By Way of the Back Door: The Life and Times of Molly – 1840

Celebrate Black History Month with us every Saturday in February from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.! Each Saturday, we’ll be taking a closer look and honoring the daily lives of enslaved people from the 18th and 19th centuries. This week, we will be focusing on The Life and Times of Molly – 1840.

In 1865, an 85-year-old woman named Molly was listed as a “freedman” (a formerly-enslaved person) living and working on Harriet Bratton’s plantation. Period documents confirm that she was enslaved on the Bratton plantation as early as 1843, and she was listed in a family group with a child named Wesley. No other details are known about her life. Inferring that Molly was born in or around 1780, she lived through an era that had a dramatic impact on African Americans and the American people as a whole. Her life began during the fight for freedom in the American Revolution and saw the culmination of that freedom in the abolition of slavery in 1865. What all might Molly have witnessed during her 85 years?

On-going Activities:
• Cooking in the Brick Slave House
• Cotton interpretation and running the cotton gin
• Children’s toys and games

Timed Activities:
• Animal feeding (10:30 a.m.)
• “Black History at Historic Brattonsville” site tour (11 a.m. & 2 p.m.)
• Cooking Demonstration (1 p.m.)
• Running the cotton gin (3:30 p.m.)

Upcoming Saturdays:
Feb. 21 – The Life and Times of Molly –1855
Feb. 28 – The Life and Times of Molly –1865