What we know about Susie King Taylor is mostly from her memoir titled “Reminiscences of My Life in Camp.” Susan Ann Baker, also known as Susie King Taylor, was born into slavery on 6th August 1848. She was the first Black army nurse and the first African-American woman to publish her wartime experiences. She served the regiment in which her husband served for four years during the Civil War. During the Civil War, she worked as a nurse, although she did not go to any school to learn nursing. She was one of the few African Americans who knew how to read and write. She was the first woman who openly taught former slaves. She used to teach children in the morning and adults at night. Susie King Taylor also served as president of the Women’s Relief Corps in 1893. She gave assistance to soldiers and hospitals. She also provided support in the Spanish-American War.
What Makes the Memoir Rare and Distinctive
The memoir by Susie King Taylor was both rare and special, as she was the first person who wrote about her wartime experience. Her focus was on military life, where she served as a nurse during the Civil War in America. She shared her own experience as well as that of her husband, who was a military man. The unique thing in her book was that she described in detail various battles and complemented them with stories of her own personal experiences in the South. Her beautiful selection of words for expressing her feelings at that time was aesthetic. She wrote about how she used to keep herself warm in the difficult conditions during wartime (Tylor, 28). She shared in detail the glorious day when the Emancipation Proclamation was read publicly. Her memoir was written meticulously, even though it was written many years after the Civil War. These were the things that made her stories rare and special.
Slavery Literacy and Wartime Service
Susie King Taylor was born into slavery. At that time, the conditions of African Americans in the USA were abject and horrific. They were denied basic human rights. African Americans were not allowed to work on their own, and they had no right to have a family or get an education. These were the circumstances that gave Susie King Taylor an opportunity to achieve a name in history as a teacher. Due to her abilities in reading and writing, she was able to impress the commanding officers, who offered her a position to run a school for children and adults. The Civil War in America in 1861 was a fight between the northern and southern states of America. During the Civil War, she served as a nurse and laundress, which allowed her to gain experience regarding the war, and she was able to write about it in her memoir.
Teaching Nursing and Unpaid Service
Susie Ann Taylor was a philanthropist who worked for the betterment of African Americans before the Civil War. Her abilities gave her an opportunity to teach Black slaves in a school. She made these efforts because she wanted to educate African Americans so that they could live a good life. Her work as a nurse was important to her because she was generous and kindhearted. In her memoir, there were various events where she expressed her happiness and satisfaction because of the goals she achieved. She wrote that she taught many comrades to read and write because they were eager to learn, and she was very happy with her services (Tylor, 21). She served in the military for four years without getting paid. This shows that her services in the military were not for money and that she was doing it because she had a kind heart. Looking at history, it can be said that she was able to achieve her goals.
Education Memoir and the Record of Black Suffering
After the end of the Civil War, she established a school for freed African American children, but later, she was forced to close her school. In 1870, she travelled to Boston as a domestic servant. She wrote her memoir in the 1890s. This was the time when she was looking after her dying son. Her memoir was published privately in 1902. It can be said that she wrote her memoir years after the end of the Civil War, as she was busy teaching and operating her school. Susie King Taylor wrote her memoir to let the world know about the sufferings of African Americans before, during and after the Civil War. She was a slave, and with her efforts and capabilities, she was able to achieve a name in the world.
Racism Female Strength and Her Grandmother’s Influence
She described in detail the hardships she faced after the Civil War when her son was dying. In her memoir, she wrote how she was forced to ride in a car that was meant for coloured people and how she was not able to get a sleeper berth because of her race (Tylor, 71). Her memoir also gave a message of female firmness. Her strong bonds with her grandmother and the way she began her memoir by referring to her grandmother were symbols of feminism. She explained how her grandmother had motivated her to join the clandestine school for Blacks, where she learned to read and write (Taylor). I believe that Susie Ann Taylor was a person born as a slave who had the ability to make a difference in the world. Her work as a nurse and a teacher helped many people change their lives.
Works Cited
Taylor, Susie King. Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33d United States Colored Troops: Late 1st SC Volunteers. The author, 1902.
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