#a white woman who held a retreat on a plantation?

[hadsephone]

Ani defranco as Persephone is my 13th reason

[sirabisunkenplace]

ouanga and the absurdity of the "one-drop rule"

as Doja Cat says, let's get into it (yuh).

Ok. So I just watched Ouanga last night, and it reminded me how much I love Fredi Washington. She was a force to be reckoned with throughout that Godawful film, carrying it from start to finish. But, sorry, I didn't enjoy its crass depictions of Black ritual magic/voodou, nor its use of Blackface, the dark-skinned actors relegated to domestic/violent roles, etc. However, one thing that is quite notable in the film (mentioned during the post-screening discussion between Professor Due and Professor Scott) is its unabashed references to race/race relations/American White supremacy. This type of racialized dialogue was rare in early Hollywood productions, even those that attempted to tell stories that included Black characters. It also lightly touched on the historically accurate mixed-race middle-class in Haiti (known in French as the gens de couleur, or free people of color), as Washington's character Clelie ran a plantation on the island. Before the Haitian Revolution, this group of free mixed-race Black individuals held a higher social status than the monoracial African enslaved community and played a significant part in the only successful slave revolt in modern history. The Whites who "ran" St. Domingue limited the social mobility and rights of the gens de couleur (who often owned slaves themselves and did not wish to abolish slavery), rendering them inferior due to their African heritage. Eventually, this scorned class of mixed-race peoples in Haiti joined forces in the Revolution with the enslaved militias and the Spanish, and the rest was history. I'm getting off-topic now, aren't I? It just irks me how the Haitian Revolution is so under-discussed in academic circles that most people are unaware of its impact, which created the first free Black nation in the Western hemisphere. 

Ok, back to Ouanga and its discussions of race relations in America, the concept of "passing," and the absurdity of the one-drop rule. Washington's character becomes so distraught at the idea of losing her White lover Adam to a White woman, Eve (why the apparent Biblical reference?); she essentially hexes her competition through the ill-represented Black magic in the film. At the beginning of the film, she pleads with Adam to forsake his engagement to Eve. He denies telling Clelie she "belongs with her own kind," and she responds incredulously. "Forget about that girl... Am I not as beautiful? As White?" When Adam begins to retreat, she begs him not to treat her like a "Black wench," like the women on his plantation. Whew. A lot to unpack here.

Clelie, with her pale skin and light-colored eyes, is dismayed by her Black ancestry. She wishes to pass as a White woman like her appearance permits her. Still, she struggles against the insidious one-drop rule crafted to explain the identities of those born from the sexual exploitation of Black enslaved women and their White masters. As a multiracial Black person with fair skin and overall White-passing features, I can relate to this confusion personally. Even though I am fair-skinned, I have experienced similar grief as Clelie when trying to date outside of my race and have dealt with anti-Black racism from my own non-Black family members. At times I feel like Clelie, creating distance between my ancestry and my physical appearance, wishing to be a monoracial White woman to avoid the bullshit racism of having just "one drop" of Black blood in America. Then I come to, remembering that I descend from the unrelenting strength of my ancestors, remembering that I cannot track my Black and Indigenous lineage as the lives of POC went undocumented, ruined by a genocidal past. I think that's what drives Clelie's voodou madness the most, her having to deny this significant part of her identity to be with the man she loves. 

I feel it, Clelie, I really do. 

[misssophiachase]

Song title Klaroline mini drabble

Could you please write a mini Klaroline drabble based on the song Senorita by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello.  Thank you, love all your fanfics, you’re an amazing writer! 

Okay apologies luv, I worked out how to respond. Hope you like my drabble

Loving your choice of song, I’ve interspersed some of the lyrics from Senorita (in italics) but included another song of hers I love in the title. They seem to fit well together!

Synopsis: Klaus Mikaelson has been summonsed to spend time with his estranged family in sunny Cuba. Bored and determined to avoid them he finds something to do and someone to pass the time with.

Havana

The air was hot from summer rain…

She was teasing him, running through the tiny waves licking the shoreline and showcasing a new, red bikini that left little to the imagination.

Klaus pressed his lips together remembering just how studiously he’d traced every curve and each stray freckle sprinkled across her creamy skin the previous night.

