Mother, enslaved woman

In honour of International Women’s Day and the IWD 2021 theme, #ChoosetoChallenge, we spotlight Beck, an enslaved woman who lived in the small town of Colchester, Virginia in the 1760s. 

As with so many enslaved people of the eighteenth century we know very little about Beck and we have no idea what she looked like.  All the information that we have about her comes from ledgers which document the daily activities and transactions of the store where she lived and worked. Beck was the property of John Glassford & Co., a major tobacco concern based in Glasgow, Scotland. She arrived at the Colchester store at some point in 1765. It is not clear where she came from, but she was likely born into slavery in the colonies and the records show she was old enough to be given an adult wardrobe of linen undergarments (shifts) and woollen outer garments (jackets and petticoats). Her work was likely of a domestic nature, cleaning, washing and cooking. We know that she could sew and that she could probably spin too.  She was also mother to three children who lived with her in the store.

The store records show that Beck accrued a varied wardrobe of plain and striped fabrics. There is no indication she had any choice in the fabrics but she had multiple shifts, petticoats, lots of handkerchiefs and a gown made of cotton holland, all of which suggests that she could choose what to wear on a given day.  This sounds trivial but many enslaved people would have just one outfit to wear day in and day out and so even the simple act of being able to change clothes when they were dirty or damaged, was significant.

Enslaved women such as Beck had no rights and were considered property to be used and exploited. Challenging the racial and gender inequality they faced every day was not impossible, however.  While more overt forms might include escaping their enslavers or acts of violence, resistance could also be more private and nuanced - and not necessarily to be noticed or acknowledged by their enslavers. Clothes could be altered or adapted, for example, to create a sense of individual choice of style and aesthetic that may reflect their own identity. With Beck’s sewing ability, the opportunity to demonstrate creativity and ingenuity of personal fashion was, most likely, a possibility for her.  Resistance could also be internalised in the form of thoughts and ideas that were never expressed. Therefore, we will never know what Beck thought about her life and situation, and we may never know what happened to her and her children.  But, as with so many enslaved women her ultimate challenge to the system which controlled and exploited her may have been through personal expression of aesthetic and style while also supporting herself and her children.

Dr Sally Tuckett, Lecturer Dress and Textile Histories.

Further reading:

This information has been taken from the records of John Glassford & Co. which are held in the Library of Congress. 

Linda Baumgarten, What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America. Yale University Press, 2012. 

First published: 7 March 2021

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