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Notes from a Colored Girl: The Civil War Pocket Diaries of Emilie Frances Davis
A rare glimpse into the thoughts and experiences of a free Black American young woman in the nineteenth century
In Notes from a Colored Girl, Karsonya Wise Whitehead examines the life and experiences of Emilie Frances Davis, a freeborn twenty-one-year-old mulatto woman, through a close reading of three pocket diaries she kept from 1863 to 1865. Whitehead explores Davis's worldviews and politics, her perceptions of both public and private events, her personal relationships, and her place in Philadelphia's free black community in the nineteenth century.
Although Davis's daily entries are sparse, brief snapshots of her life, Whitehead interprets them in ways that situate Davis in historical and literary contexts that illuminate nineteenth-century black American women's experiences. Whitehead's contribution of edited text and original narrative fills a void in scholarly documentation of women who dwelled in spaces between white elites, black entrepreneurs, and urban dwellers of every race and class.
Notes from a Colored Girl is a unique offering to the fields of history and documentary editing as the book includes both a six-chapter historical reconstruction of Davis's life and a full, heavily annotated edition of her Civil War-era pocket diaries. Drawing on scholarly traditions from history, literature, feminist studies, and sociolinguistics, Whitehead investigates Davis's diary both as a complete literary artifact and in terms of her specific daily entries.
From a historical perspective, Whitehead re-creates the narrative of Davis's life for those three years and analyzes the black community where she lived and worked. From a literary perspective, Whitehead examines Davis's diary as a socially, racially, and gendered nonfiction text. From a feminist studies perspective, she examines Davis's agency and identity, grounded in theories elaborated by black feminist scholars. And, from linguistic and rhetorical perspectives, she studies Davis's discourse about her interpersonal relationships, her work, and external events in her life in an effort to understand how she used language to construct her social, racial, and gendered identities.
Since there are few primary sources written by black women during this time in history, Davis's diary―though ordinary in its content―is rendered extraordinary simply because it has survived to be included in this very small class of resources. Whitehead's extensive analysis illuminates the lives of many through the simple words of one.
In Notes from a Colored Girl, Karsonya Wise Whitehead examines the life and experiences of Emilie Frances Davis, a freeborn twenty-one-year-old mulatto woman, through a close reading of three pocket diaries she kept from 1863 to 1865. Whitehead explores Davis's worldviews and politics, her perceptions of both public and private events, her personal relationships, and her place in Philadelphia's free black community in the nineteenth century.
Although Davis's daily entries are sparse, brief snapshots of her life, Whitehead interprets them in ways that situate Davis in historical and literary contexts that illuminate nineteenth-century black American women's experiences. Whitehead's contribution of edited text and original narrative fills a void in scholarly documentation of women who dwelled in spaces between white elites, black entrepreneurs, and urban dwellers of every race and class.
Notes from a Colored Girl is a unique offering to the fields of history and documentary editing as the book includes both a six-chapter historical reconstruction of Davis's life and a full, heavily annotated edition of her Civil War-era pocket diaries. Drawing on scholarly traditions from history, literature, feminist studies, and sociolinguistics, Whitehead investigates Davis's diary both as a complete literary artifact and in terms of her specific daily entries.
From a historical perspective, Whitehead re-creates the narrative of Davis's life for those three years and analyzes the black community where she lived and worked. From a literary perspective, Whitehead examines Davis's diary as a socially, racially, and gendered nonfiction text. From a feminist studies perspective, she examines Davis's agency and identity, grounded in theories elaborated by black feminist scholars. And, from linguistic and rhetorical perspectives, she studies Davis's discourse about her interpersonal relationships, her work, and external events in her life in an effort to understand how she used language to construct her social, racial, and gendered identities.
Since there are few primary sources written by black women during this time in history, Davis's diary―though ordinary in its content―is rendered extraordinary simply because it has survived to be included in this very small class of resources. Whitehead's extensive analysis illuminates the lives of many through the simple words of one.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
296 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 11, 2017
very interesting look at a brief period of time in the life of a free black young woman during the Civil War.
January 12, 2015
Quotable:
During the antebellum period, Philadelphia had one of the largest populations of black people to any city. With over twenty-two thousand black people, it was second only to Baltimore in this regard, and it was the largest black American city outside of the enslaved South, with 3.9 percent of the population.
Between 1820 and 1840, Philadelphia was one of the most critical cities in the nation for free blacks and fugitive slaves because it connected the road of slavery in the South with the road to freedom in the North. Because of its close proximity to the South, it was a major point of destination for fugitive blacks.
As a result of… lack of information, Emilie’s story - like that of so many other black people at this time – can only start with her. Her diaries provide a record of her life but the history of Philadelphia provides the much needed context for how she lived out her life.
The desire of nineteenth-century women to stay intimately connected… led to the establishment of unique, highly structured same-sex kinship ties that males could not participate in, control, or dissolve. These were private spaces, built around “a generic and unself-conscious pattern of single-sex or homosocial networks” that were constructed and maintained by and for women and were not constrained by either distance or marriage. Furthermore within the female world, women developed emotional richness and complexity because they bonded together closely during times of sorrow, grief and loneliness.
During the antebellum period, Philadelphia had one of the largest populations of black people to any city. With over twenty-two thousand black people, it was second only to Baltimore in this regard, and it was the largest black American city outside of the enslaved South, with 3.9 percent of the population.
Between 1820 and 1840, Philadelphia was one of the most critical cities in the nation for free blacks and fugitive slaves because it connected the road of slavery in the South with the road to freedom in the North. Because of its close proximity to the South, it was a major point of destination for fugitive blacks.
As a result of… lack of information, Emilie’s story - like that of so many other black people at this time – can only start with her. Her diaries provide a record of her life but the history of Philadelphia provides the much needed context for how she lived out her life.
The desire of nineteenth-century women to stay intimately connected… led to the establishment of unique, highly structured same-sex kinship ties that males could not participate in, control, or dissolve. These were private spaces, built around “a generic and unself-conscious pattern of single-sex or homosocial networks” that were constructed and maintained by and for women and were not constrained by either distance or marriage. Furthermore within the female world, women developed emotional richness and complexity because they bonded together closely during times of sorrow, grief and loneliness.
February 7, 2017
A very different kind of history book. It's the transcript of the brief diary entries written by Emilie, a young free black woman living in Philadelphia. The entries cover the years 1863-65, yet the Civil War is only the background for the daily ness of the entries. At first reading the entries is slow going, but they have a cumulative power. The entries are interspersed with detailed essays by the author which are full of interesting information about the times and the free black community in Philly. When I finished the book, I felt I knew this young woman and wanted to know what happened in 1866 ....
February 24, 2016
Very good for my research purposes. Lots of great notes and commentary by the author. Interesting window into the life of blacks in the 19th century northern states.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews