Here and there around my desktop during a week of pandemia and in the wake of #AHA2022.
Edith Jones Speaks of White Female Slaveowners
Louisiana Slave to the Commander of the Department of the Gulf
New Orleans March 4 [1863]
To Your Honour Major General Banks I earnestly request of your honour to grant a hearing in behalf of myself and husband, My mistress has hired me out at the rate of ten dollars a month and times are so dull that I proposed giving my madame eight dollars a month she would not accept of it and said I should come home and she would find a place for me in the work house or in the parish prison where she has my husband Charley Jones for five months I have a son who is home with my madame and I dont want to go home but I am willing to pay a liberal price until so times get better So I entreat of your honour to look and examine my case for I shall do whatever you advised me to do anything that is just and right I earnestly request of you to ansure this and lete me [know] what I should do for to releive my mind for I am afraid she may come and demand me and take me to prison any moment when I am willing to give my madam a liberal amount for my time Receive this and tele me what I shal do I remain your Obedent Servant
Edith Jones
Edith Jones to Your Honour Major General Banks, 4 Mar. [1863], J-21 1863, Letters Received, series 1920, Civil Affairs, Department of the Gulf, U.S. Army Continental Commands, Record Group 393 Pt. 1, National Archives. No reply has been found in the letters-sent volumes of the Department of the Gulf.
Published in The Wartime Genesis of Free Labor: The Lower South, p. 429.
via the Freedmen and Southern Society Project.
Archives to explore:
Hogan Jazz Archive Photography Collection
The general graphics collection of the Hogan Jazz Archive contains approximately 6,000 images documenting people, places and events important to the study of New Orleans jazz. Included among the photographers whose work resides in the general graphics collection are Ernest Bellocq, Arthur P. Bedou, Villard Paddio, John Kuhlman, Don Perry, Florence Mars, William Russell, Alden Ashforth, Lee Friedlander, Bill Gottlieb, Ray Avery, Jack Hurley, Grauman Marks, Harriet Blum, Michael P. Smith, and many others.
Amistad Audiovisual Collection
Lion's Tale is a documentary produced and directed by Mary Anne Mushatt. It provides a platform for residents of Louisiana's River Road, giving voice and presence to the stories of their people. Members of the African-American community and Houma Nation tell their stories, bringing the lore and legacy of the past into their own homes.
Things Read and TBR
Mona Lisa Saloy, “The Federal Flood,” PEN America (blog), August 27, 2015, https://pen.org/the-federal-flood/
Mona Lisa Saloy, “African American Oral Traditions in Louisiana,” Folklife in Louisiana https://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/creole_art_african_am_oral.html.
Kelly West, “Profiles from the Pandemic: Cherice Harrison-Nelson - Resolve Magazine,” Resolve Magazine, May 1, 2020, https://resolvemagazine.org/2020/05/01/profiles-from-the-pandemic-cherice-harrison-nelson/.
Holly Hobbs, “Music, Race, and Representation Post-Katrina: A Review of New Orleans Suite: Music and Culture in Transition - Southern Spaces,” Southern Spaces, January 7, 2014, https://southernspaces.org/2014/music-race-and-representation-post-katrina-review-new-orleans-suite-music-and-culture-transition/.
H. F. “Pete” Gregory, “A Promise From The Sun: The Folklife Traditions Of Louisiana Indians,” Folklife in Louisiana, 1985, https://www.louisianafolklife.org/lt/virtual_books/Guide_to_state/gregory.html.
Ada McMahon, “Troubled Waters: Discussion with Louisiana Documentarian Monique Verdin | Bridge The Gulf Project,” Bridge the Gulf Project (blog), April 19, 2012, https://bridgethegulfproject.org/blog/2012/troubled-waters-discussion-louisiana-documentarian-monique-verdin.
Michael Smith, “Mardi Gras Indians: Culture and Community Empowerment,” Folklife in Louisiana (blog), accessed January 9, 2022, https://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/creole_art_mardi_indians.html.
always learning,
jmj