Caroline Forbes was truly an enigma.

Too perfect for this world and too perfect for him.

He was waiting for her to disappear but, at the same time, madly hoping she wouldn’t. And to think they’d met only three days earlier.

She was a beautiful distraction who Klaus needed more than he realized. All the stress of reuniting with his family in Havana had melted away as soon as he heard her melodic laugh in some hole-in-the-wall bar downtown.

She was gorgeous in red, yes, but Klaus didn’t realize just how breathtaking until she’d approached him and suggested tequila shots, a wedge of lime tracing her pink lips. Given his current mood and her exquisite mouth, it wasn’t that hard of a sell.

Well, that was until she made him dance. Or salsa as she explained. Klaus had no rhythm whatsoever but decided he could blame it on the abundance of alcohol and rubbing up against her lithe figure wasn’t such a bad experience.  

Waking the next morning alone, his mouth dry from an excess of tequila, Klaus knew he wanted so much more but had no idea just who his mystery woman was.

Klaus had searched madly for her in town until he accidentally stumbled upon her in his hotel’s expansive ballroom teaching some old, uncoordinated guest how to salsa. That he wasn’t expecting but seeing her again all he wanted was for her to teach him instead.

Even if he had two left feet and generally avoided the dance floor at all costs it didn’t seem to matter at that point as she sensed his presence then proceeded to stare at him curiously, her left eyebrow cocked adorably.

“Can I help you?” She asked, her cute, American accent messing with his usually indifferent demeanor.

“I was just,” he hesitated, wishing he was much more cool and composed at that moment.

“If you’d like to sign up for dance classes there’s a board just outside,” she smiled teasingly, obviously revisiting their first ‘lesson.’

“Of course,” he smirked, then proceeded to book her up for the next two weeks. Maybe he was being slightly possessive but for Klaus Mikaelson that was the only way.  

Sapphire moonlight

“Klaus,” she admonished, her tone half disciplinary and the other half playful. “I get you don’t like an audience during lessons but stop messing around and stepping on my toes while you’re at it.”  

“It’s an unreliable dance floor,” he argued, gesturing to the soft sand underfoot bathed in moonlight. “How am I expected to concentrate?”

“Well, we could go back to the ballroom,” she offered, sending him a knowing glance. Klaus was fairly certain he’d never tire of her creamy skin, golden waves and her ability to make him say yes to absolutely anything she asked.

Except that.

It had been two days of dance lessons interspersed with fun, constant banter and a growing sexual tension that was threatening to erupt at any moment.

We danced for hours in the sand

“I take it all back, I’ll concentrate love,” he promised, pulling her closer and trying to ignore just how delicious she smelled. A mixture of raspberries, vanilla, and cinnamon.

“This is crazy,” Caroline murmured into the crook of his neck as they danced slowly.

“Why? You’ve never danced under the stars?”

“Yes, but nothing like this,” she smiled against his collarbone as he held her close. “I could get used to this.”

“Well, no reason to stop then, unless there’s another lesson you need to get to now.”

“It can wait,” she joked, her fingernails tracing the small of his back through his white shirt. “There’s no other place I’d rather be.”

Tequila sunrise

Klaus stirred, attempting to gain his bearings. The sun was rising in brilliant streaks of pink and orange across the sky, much like his favorite cocktail. But that wasn’t the best part of this moment.

It was the fact she was nestled in his arms naked, their clothes scattered nearby. Klaus never knew what true happiness felt like until that very moment.

Caroline mewed, scrunching her nose adorably in her sleep. It took all his willpower not to touch her or to kiss that cute nose. This was usually his cue to exit but Klaus couldn’t do it.

She felt so good.

She felt so right.

And he’d no doubt have to leave given his family name had a tendency to follow him wherever he went.

He’d met up with Esther and Mikael in Havana through family obligation more than anything. He’d long since denounced their chosen activities but did it for his younger siblings.

Their reunion had gone as suspected but Caroline had been more than a distraction the past few days, she’d been his savior.

But now it had to end.

I wish I could pretend I didn’t need you

Klaus had attempted to gather his belongings without trying to disturb her sleep, but she’d awoken. Stretching out like a beautiful kitten as she did.

Klaus stole a quick glance, unexpectedly making eye contact with her. Dark blue eyes on light. He’d meant to look away but it had proven too difficult. She’d averted her gaze which landed on his gathered belongings. He couldn’t miss the hurt in her eyes.

“Well, I suppose we should go then,” Caroline mumbled, sitting up while placing her arm strategically across those delicious nipples he’d feasted on hours earlier.

“Believe me I don’t want to go,” he offered feebly.

“But yet you were trying frantically to erase everything that happened here,” she scoffed. “Don’t worry you’re not the first ass to do that.”

“Some guy did this? Tell me his name and I’ll…”

“The guy who’s trying to sneak out is going to hunt down the guy who did something similar, spare me,” she growled. Klaus felt her move away, the space between them driving him crazy.

“But…”

“You are just like the rest,” Caroline hissed, throwing on her clothing hurriedly.

“I’m not, it’s just complicated,” he uttered, albeit feebly. Klaus blamed that on the fact his nether regions were more concerned with all the lovely, naked flesh she was covering.

“If you’re the unwilling child of a family drug empire I might listen but otherwise I’m leaving,” she hissed, reaching for her coat.

“Excuse me?”

“I’m going,” she huffed, attempting to make as much distance between them as she could.

“I grew up on a drug plantation,” he offered to her retreating back. “First it was marijuana then cocaine and heroin. I got away as soon as I could but the Mikaelson tentacles have this way of drawing you back in if you care about the welfare of your siblings.”

“Hold on,” she deduced. “You’re a Mikaelson?”

“Unfortunately,” he groaned, her back still to him.

“My father hates yours,” Caroline shared, turning around slowly.

“You’re a Forbes?”

“As much as you want to be a Mikaelson,” she replied, sending a dry smile in his direction. “Well, this is extremely awkward.”

“Or romantic perhaps?”

“What have you been smoking?”

“It’s probably a little early for us to be joking about drugs and being the Capulets and Montagues, right?”

“Mmmm, true. Although I did always love Romeo and Juliet, you know without the whole dying part.”

“Me too,” Klaus agreed. “Any chance you’d be willing to give us a go without the whole dying part? We may need to evade a few drug lords and some family drama in the process.”

“Well, at least you can almost salsa now.”

“And how exactly is that particular skill going to help me?”

“We can go undercover, Mikaelson, you could be my teaching assistant with further tutoring of course,” Caroline grinned knowingly. “Speaking of which, you do realize you owe me another week and a half in lessons though, right?”

“And what if I can’t pay you?”

“You can make it up to me in other ways, Mikaelson.”

[frangipanidownunder]

Returning the Past: part 1

Okay, so after more than a year of working on this beast, I am finally going to post what has become known as my ‘Aussie casefile’. (Hey @lepus-arcticus and @baronessblixen - remember this?) 

This started as an idea for a multi-chap fic set downunder by way of an explanation for that rowboat scene in IWTB. In this universe, M&S are newlyweds. 

This is ten chapters of nonsense, but written with love. I’ll post a couple of chapters a week and most of it will be under a cut because, you know, words.

Disclaimer: I am a fake Aussie. I have never been to the Daintree. But I am not a fake fiction writer - I made a lot of this stuff up...

Chapter One

There was a long stretch of white sand, the whitest she’d ever seen and where the ocean met it, blues and greens swirled in a tortoiseshell pattern. The row of trees bordering the beach was low, gnarly and the darkest green. A mint-fresh smell rose on the hot, light breeze. She could imagine the warm water dragging sand between her toes, the wind whipping her sarong around her legs, her hair across her face, the sun dappling her body. She closed her eyes and breathed in, long and slow. When she opened them again, the perfect view was still there.

                But Mulder wanted to go monster-hunting and he was practically out the door before they’d even unpacked.

                “Come on Scully, the Tasmanian tiger has been spotted in these parts on numerous occasions.”

