I of of a the of Toni of Black women to where her and the of in they the of white and the it in this In this “the voices of Black women the of slavery and the of in to them and Black it is this of and the An of . . . to when she many of the as a where “the of place and . . . into a if not a The of like and has slavery to the of in the archive and the of to and them. I am to is how to this in also the of slavery made by enslaved people like the of created by the women in and out against the slaveholders who in and and the against the of who in In the enslaved people left in the archive of I an of made by enslaved people that the archive of slavery a boisterous and of The archive is not a but a of that have in and and of that in of The archive of slavery in the is not the archive of South or no or have to the and other I also be to in the in the archive of slavery the presence of the enslaved not as but of the voices and of resistance and to the making of the like as one is as it is In the archive enslaved people and These are of not not white and make of these is of first in for enslaved women in the all can are and are it to in the of the of slaveholders and who to in the of the and that they a of slavery in which the focus would be on not the In this Lucy Buchanan not the place she did in the of the white who her will. She is not a place in the and of white slaveholding women in the she to The who named are of no is enslaved in In her of what when the that to that might be not in a and the to be from this is or and neither is the to it. be in real time and in how it the But most it is like a the of To such an Foucault a a if by a in he of the resistance of the and “the that these people to from place the to to or to it for the that on them, in of and I am not The people who and against be but was of a they Perhaps have with the of slaveholders enslaved people written by are to them as of any insight into the and of enslaved with the of the of enslaved the of the archive of only in because have out of the of out of the of with the archive of slavery as a of created by the in did not have this was not only an in the in that he his own personal he in a and important he the by out from the at which were so and that they the system as this thought with this important and them into and which ultimately and the to be the of important and state documents and important the archive was from the first with violence and the voices of the the most of with the of people or who an in In the of slavery in which I the of people who were not to be as has my I have in and the and make it for to of the of people who did not letters or or These are the that to in in in in of the woman that the documents in her and the women in and who slaveholders to to of and to a and not or these to the But if one is and the and of people legally the to and the archive of slavery was not to will when they the of in enslaved that there they will also the made by the enslaved is and most in a of a time when my mother my on a of about which I in an on with that she to a of for I in the this was not an in the one that many a Black child from but did not or who were to the to to make the them to the into and for the of or on which they the and the actual of the a white to I the to even from the of to him at it and it to the of the to against a of In that I that I in all the South with the of the of Black and and with them the they might I thought about the that into to put for for the first of and and the required to make the and them to the I required for like the with for on them. I that even in and these would have in particular to the Black women and who the and the from I what they thought of the of with the of the of Black and These and of by any to not thought of not only of how has and but of the of the that I to not only that which is and or like the of my but also that which is of slavery and and in many other confront of these know that many have lost have and with care in and It is the that have no but to and if are to the boisterous archive made so by enslaved people is there for that by the hands of enslaved people are in in the have many letters by them or of in own But far when the in the of is as no in the of an into an in which is on a in the of people who were by they to a and make what would be called that the archive is a that documents enslaved and people way into that will them It is to all of this when are to it and have with it when The result is that own own own of the that because they are in which the enslaved are in can silence about the people to But cannot at that enslaved people are in the archive and same to . . . the when about enslaved and and it to be at enslaved and the of historical from the that are have lost the and the Perhaps in to and in which have documents written by enslaved people or which or enslaved people who are enslaved people who witness it is to witness the to for the people the of them or the of them as who was the that was in the She this as she the she and witnessed, of she stated, were But like of other enslaved she them. She talked about the on her that this and the what to like and women she the with they hands in the and they and they to the and the that when was to the I have written about my with the of a as he Black in Civil It was a in and as them from one place to and in and it for the of in the archive made by enslaved people and left in that can further to them. To the a to to be and It as that to the of and It of the of as It as there is no It as that is an to to the created to the of what of In the in the archive of slavery can be and I to In the result not know but are looking for She is not or unaccounted Her story is a story to pass on. is the of of and of and and at the at She is the of The The Civil for and of Carolina and the of The of the and a of the of
Source: The American Historical Review
DOI: 10.1093/ahr/rhaf003
Author: Thavolia Glymph
Institution: Duke University
Language: English
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4408388710