The interview of Elizabeth Ross Hite by Robert McKinney provides a valuable insight into the institution of slavery. Hite’s testimony is an example of the vulnerability of enslaved people during, as well as after emancipation, which can be seen from the beginning of the interview transcript. The interviewer, Robert McKinney, recounts Hite as ‘a very nervous type’, although, this anxious disposition is not apparent throughout the interview.[i] One could argue that due to McKinney being a Black man himself, he was able to build up a rapport with Mrs Hite, which resulted in a space where she felt safe and comfortable sharing her experience. This allows us to question whether Hite’s interview may have been different had it been conducted by a white person.

Hite was born on Trinity Plantation in Louisiana, where she lived with her mother, Artemise Ross, and 3 siblings. Hite indicates that her father (Brooks Ross) died in Port Hudson during the Civil War. His death certificate shows that Ross was a Private in the 75th Regiment of the US Colored Infantry, and thus, a member of the Union Army.[ii]

For many enslaved men, their enlistment into the military often meant that they had to ‘escape the clutches’ of their enslavers, by running away.[iii] Although Hite does not discuss how her father joined the army, possibly because she was not old enough to remember the event, it is likely that he fled the plantation in order to seek emancipation for himself and his family. Despite the fact that Hite’s father did not survive to experience freedom from enslavement, his service in the Civil War meant that Artemise Ross was eligible to receive a pension from the government.[iv] Yet, Black veterans and families of soldiers found it difficult to claim these benefits, due to complications linked to their race, and perceived low status in society.[v]

Brooks Ross’ Pension Record US Freedmen’s Bank Record

Brooks Ross’ pension application record was not the only financial document that Artemise Ross would appear on. A record from the US Freedmen’s Bank Records 1865-1874 gives an understanding of life after emancipation for the Ross family.[vi] The Freedmen’s Savings Bank was established in 1865, with the purpose of providing newly freedpeople with financial support. Barbara P Josiah argues that the opening of the Freedmen’s Bank served as  a ‘symbol of hope for the future’, by allowing promises of economic freedom and citizenship for the formerly enslaved.[vii] Ultimately, the obligations set out by the opening of the Freedmen’s Bank were not fulfilled, and the bank was closed in 1874. The financial struggle that was experienced by the formerly enslaved is repeated throughout Hite’s interview, where she makes frequent comments regarding government assistance. Her last remarks, pleading for McKinney to assist her in receiving aid from the government, emphasise the continuing struggle faced by the formerly enslaved. [viii]

The bank record also tells us that Artemise Ross, her 4 children, as well as her parents Edmund and Maria Jerry, remained together throughout their enslavement. Therefore,  they did not have to experience the harrowing ordeal of forced separation like many other enslaved families. According to Damian Alan Pargas, differences in ‘time and place’ made separation ‘a vague yet real possibility or a constantly recurring nightmare.’[ix]  Therefore, although the involuntary separation of families was not a universal experience, the threat of it was never fully withdrawn.

Hite and her family remained on Trinity Plantation until their emancipation. The plantation was owned by Frenchman Pierre Landreaux. A document from the US General Land Office Records 1776-2015 shows that Landreaux purchased two hundred and forty acres of land in the Parish of Assumption, New Orleans, Louisiana on June 13th ,1844.[x] One can conclude from this document that on that day, Landreaux purchased Trinity Plantation. Hite recalls that Landreaux ‘had thirty-five plantations’, which draws our attention to the wealth of Landreaux, in addition to the number of enslaved people that would have been under his ownership. This is further emphasised when looking at the 1850 US Federal Census, which records that on the day the census was conducted, 134 enslaved people lived and worked on Trinity Plantation.[xi] 

Throughout the interview, Hite delves into several significant themes regarding the institution of slavery experiences on the plantation. For example, the role of women on the plantation, in relation to medical care and childcare. An enslaved woman named ‘Grandma Delaite’, is documented by Hite as being responsible for the hospital located on Trinity plantation.[xii] The use of the nickname ‘Grandma’ highlights how respect was gained through age, medical expertise, as well as their experience of slavery.[xiii] Hite also acknowledges that there was ‘two nurses in de hospital to tak care of de children’, which brings forward arguments concerning the involvement of women in everyday plantation life. Despite reproduction being viewed as a commodity by enslavers, childbearing can also be considered a burden, as mothers relied on other women to take care of their children whilst they went to work.[xiv] Thus, this shows that the work of older women on plantations was invaluable. Not only did they provide enslaved people with medical care, but they also served as an image of hope and survival, especially to the children they were caring for.