                “And no doubt always by men who’d drunk too much of the local amber nectar. Thylacines have been extinct since 1936, Mulder. At the hands of man. And we’re 2000 miles from Tasmania. The Great Barrier reef is not, and has never been, the natural habitat of the Tasmanian tiger. And Romero Sands is an ‘exclusive honeymoon retreat offering the most private of accommodation’ , not a magical, mystery tour.” She turned to face him. “Besides, I want to do the tree top walk and the island tour. And there are those little row boats you can hire.”

                He grinned. “I know, I know. And we will do all those things, I promise. But please come tiger hunting with me first. Please.”

                She looked back at the beach, sun glinting off the turquoise water before turning to Mulder, decked out in camouflage gear and binoculars and not for the first time wondered what the fuck she was doing.

 They drove into the depths of the rainforest, following the nasal directions of the GPS. Towering ferns at the roadside cast crazy patterns the road, the tree canopy so tall that the highest branches looked like witches fingers scraping the blue sky. Even in the air conditioning, her sunglasses slipped down her nose.

              “There’s a lot of paranormal activity downunder, Scully.”

              She looked at his lap and smiled. “I bet there is.”

              He chuffed and drummed the steering wheel. “No really, there have been many reports of UFO activity and alien abductions over the years. I’ve been in contact with the UFO and Paranormal Research Society of Australia. It’s fascinating.”

              She twirled her hair in her fingers and laughed softly. A honeymoon in tropical Australia, about as far away from the darkness as they could get and yet. “I thought you wanted to find a thylacine, Mulder. Not a little green man.”

              “Grey, Scully,” he said, squeezing her knee. “All these years together and you still get it wrong.”

              “There doesn’t seem to be anything grey about Australia.”

              He looked out of his window and nodded. “Tropical rainforest. It’s either hot and wet or hot and dry.”

              “Sounds about right.” She gnawed on her knuckles as he gave her a look.

              “So, after we’ve done with Tasmanian tiger hunting can we go alien hunting?”

              She shook her head and laughed. “I didn’t realise that marriage would revert you to the little boy version of yourself, Mulder. Asking me what you can and can’t do like I’m your mother.”

              “And I didn’t realise that marriage would turn you into an even bigger stick in the mud, Scully. We’ve flown halfway around the world and you don’t seem to want to open yourself up to new adventures in a different hemisphere. I mean the water goes down the plughole the other way round. The animals are unique, marsupials and monotremes. This should be right up your alley.”

“Everything is out to kill you – plants, birds, fish, insects, reptiles.”

“But, Scully, the sky is enormous. There are different constellations. Australia is an amazing place. A continent in its own right. And all you want to do is lounge by the pool.”

              “Mulder, you’re whining.”

              “I think you’ll find that’s whinging, Scully. Over here, it’s whinging. I memorised the Strine dictionary to prove it.”

              “Strine or no Strine, mate, whatever it is, you’re fair dinkum doing it.”

              “I just want to experience everything that there is to offer here – rainforest, coral reef, marsupials extinct or otherwise.”

              “And Aussie aliens?”

              He turned and gave her the full watt smile. “Do you think they say ‘G’day, mate’ when they greet you here?”

              She reached in to her bag to get a bottle of water. “Yeah, and maybe they throw a prawn on the barbie as a welcome party instead of torturing you.” His smile fell away. He chewed his lip. She saw how his knuckles whitened on the steering wheel. “I’m sorry, Mulder. That was out of line.” She ran her hand over his forearm.

              “S’okay, Scully. It’s just sometimes it all comes back…”

              She rolled her lips. “I know.”

              Clouds gathered ahead, brooding grey. In her guilty silence she imagined the faces of aliens, hideous and tattered at the edges.

They turned down the narrow lane marked on her map as Eddie Romero Track and pulled up in the small car park, bays edged with pitted sleepers and low growing ferns sprouting at the corners. The air was full. Scully reapplied her sunscreen, sprayed insect repellent on them both and adjusted her hat. She shrugged a small back pack over her shoulders and Mulder took the heavier one.

              “What have you got in there, Mulder? A wombat?”

              He unbuttoned his khaki shirt further as the air grew thicker. “I might have packed for all occasions, just like the good little Indian Guide I was.”

              She walked to the map board that stood next to the trail entrance. “I don’t think that it’s likely to rain sleeping bags here, Mulder. Just the usual tropical stuff.” She looked up, eyeing the rolling clouds above.

