Lydia Lee

By Annabel Hawkwood

Name of interviewee: Lydia Lee

Age at emancipation: 1

’Race’: Black – described by interviewer as having‘deep brown skin’

Year of interview: 1940

Place of interview: 3721 Jumonville St.State of interview: Louisiana

Place of enslavement: Burthew Plantation

Address of interviewee: 3721 Jumonville St.

‘Occupation’: Unknown

‘Occupation’ of mother: Unknown

‘Occupation’ of father: Unknown

Size of slaveholding unit: Large

Name of enslaver: Jim and William (brothers)

Name of plantation/farm: Burthew Plantation, Barataria

Crop produced on slaveholding unit: Sugar

Name of interviewer: Maude Wallace

Race of interviewer: White

Is there evidence of editing: Yes

Lydia Lee was born in 1865 in Barataria, just outside of New Orleans where she lived on Burthew Plantation until she was 10 years old. At the time of the interview conducted by Maude Wallace, Lee was 75 years old, however, records of Lee’s age in the 1930 and also the 1940 United States Federal Census give two completely different ages.i In the 1930 census Lee’s age is put down to be 55 and in 1940 it is 67.ii This highlights the inconsistencies and errors made in these census records as the ages given do not add up correctly as they show a 12-year age difference instead of a 10 year one. It seems more likely that Lee was born in 1865 and that 75 was her actual age as this would have made her 30 years old when she gave birth to her daughter Albertine Taylor instead of 20 years old shown in the 1930 census. As Lee had two other children and also stated she ‘worked for different families an’ lived with them’ when she moved to New Orleans when she was 12, it seems more likely that she wasn’t having children around age 20 when she was working and seems more probable that she gave birth to her children in her late 20s early 30s.

In her interview, Lee goes into considerable detail about her experiences living on Burthew Plantation in Barataria. She explains how it was a large sugar plantation owned by two brothers, Jim and William. It was common for enslaved people to refer to their enslavers by their first names only which makes it difficult when searching for archive records as Lee only refers to William in particular as ‘Mr Williams’. Although there is no archive record of the plantation, it can be estimated that the plantation was positioned right by the water in Barataria as Lee recalls that there was a bridge within the plantation that went over the water and ‘steamboats used to go through dere’.

Lee then talks about what she remembers about the plantation and recalls her experiences going to church with ‘singin’ an baptizin’ and also remembers a man who would come from the city (New Orleans) who was their schoolteacher. She provides [i]useful information on the different work roles that people had on the plantation. Lee and the other children on the plantation would ride up to the fields in carts and deliver water to the males who were working in the fields whilst the ‘ole folks’ would plait corn shucks to make horse collars. She paints a positive image of the plantation through her interview which in some way seems like an inaccurate representation of the times she was living in. At the time of Lydia’s interview race relations in the US were still extremely poor and the fact her interviewer was a white female probably made Lee reluctant to speak about the many horrific experiences she would have endured as she may have been scared about possible punishment.

When Lee was 10 years old and still living on Burthew Plantation her mother passed away. She gives no more information on her mother or her father and says that she was given to a woman named Nelly Turner. She was taken care of by Nelly and also states how she then started to work on different plantations down the Bayou. When she was 12 years old she tells Wallace how she moved to New Orleans and was then given to a woman named Fanny Butler as Turner ‘treated me (Lee) so mean’. Although there is no way of verifying whether or not it is the same Fanny Butler, there is a record of a women with the same name who is 49 years of age in the 1880 census.[ii] On the census it states that Butler is also a black American and workers as a servant on Howard Street in New Orleans, which makes it possible that it was the same women although cannot be confirmed. This is because Lee states that she started working for families in the city which may mean that she was doing servant work like Butler was.

When Lee was being interviewed she was living at 3721 Jumonville Street in New Orleans. From looking at the 1930 and the 1940 US Federal Census it is shown that it was actually her daughter Albertine’s house who her husband, Franklin Taylor owns. Albertine is present during the interview and even tells a story about how the ‘holy ghost’ visited her 7 years before in the form of a voice asked her how she could follow his work whilst drinking beer. Albertine was a self-employed hairdresser on Pailet lane and is the only living relative to Lydia as both her other children had passed away as well as her husband. The census’ show that it is Albertine’s husband Franklin who is the only one that earns a wage as a labourer even though Albertine works as a hairdresser and is recorded in the census as having worked 30+ hours a week on occasions.

Also mentioned in the interview is a 12-year-old boy which they called Pa-pa who is said to be Albertine’s stepson. Upon analysing the census data, it becomes clear that the boy is actually named Wallace B. Johnson and is only 9 years old as it was actually Wallace who estimated the boy’s age instead of confirming it. Also living in the house is Albertine’s daughter Amanda Taylor, although she is not present at the time of the interview and is shown to be 28 years old in the 1940 census. Although the census records are extremely valuable for finding additional information about Lee and her family there are also many inconsistencies shown between the 1930 census record and the 1940 record which links back to Lee’s age being incorrect.

Bibliography

[1] Census Roll: 804, 1930 United States Federal Census, District: 0100, p58A, https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/6224/images/4584704_00386?pId=35145614, accessed 19/01/2021

[1] Roll: T627_1424, 1940 United States Federal Census, District: 36-172, p8B, https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/2442/images/M-T0627-01424-00042?pId=121954795, accessed 19/03/2021

[1]Roll 0557, 1880 United States Federal Census, District 021, p16,https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/6742/images/4241375-00571?usePUB=true&_phsrc=jCB129&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=9169265 accessed 19/03/2021