The first lines of a letter from Joseph M. Stewart to Lucy Chase, Columbus, Georgia, 1868.
Support for this project has been provided by a grant from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.
The American Antiquarian Society manuscript collection includes letters written between 1863 and 1870 by twenty-two formerly enslaved students in the American South. The letters were sent to sisters Lucy and Sarah Chase, who taught in schools for freedmen throughout the South. The contents of the letters are varied. Some students wrote to update the sisters on family events such as deaths and marriages, to describe their enslavement, or to document the activities of Reconstruction. Several of the students continued their studies at secondary schools and became teachers.
Materials written by non-famous people of color from this period are scarce; therefore, this collection of twenty-two letters is a rare historical record. The letters have been digitized and transcribed and are now accessible to all in this online resource.
The resource also includes some letters written by Sarah and Lucy containing descriptions of the schools and students. As Quakers, the Chase family valued education, abolition, and support for people of color.
The Students
- Green Baker
- David Barr
- Emma Bynum
- Dennis Colman
- Emma Colt
- Georgeanne Cook
- Celia Coonts
- Thomas Fry
- Joseph Green
- Solomon D. Green
- Matilda Hill
- Moses Hume
- Charlotte Ann Jackson
- Elias F. Jefferson
- Jordan C. Johnson
- James M. Quash
- S.L. Rafe
- Abraham Rose
- Julia A. Rutledge
- Hannah Standing
- Joseph M. Stewart
- Louis Wales
The Teachers
Additional Information
Primary Source Digital Library
| Image | Title | Date | Format | Transcription |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Lucy Chase letters | 1863 | Teacher letters | ✓, ✓, ✓ |
|
Sarah Earle Chase letters | Teacher letters | ✓ |