              “It might not need to rain sleeping bags, Scully. But I might just get lucky, eh?” He pulled open the bag and showed her the rolled up silver fabric and telltale zip.

              “Mulder, if you think I’m sleeping out here, you are nuttier than the macadamia plantation we passed. Besides we’ve got that wonderful four-poster king-sized bed back at the villa. You’ll always get lucky with that thing.”

              He chuckled. “The guide should be here soon. I was told to pack all this stuff. Just in case.”

“Well, this is about the first time you ever been quite so prepared.” She wandered to the edge of the forest where the track began. There was a rustling in the undergrowth. She peered in further and saw two kangaroos. She beckoned for Mulder, putting a finger over her lips as he strode closer. The animals, smaller than she expected stood stock still, clearly sensing human presence. Their bodies marked with a reddish brown jacket, paler grey elsewhere and a distinctive black stripe across its face that set them apart from the photos she’d seen in tourist brochures. The animals turned and bounced deeper into the forest.

“Pretty good spot on the first trip here, Scully.”

“They were smaller and prettier than I’d imagined. I didn’t realise they had such distinctive markings.”

Behind them, car tyres scrunched over grave. They both turned to watch a land cruiser pull into the space next to their rental.

“Mr and Mrs Mulder?” The young woman held out her hand. “I’m Steph Callow.”

Scully stared at Mulder. He didn’t look at her, as he shook Steph’s hand. “Thanks for coming out with us.”

She smiled at him. “Not sure we’re going to see anything but there might be evidence.” She held out her hand to Scully. “Mrs Mulder, nice to meet you. Your husband’s enthusiasm has been full-on. I really hope we can find something for you both.”

“Dana Scully,” she said, shaking Steph’s hand. “My husband’s enthusiasm,” she eyed Mulder, who was finding the map very interesting, “is one of his most enduring traits.”

“Endearing, Scully? Did you say endearing?”

Steph stood between them before Mulder shrugged his backpack higher and grinned. “Let’s go and spy on some thylacines.”

 A way in and her legs were already aching; her new walking boots were heavy, making her feet sweaty hot. She was out of practice. Paediatric surgery was a million miles from chasing aliens, cryptids and human monsters. She sucked on the top of a water bottle and squashed another mozzie against her arm.

The noises of the Australian bush were a mix of musical and maniacal and she had quickly grown accustomed to the background sounds, but the feral growl that rumbled ahead had her throat drying. She stopped and tried to listen, but all she heard was Steph and Mulder chatting in the background. She picked up her pace to catch up with them.

              “So, where exactly was the latest sighting, Steph?” she asked.

              “Another couple of kays in.” She stabbed a spot on the map. “There’ve been a few sightings there. It’s a dense clump of Alpinia caerulea.  A native ginger. And lots of ferns and smaller understory plants. There’s a creek and the small marsupials, possums and tree kangaroos love it. It’s prime hunting grounds. The last time I saw one, a young male, was about a month ago.”

              Mulder swiped the sweat from his forehead. “And other members of the group saw a female with cubs at the same spot.”

              Scully pulled the map from him, flattening it out in her hand. It was just miles and miles of bush. Five hundred miles, in fact. “Group? What kind of group?”

              “Why so sceptical, Dr Scully?”

              She whacked his arm. “What kind of group?”

              He stretched his neck side to side. Steph drank from her water bottle, seemingly oblivious.

              “Mulder?”

              The rumbling growl filled the air. They both looked towards it. Thick low-growing pines, bulbous trunks, eucalypts in silvery spotted greys dominated the view in both directions. The birdsong had silenced.

              “Could be a koala,” Steph said, looking up. “People often mistake them for dogs.”

              “I thought they were nocturnal.”

              “They are usually, but it’s not uncommon to see them during the day. And the group Mr Mulder is referring to, is the FNQAAS. We often head out here, to watch the lights.”

              Scully shucked off her backpack and let it drop to the ground. “The funkas? The lights?”

              Mulder shrugged and looked up again, shielding his eyes.

              “The Far North Queensland Alien Abductee Society. They hold regular meetings here to watch the mysterious lights that sometimes appear in the middle canopy. There are blue and white lights that bounce over the trees.”

