Life Writing

Life Writing

Rosalie Stier Calvert certainly had a very eventful and colorful life; creating the home for her family in Riversdale, Maryland. But what is not detailed in her letters as much is the reality of the slave labor and slaves on the plantation she ran.

Rosalie Calvert does not comment upon or display any qualms with slavery or the principals of slavery in her letters, but her writing does reveal that she was not as comfortable with her black slaves as the white servants who worked for her and her husband (Klaus, 75) In the history of the house and family, slavery has been erased from much of it. In Rosalie’s letters and in the museum of the plantation, the use of the words “others” and “servants” often refers to slaves that worked for the family, rather than white servants (Eberwein, 138). This erasure of slavery from the history of the plantation paints a false picture of “equality”, and ignores the realities of the house’s past.

Maryland did not establish slavery at the time of settlement in 1634, but Africans and mulattos were treated as indentured servants, who in theory, could work towards their freedom (Slavery in Maryland). But in 1664, when tobacco was in higher demand, and the “need” for servants grew, Maryland passed a law making all black individuals and children slaves for life (Slavery in Maryland). As a result, by 1800, slaves made up 58% of the population in Prince George’s County, where the Calverts resided

Works Cited

“Slavery in Maryland, Adam Francis Plummer.” Smithsonian, Anacostia Community Museum, anacostia.si.edu/exhibits/Plummer/Docs/Teacher_Resources/plummerbio.pdf.

Eberwein, Ann S. Perpetuating the Architecture of Separation: An Analysis of the Presentation of History at Riversdale House Museum in Riverdale Park, Maryland. www.researchgate.net/profile/Andrew_Saleh2/publication/334331315_Field_Notes_-_A_Collegiate_Journal_of_Anthropology_-_10110-42/links/5d251737299bf1547ca763e5/Field-Notes-A-Collegiate-Journal-of-Anthropology-10110-42.pdf#page=129.

Klaus, Susan L. Washington History, vol. 4, no. 1, 1992, pp. 74–76. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40065262. Accessed 16 Mar. 2020. https://www-jstor-org.proxy-um.researchport.umd.edu/stable/40065262?seq=2#metadata_info_tab_contents