Sylvia Dubois facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sylvia Dubois
|
|
|---|---|
Sylvia Dubois poses with her daughter Elizabeth Alexander, circa 1883
|
|
| Born | 1788-1789 Sourland Mountain, New Jersey
|
| Died | May 27, 1888 (aged 100 or 101) Sourland Mountain, New Jersey
|
| Occupation | Tavern owner, ferrywoman, field worker, domestic |
| Known for | Gaining freedom by beating up slave mistress |
|
Notable work
|
Silvia Dubois: A Biografy of the Slav who Whipt Her Mistres and Gand Her Fredom by Dr. C.W. Larison |
| Children | Moses, Judith, Charlotte, Dorcas, Elizabeth, Rachel |
Sylvia Dubois (c. 1788/89 – May 27, 1888), also spelled as Silvia Dubois or Sylvie Dubois, was an African-American woman born into slavery who became free after striking her slave mistress. After gaining her freedom, Dubois moved to New Jersey where she lived with her children until her death. A physician by the name of C.W. Larison decided to document the life of Dubois and her journey to freedom in the book Silvia Dubois (Now 116 Yers Old) A Biografy of the Slav who Whipt Her Mistres and Gand Her Fredom.
Contents
Early life as an enslaved woman
Dubois was born in Sourland Mountain, New Jersey, although the exact year is contested. Dubois herself said she was born March 5, 1768. However, historian Jared C Lobdell dates the year of her birth to be 1788 or 1789. Her parents were Cuffy Baird, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, and Dorcas Compton. Her father, Baird, had a different owner than Dubois and her mother.
As a child, Dubois was separeted from her mother and lived in Flagtown, and at 14 years old she moved to a town called Great Bend on the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to work on the tavern of her master, Dominicus "Minna" Dubois. While in bondage, Dubois often did tasks that were considered "men's work" such as working the field and ferrying boats at a tavern on the Susquehanna.
Larison portrays Dubois as 5 feet 10 inches, 200 pounds, and "well-proportioned." Moreover, he describes Dubois as industrious, "capable of great endurance," and strong.
While Dubois described her master Minna as agreeable towards her, her mistress was abusive and domineering. Dubois described her as "the very devil himself." In one instance, her mistress whipped her so badly that she gave Dubois scars that she would have for the rest of her life.
Freedom
In 1808, when Minna was out on grand-jury duty in Wilkes-Barre, the mistress had Dubois scrub the bar-room because company was over. Dubois did not do the scrubbing to her liking, and the mistress hit her. In retaliation, Dubois hit the mistress so hard that she fell down and landed against the door. Dubois thought that she had killed her at first. The other people in the bar-room attempted to intervene, but Dubois threatened them with physical violence, and no one approached her.
Dubois fled to Chenang Point in New York. Consequently, Dubois took her baby and went to Flagtown, New Jersey to find her mother. There, she discovered that her mother had moved to New Brunswick, so she tracked her down and remained there for years.
In 1812, Dubois’ grandfather bought Cedar Summit on Sourland Mountain where he opened Put's Tavern. Dubois set up her homestead near the tavern and took care of her grandfather, inheriting the tavern after he died.
In the 1830s, Dubois and her two youngest daughters, Elizabeth Alexander and Charlotte Moore went to court multiple times for disturbance of the peace, assault, and operation of an unlicensed house. Around the year 1840, Dubois' tavern and home burned down, and she lost her property for failing to pay taxes.
Later years and death
Dubois' second home burned down in between this time and 1883, and she spent the rest of her life living in relative destitution at Sourland Mountain. Dubois died six years after Larison interviewed her at the age of either 100 or 101. Her body is believed to rest in Stoutsburg Cemetery in Sourland Mountain, New Jersey.
Silvia Dubois: A Biografy of the Slav who Whipt Her Mistres and Gand Her Fredom
C.W. Larison, the writer of Sylvia Dubois' biography Silvia Dubois (Now 116 Yers Old) A Biografy of the Slav who Whipt Her Mistres and Gand Her Fredom, was a physician and former educator interested in documenting local history. He first met with Dubois at Cedar Summit in January 1883 to interview her. He met her a total of three times before releasing her biography.
Larison wrote the book in a phonetic orthography of his own creation. Historian Jared C. Lobdell edited, translated the phonetic spelling, and wrote an introduction for a new publication of Dubois’ biography by Larison.
The authenticity of Dubois' stories as told to Larison are debated. Lobdell cautions that Dubois' story bridges the line between history and folklore, but that it has value as an account of "social history." He directly challenges Dubois' assertion that she was 116 at the time of her interviews by finding historical evidence to the contrary. However, English professor DoVeanna S. Fulton criticizes Lobdell's labeling of the story as folklore because it gives history with documentation privilege over oral history.