              “And you’ve seen them?”

              “Oh, yes,” Steph said. “When I was taken they were the brightest they’ve ever been.”

              Scully licked her lips and looked at Mulder. “When you were taken?”

              Mulder stepped towards her and put his hands on her shoulders. “Steph is an abductee. And president of the FNQAAS. She’s been taken several times.”

              “Mr Mulder tells me you’ve both had similar experiences yourself,” Steph said, offering them a muesli bar.

              Scully sighed and shook her head. “I don’t believe this, Mulder.” She tried to keep her voice steady. “You said this was a trip to see thylacines, a nice little trip to the forest. But…”

              “The thylacine sightings are linked to the lights and the abductions, Scully. It’s a fascinating case.”

              “A case. On our honeymoon?”

              Mulder smiled over at Steph, who was bent down taking photos of an elegant fern frond that curled outward. “Scully, I didn’t tell you at first because I knew you wouldn’t come. There are more holes in the stories than the plants in this forest but it gets us out and about.”

“No, Mulder. It gets you out doing the things you want to do. I get out plenty. It’s you who sits in that house all day reading stuff about funky Aussie alien hunters. There are no thylacines here. There are no lights. There have been no abductions. These people have probably inhaled some exotic fungus and shredded their minds. And once again, you’ve fallen for it.”

She grabbed her bag and stalked away.

“Scully! Where are you going?”

“Back to the car. You can get a lift back with funky Steph.”

 She headed back along the path listening to Mulder’s footsteps crackling across the springy forest floor.

“Scully, wait.”

The path ahead seemed darker than on the way in, the gnarled branches twisting lower, obstructing her way. Leaves scratched at her arms and legs, leaving red marks.

As she rounded a bend, the first drops of rain began. She heard the low rumbling growl. The clouds darkened. The trees loomed higher and higher. Her breath came in hard spurts. Mulder grabbed her arm just as the first lightning strike lit up the sky. It flashed and arced, causing her to stumble. He fell with her. Steph was close behind and she knelt where they fell, pointing up.

Scully followed the blue light, low and flat, as it streamed off the canopy. Mulder shielded his brow and a slow smile spread across his face. The white light followed, in smaller dots, bouncing around. The air smelt of sulphur. The growl grew louder and louder until a peal of high-pitched barking filled their ears.

“This is amazing, Scully.” Mulder was holding her elbow and stood up, bringing her with him. A blinding flash crashed above them. Twigs snapped and split, raining down on them, bark scratching their skin.

An ominous crack, deep silence, then a large branch crashed through the air, sending them barrelling to the ground.

[lostinfic]

6 | Biting

Mercier x Betty British Raj AU

Calcutta, 1902. The word ‘dance’ comes to mind, their own choreography of gazes exchanged across the room, brushes of hands and half-spoken confessions. They orbit around each other, destined never to collide it seems; Mercier is upper class, Betty is a governess. And he’s spying on the family whose children she swore to protect. But in this foreign land of spices and silk, of golden gods and lush forests, where cultural norms clash and wane, even destinies must yield to desire.

Rating: Mature Word count: 2.8k CW: predatory behaviour from a man You don’t need to have seen either show. Tumblr   |   Ao3   |    This chapter on Ao3

Mercier scratched the back of his head, ruffling his hair in frustration. His hand followed the curve of his neck, and he rested his fingers at the base of his throat, where Betty had kissed him.

Today was her day off, but Mercier wasn’t in Calcutta.

He loosened his necktie, sighed and returned to the legal documents in front of him.

When he’d last seen Betty, with her braid and nightgown, holding a book of pressed flowers. She’d looked young, innocent. But then to find The Kama Sutra hidden in her book and that teasing kiss. There was so much about her he had yet to discover.

As a rule, he avoided women who tried to play these kinds of games of seduction: tempting, then withdrawing, suggesting then playing coy. He preferred straightforward, honest affairs. But he couldn’t blame Betty for doing this; he’d pursued her in the house of her employer, and he’d suggested they secretly write to each other. What else was she supposed to think?

