Last updated: May 30, 2026 Mathilda Taylor Beasley educated slaves prior to the Civil War, although it was not legal to do at the time. She also became a Franciscan nun who founded the first religious community for African-American women in Georgia and she opened an orphanage in Savannah in the late nineteenth century. She was named a Georgia Woman of Achievement in 2004 by Georgia Women of Achievement, a private, non-profit organization headquartered in Atlanta. In 2005, Mathilda Beasley was also named as a Georgia Heritage Celebration Honoree by the Georgia Historical Society. This photograph demonstrates some of...
Harriet Powers (1837-1911) was a creative African-American quilting genius! She used her quilts to re-tell familiar Bible stories in a unique and fascinating way. At least two of these story quilts have survived and are on display in American museums. Harriet Powers was born into slavery in rural Clarke County, Georgia, where she lived on a plantation owned by John and Nancy Lester. Details regarding her childhood and life as a young adult are lacking. However, we know that in 1855, she married Armstead Powers, who described himself as a “farmhand” in the census of 1870 and that she raised at...
Last updated: January 15, 2024 Sojourner Truth (circa 1797-1883) was born into slavery in rural, Ulster County New York and named Isabella Baumfree, speaking only Dutch for her first 9 years. She was beaten and abused by her owners and was sold to John Dumont in 1810 for about $175. She married an older slave named Thomas around 1815 and bore five children. According to New York law, all slaves were to be emancipated in 1827, but Dumont had promised to free her a year earlier than that. When he reneged, Isabella finished what she regarded as her seasonal duties...
