I wanted to include this excerpt in my Phebe post, but I shortened it. Here, Mary Smith Cranch wrote to her sister Abigail Adams in Philadelphia in 1798 describing cruel treatment of a Black woman and her child, and Phebe's remarkable reaction. You should read it! www.masshist.org/publications...

The woman known as Phoebe Abdee, Phebe Savil Oliphant, was born enslaved in Col. John Quincy's household. She helped raise Quincy's granddaughter, Abigail Adams, and maintained a life-long connection to Abigail and her family. elevennames.substack.com/p/abigail-ad...

Dropping tomorrow. Also, the name "Phoebe Abdee" was likely constructed in the 1960s. I reveal two surnames *Phebe went by, and I can name her parents and original enslaver. Hint: a local municipality is named after her original enslaver.

One of the first people I wrote about was Flora—she is one of the Eleven Names.

Boston is renaming Bussey Street to Flora Way tomorrow. If you follow me and are at this event, please say hi!

Here are my current stats re: colonial New England slaveholding ministers. #ordainedslavery.

I'm returning to Joanne Pope Melish's classic 1998 book "Disowning Slavery," and the first paragraph of the preface is about racist New Hampshire primary voters. Sure, it was 32 years ago, but it's certainly not ancient history.

Here's the whole page. The excerpt comes from the far right, in the middle.

Help! What's this man's name? @historygirl.bsky.social @boston1775.bsky.social @walecarg.bsky.social @bill-n1vux.bsky.social