All of this would be much easier were she his equal. It was madness for a man of his standing to pursue a governess. A governess working for a man suspected of fraud by the French government. Madness. And yet, he intended to persevere.

Mercier sipped some tea and looked out the window at the vast indigo plantation. Under the watchful eyes of soldiers, native men in white turbans, carried loads of blue flowers on their spindly backs.

Monsieur Lelievre, the owner of the plantation, entered the study, arms full of large books. A cloud of dust burst from the pages when he dropped them on the desk. “The plantation’s bookkeeping from the beginning,” he announced. He brushed his waistcoat and trousers, then sat opposite Mercier.

Not long ago, Mercier would have jumped at this chance for a real mission outside Calcutta. The negotiations between European tradesmen and local authorities often required skills of the military and diplomatic kind. But in this case, not only did he have more interesting duties in the city, Mercier suspected he’d been sent on a wild goose chase. He’d been here two weeks without making any progress.

Mercier cursed de Brem under his breath. Only a few days after landing on the shores of India, the man had taken over the investigation on Lord Wigram and had sent Mercier away from Calcutta. What if there was more to it than the old rivalry between them?

*

Gabrielle whistled as she entered her home, removing her hat and gloves. It had been a wonderful promenade, and she gave each dog a treat for their good behaviour. She’d met Miss Salinger in the park, it was her day off. To make up for her brother’s absence, Gabrielle had done her best to cheer her up, with some success. She was a bright young woman, no wonder Jean-François was so taken with her.

“It’s lovely to see you so happy, Miss Mercier,” de Brem said in French.

At the sight of the blond, mustachioed man, Gabrielle stiffened. “It seems you have gotten lost in the house Mr. de Brem. Again. Let me show you the way back to the consulate wing.”

Since Jean-François had left for Dhaka, de Brem kept coming over, at all hours of the day. Since he was her brother’s boss, she couldn’t be as rude with him as she wished.

Gabrielle walked away, but he stepped between her and the door.

“I am not lost, I assure you. I wanted to see you.” He touched her arm, and Gabrielle recoiled. “I remember a time when you welcomed my attentions.”

“That was a long time ago. Before I met Armand.”

He stepped forward, she stepped backward.

“He’s a poor pianist,” de Brem said.

Forward, backward.

She clenched her fists, remembering her brother’s boxing lessons.

“I love him,” Gabrielle stated.

“I would give you anything you desire.”

“You are married. You have children. You have no honour.”

The back of her legs hit a writing desk. Her knees buckled and de Brem smiled. His breath ghosted over her face, she turned her head away.

“Unlike your brother, you mean? And what has his honour ever done for him? I am his superior now. When I want something, I take it.”

His tongue snaked out between his thin lips as he contemplated Gabrielle’s face. Then his gaze strayed to a point behind her shoulder, and he smirked. Gabrielle pushed him away. The front door opened, and de Brem retreated so as not to get caught.

“See you soon, Miss Mercier,” he said before leaving.

Gabrielle sat down and closed her eyes to steady her beating heart.

De Brem’s self-confidence had once seduced her, but something corrupt had festered in his soul. She reflected on how people who grow up with everything shall never be satisfied.

So far, she had not told her brother about his colleague’s behaviour, but now it had gone too far. When she turned to the writing desk, Gabrielle saw what had caught de Brem’s attention earlier: a letter from Miss Salinger to Jean-François.

*

On the porch of the Wigram’s house, Betty leaned against a doric column. Her feet ached from walking all day in cheap boots, but she would enjoy her free day until its last second.

The twilight hour had a peculiar stillness to it, even birds in the palms dozed off, tired from the day’s work. A hot wind chased dry coconut shells down the street and stirred the fragrant frangipanis. Warm hues filled the sky and painted white buildings with gold. A tabby cat curled at her feet.

With each breath, her chest pushed against Jean-François’ latest letter hidden in her corset; Gabrielle had passed it on to her during their promenade. She missed him. She missed how every step out of the house thrilled her with its chance to meet him. If only she’d given him a proper kiss goodbye. What if he’d met someone else in Dhaka? Another deep breath, and the envelope crinkled in her corset. No, he was still hers.

