Ann dandridge costin george washington daughter
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Martha Washington’s Black Sister
It was a not very well-kept Washington family secret that Martha Washington had a sister who was black.
Ann Dandridge was the daughter of Martha Washington’s father, John Dandridge, and an unknown slave of mixed African and Native American blood. After John Dandridge’s death in 1756, Ann, who was a young girl at the time, went to live with George and Martha at Mount Vernon and was kept by them as a slave.
Why didn’t Martha free her little sister from slavery? If she had felt any resentment towards her half-sister, Martha could easily have sold or otherwise gotten rid of her, yet she didn’t. She kept her around, lived with her, let her children play with her, but did not set her free.
To Martha, this may have seemed like benevolence. After all, there was no place in 1759 Virginia society for a free black Dandridge female. Ann’s choices in life would have been very limited. She could perhaps have obtained
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William Costin
African American activist and scholar (c. 1780–1842)
For the president of St John's College, Oxford, see William Costin (academic). For the public servant in Queensland, see William Charles Costin.
William Custis-Costin | |
|---|---|
Costin in 1842 | |
| Born | c. 1780 |
| Died | May 31, 1842(1842-05-31) (aged 61–62) |
| Known for | Early civil rights |
| Spouse | Philadelphia "Delphy" Judge |
William Costin (c. 1780 - May 31, 1842) was a free African-American activist and scholar who successfully challenged District of Columbia slave codes in the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia.[1][2]
Early life
[edit]Little is known of Costin's upbringing. His enslaved mother was Ann Dandridge-Costin, whose father is reputed to have been Col. John Dandridge of Williamsburg, Virginia,[3][4] making her the half-sister of Martha Washington.
Costin is believed to have been of African and Cherokee descent.[5 • An interview with Henry Wiencek Common-place: One of the striking revelations in Imperfect God is just how intertwined Washington’s life was with the institution of slavery. Everyone knows he owned slaves, but few recognize just how pervasive a part of his day-to-day existence slaves and slavery were. Was this a revelation to you as well? If so, how did it come about? Henry Wiencek: Because Washington fryst vatten chiefly known and studied as a political figure, historians have looked at Washington’s encounter with slavery through a political lens. Finding that Washington made no tjänsteman statements about slavery during his presidency and that the issue did not arise in any dramatically significant way during his term, the political historians have relegated slavery to a footnote in studies of Washington. The story is almost the same for Washington as a military leader. General biographers of Washington have bygd and large been uninterested in s