In searching for an idea for my first blog, I knew upfront that I wanted to focus on the contribution of women in American history. In particular, I wanted to focus on some of the unsung female heroes who made a difference, but who are never or rarely acknowledged publicly. I have of course heard the usual names commonly used such as of Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and Ida B. Wells, but I also figured that there are so many more women whose lives were spent in service to freedom and education (especially during slavery, when it was illegal for a slave to learn how to read and write), that I had to find a subject/person who had overcome the obstacles of their time, yet inspired others to do the same. With the little research I found her-Ms. Susie King Taylor, the first black army nurse.
Born into slavery on August 6, 1848, Susan King Taylor (aka Susan Baker at birth) was one of nine children born to enslaved parents on a southern Georgia plantation. As a child she was sent to live with her grandmother in Savannah, Georgia where she learned to read and write discretely by other educated black women and also by white youths who helped to further her education. Not only was this against the law, but realize the risk, as slaves would been mutilated ( have their fingers chopped off ) at the very least if they were caught reading and writing.
At the age of fourteen she was free woman and sought safety behind Union Army lines. It was there where she flourished. Initially strating out as a laundry person, her skills in literacy and compassion helped her earn the right to care for the black army troops known as the First South Carolina Volunteers 33rd regimen. This is where she met and married first husband. This is also where she began to teach former slaves in school openly (the first in the state of Georgia), she also taught the soldiers during off duty.
Mrs. Taylor has worked alongside the likes of Clara Barton (the founder of the Red Cross). She is also the first black female to publish a memoir of wartime experiences, titled "Reminices of My Life in Camp with the 33rd U.S. Colored Troops". She also served as president of the Women's Relief Corps 1893, with the objective of giving assistance to soldiers in hospitals.
Susie King Taylor died in 1912 at age 64 in Boston, where she is currently interred at the Mount Hope Cemetary .
"All this time," she wrote in her 1902 memoir, "my interest in the boys in blue has not abated. My hands have never left undone anything they could do toward their aid and comfort in the twilight of their lives."
Source: "Encyclopedia of the American Civil War" edited by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler, article by Elizabeth D. Leonard