Religion also played a crucial role in enslaved peoples’ ability to endure their enslavement. Albert J Raboteau argues that ‘the slave community had an extensive religious life of its own, hidden from the eyes of the master’, which is evident through Hite’s religious experiences on the plantation.[xv] This element of concealment becomes apparent when Hite describes hiding behind a brick wall in the courtyard for church, as well as the fact they frequently ‘prayed in de dark.’[xvi] The notion that church meetings were conducted in secret allows us to make connections between religion and resistance. Not only did the church foster a sense of togetherness, but it also provided enslaved people with a sense of belonging- and family- which slavery aimed to destroy.

[i] Interview with Elizabeth Ross Hite conducted by Robert McKinney, in A. Livesey, Slavery in Louisiana, (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press [forthcoming]), 61.

[ii] Brooks Ross Civil War Service Death Record, https://www.ancestry.co.uk (accessed March 8 2024).

[iii] Elizabeth Ann Regosin and Donald Robert Shaffer, Voices of Emancipation: Understanding Slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction Through the U.S. Pension Bureau Files, (New York: New York University Press, 2008) 56.

[iv] U.S. Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934, https://www.ancestry.co.uk (accessed March 8 2024).

[v] See, Regosin and Shaffer, Voices of Emancipation, 49-77.

[vi] US Freedmen’s Bank Records 1865-1874, https://www.ancestry.co.uk (accessed March 8 2024).

[vii] Barbara P. Josiah, ‘Providing for the Future: The World of the African American Depositors of Washington, DC’s Freedmen’s Savings Bank’, 1865-1874’, The Journal of African American History, 89:1 (2004), 12.

[viii] Livesey, Slavery in Louisiana, 73.

[ix] Damian Alan Pargas, ‘Disposing of Human Property: American Slave Families and Forced Separation in Comparative Perspective’, Journal of Family History, 34:3 (2009), 252.

[x] US General Land Office Records 1776-2015, https://www.ancestry.co.uk (accessed March 8 2024).

[xi] 1850 US Federal Census- Slave Schedules, https://www.ancestry.co.uk (accessed March 8 2024).

[xii] Livesey, Slavery in Louisiana, 62.

[xiii] Liana DeMarco, ‘Managing ‘Old Mammy’, Making ‘Mother Wit’: Older Enslaved Women, Efficiency, and Survival on the Plantation’, Slavery and Abolition, 44:2 (2023), 326.

[xiv] Deborah G White, ‘Female Slaves: Sex Roles and Status in the Antebellum Plantation South’, Journal of Family History, 8:3 (1983), 253.

[xv] Albert J Raboteau, Slave Religion: The Invisible Institution in the Antebellum South, (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 212.

[xvi] Livesey, Slavery in Louisiana, 66.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

1850 US Federal Census- Slave Schedules, https://www.ancestry.co.uk (accessed March 8 2024).

Brooks Ross Civil War Service Death Record, https://www.ancestry.co.uk (accessed March 8 2024).

Interview with Elizabeth Ross Hite conducted by Robert McKinney, in A. Livesey, Slavery in Louisiana, (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press [forthcoming]), 61-74.

U.S. Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934, https://www.ancestry.co.uk (accessed March 8 2024).

US Freedmen’s Bank Records 1865-1874, https://www.ancestry.co.uk (accessed March 8 2024).

US General Land Office Records 1776-2015, https://www.ancestry.co.uk (accessed March 8 2024).

Secondary Sources

DeMarco, Liana. ‘Managing ‘Old Mammy’, Making ‘Mother Wit’: Older Enslaved Women, Efficiency, and Survival on the Plantation’, Slavery and Abolition, 44:2 (2023), 317-333.

Josiah, Barbara P. ‘Providing for the Future: The World of the African American Depositors of Washington, DC’s Freedmen’s Savings Bank’, 1865-1874’, The Journal of African American History, 89:1 (2004), 1-16.

Miller, Randall M. ‘Black Catholics in the Slave South: Some Needs and Opportunities for Study’, Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, 86:1/4 (1975), 93-106.

Pargas, Damian Alan. ‘Disposing of Human Property: American Slave Families and Forced Separation in Comparative Perspective’, Journal of Family History, 34:3 (2009), 251-274.

Raboteau, Albert J, Slave Religion: The Invisible Institution in the Antebellum South, (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2004).

Regosin, Elizabeth Ann, and Shaffer, Donald Robert. Voices of Emancipation: Understanding Slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction Through the U.S. Pension Bureau Files, (New York: New York University Press, 2008).

Tunc, Tanfer Emin. ‘The Mistress, the Midwife, and the Medical Doctor: Pregnancy and Childbirth on the Plantations of the Antebellum American South, 1800-1860’, Women’s History Review, 19:3 (2010), 395-419.

White, Deborah G. ‘Female Slaves: Sex Roles and Status in the Antebellum Plantation South’, Journal of Family History, 8:3 (1983), 248-261.

Brooks Ross service record