The History of Enslaved People at UA, 1828-1865

Lydia

Lydia was a resourceful, resilient, capable woman. She arrived in Tuscaloosa in January 1842 when she was twenty-one years old. She did not travel alone. Her mother, Molly (49), and her daughter, Hetty (14 months) came with her. So too did a man named Jack (possibly her father), and a teenage boy, Ben (possibly her brother). The five enslaved people were sent to Tuscaloosa by President Manly’s father-in-law as a gift for his daughter. Like so many elite white southern women, Sarah Manly maintained her inheritance independent of her husband when it came to enslaved property.

1933 architectural drawing of Lydia's possible residence

The work that Lydia performed at UA was probably that of an enslaved domestic in the President’s Mansion as all references to her place her in proximity to the Manly family in their residence. Her responsibilities likely included a whole host of tasks, among them cleaning the vast rooms of the building, assisting the cook, Sabra, in the kitchens, mending clothing, hauling wood and water from the well, and caring for the Manlys’ young children. Given that some overlap occurred between the years that Sarah Manly was pregnant and those when Lydia bore her own son and daughters, it is possible that she acted as wetnurse for the Manlys’ children too. Lydia gave birth four times in the President’s Mansion, each time producing her child "before the mid-wife could be procured." Although these entries only give Basil Manly’s perspective and may reflect his lack of concern for Lydia’s needs, they could instead be evidence of Lydia's attempts to control her birthing experience. Most enslaved women were aided in childbirth by enslaved midwives, or other enslaved women, but Manly's references in this part of his diary suggest the midwife called in for Lydia was white. The fact that Lydia managed four births without the Manlys’ preferred midwife being present at even one, indicates that she may have hid the fact of her labor each time, and in doing so controlled who was present at the births of her children.

As for so many enslaved people, tracing Lydia’s family tree is difficult. We know that her mother was Molly because a later record of sale comments on their relationship. Acting on his wife's behalf, Basil Manly sold Lydia, and her youngest daughter, Charity, in July 1849 to "pilot" Thomas H. Walker, a resident of Tuscaloosa. The following April, "old Molly" – aged 56 at the time – followed her daughter, supposedly at her own request. According to Basil Manly’s account of the transaction, he again acted for Sarah, selling Molly to Walker for $50 to "let her be with her daughter where she wishes to go." He did not fail to note that Molly was worth double that amount "in the market." Selling her at half her value was, Basily Manly appeared to suggest, a sign of his generosity and kindness. But remarking on Molly’s supposed value demonstrates the consistent desire animating enslavers, regardless of how they chose to frame their behavior: money.

In reality the Manlys split Lydia’s family apart because it suited them. Six months before Sarah and Basil sold Lydia to Walker, they attempted to hire her out to Professor Barnard for an annual fee of $50. In January 1849, before Charity had reached her first birthday, Barnard "kept" Lydia "for a fortnight - not suiting him, he discharged her." It is unclear what specific duties Barnard assigned her, but the high likelihood is work of the domestic variety. Enslaved women in urban settings like Tuscaloosa were frequently hired out by enslavers to labor in other people’s households. Why Lydia did not "suit" Barnard is a mystery. It may reflect some action or behavior on her part to ensure she was returned to the President’s Mansion. Or perhaps she failed to satisfy Barnard’s expectations. The timing of her hiring-out and then her sale suggests that the Manlys wanted income from her labor, and when the deal with Barnard failed, decided to sell her away. When they did so, they followed the pattern of so many enslavers across the South, separating family members because it benefitted their bottom line.

Lydia’s oldest daughter, Hetty, now eight, was left behind on campus when the Manlys sold her mother and youngest sister. So too were Lydia’s other surviving children: John (six) and Fanny (four). There is no evidence that either of them saw their mother, grandmother, or youngest sibling again. The separation through sale was not the first time that Lydia lost a child.  Serena, her second child born at UA, died in May 1849 when she was just four years old. Basil Manly hypothesized that because Serena had diarrhea that her death was possibly "connected with the prevalence of Asiatic cholera at Mobile & on the Mississippi," and in the area around Tuscaloosa. But he also noted that "A few hours before the death of the child some large worms were discharged," indicating that she had acquired a parasite, something not uncommon to Alabama both then and now.

Hetty and Fanny, like their mother before them, were hired out numerous times over the years. Fanny was back with the Manlys when Basil’s tenure as President of UA ended and she traveled with him and the family to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1855. Two years later, the Manlys gifted her to their own daughter, Sarah, and her husband but she reportedly "died before she could be of much use." Only Lydia’s son John appeared to remain with the Manlys at the end of the Civil War. By this stage, the Manlys had returned to Tuscaloosa to a plantation southwest of the city. John made his mark on a contract that Basil Manly secured with 28 formerly enslaved people, now "freedmen & freedwomen," on 20^th June 1865 to work for what Manly claimed was "full compensation" for his services. Just two months later, 24 of the 28 had "taken their freedom" and left the Manlys' plantation due to ill treatment, although John was not listed among this number. He did, however, appear in the 1866 census, a document that suggests he was married and had two children, a boy and a girl both under the age of 10. One year later, in June 1867, John Manly registered to vote.

Lydia spent eight years laboring in the President’s Mansion at The University of Alabama before she was sold to Walker. The slave schedules from the 1850 and 1860 census appear to show her, Charity, and at least one more child (a son), among Walker’s property in Tuscaloosa. Like the records for so many enslaved women, we do not know who fathered Lydia’s children, and she also disappears from the written record post-Civil War. If her son, John, was working on Manly’s plantation, and she was still in Tuscaloosa in the summer of 1865, then perhaps mother and son reconnected. By this stage Lydia was in her mid forties. After a lifetime of domestic labor, including for Manly while he was President of The University of Alabama, she might well have continued in this profession. If so, she was following a path taken by many recently freed women who scrubbed floors, washed clothes, cooked food, and looked after children for wages so they could support themselves and their families. Lydia would have been in very good company indeed.