With the delay between letters— three days, sometimes four— their correspondence lacked the back and forth, akin to a conversation, it had before. But there was more of an openness to them, more daring and risque too. He remained a gentleman, and she a well-behaved young woman, but they chose each word carefully for their double meaning or reference to The Kama Sutra. Each sentence crafted to arouse the reader’s imagination.

She grazed the letter with her fingertips, and her skin goose-pimpled with excitement. Should she read it now or wait until she was alone in her room?

Knocks on the window decided for her. Her three pupils, Victoria, Winifred and Oliver, pressed their faces against the glass and slapped it to attract their governess’ attention. Betty waved at them, and they ran to the door to greet her. They jumped in her arms, talking one over the other about their day, as if they had been separated for weeks.

Lady Wigram stood nearby, always with that haughty set to her chin. She stared at the children’s display of affection. Hurt flickered in her hazy blue eyes, but she chased it away with a flippant remark about Betty’s appearance. Betty couldn’t help that she’d been in the children’s lives longer than their step-mother so they trusted her more. Still, she felt bad for Lady Wigram who obviously wished to be closer to the children.

“Where did you get those earrings?” Lady Wigram asked with narrowed eyes.

Betty touched the delicate pendants at her ears— a gift from Jean-François to apologise for his absence on her day off. “… Miss Mercier gave them to me.”

At the mention of Gabrielle, Lady Wigram perked up. “You know Miss Mercier? Why would she give you earrings?”

After some incoherent babbling, Betty explained she’d first met Gabrielle after Oliver had fallen in the river and Jean-François helped them out. She then made up a story about helping out with Gabrielle and Armand’s upcoming wedding. “She gave me the earrings as a thank you. They’re second-hand. Said she never wears them anyway.” She held her breath as Lady Wigram appraised her for long seconds. She nodded curtly, and let Betty go.

From her bedroom window, Betty had a good view of the tree in the backyard under which she’d met Jean-François before he left town. She couldn’t help but glance at it, hoping to see him there, leaning against the trunk, neck tie loose and smoldering eyes. But he wasn’t there.

She postponed reading his letter until after the children had gone to bed. She hid it at the bottom of a drawer along with the earrings, then changed into her grey governess dress. And thus she also slipped back into her governess persona: meek and unremarkable.

On the dinner table, a servant had set a plate down for Lord Wigram but his chair was empty. It remained untouched until the end of the meal, and Lady Wigram kept glancing at the clock and at the front door. It wasn’t Betty’s place to ask about his lordship’s whereabouts, but she worried. Thankfully, Victoria asked “Where is Papa? Won’t he be hungry?”

Lady Wigram’s hazy blue eyes settled on Betty even as she answered Victoria. “Your father said he was going out to meet a friend this morning.”

Betty focused all her attention on cutting her chicken into bits so as not to meet that unprovoked icy glare. She didn’t have anything to do with his absence.

Not ten minutes later, a great guffaw announced Lord Wigram’s return. He staggered into the dining room, arm in arm with an equally inebriated man. Wigram kissed his wife, then each children’s head, and Betty’s too. Laughing, Betty ushered the children out of the room before the men became too rowdy.

Samaira, Oliver’s nanny, joined them. As the children chose a story, the nanny and the governess chatted about their day. The conversation confirmed what Betty thought: Lady Wigram had tried to play with the children so they might warm up to her, but she’d suggested activities ill-suited to their age.

“Betty, I want to go out tonight,” Samaira whispered— she meant meet up with Rakesh, her boyfriend who worked next door.

“Of course, I’ll cover for you,” Betty answered. Someday, she might need Samaira’s help to sneak out and meet Jean-François.

Betty came up with a plan that would kill two birds with one stone: ensure Lady Wigram wouldn’t catch Samaira leaving the house, and make her feel appreciated by the children. Betty had been teaching the children a nursery rhyme, she asked the Victoria to write down the lyrics while Winifred drew flowers around the sheet. They practiced singing it with a simple choreography.

When Samaira was ready to leave, Betty took the children to the drawing room. Lady Wigram was alone, his lordship already snoring off the ale.

The children were nervous as they took place in front of their stepmother. Betty offered Lady Wigram the lyrics and encouraged her to sing along. There was much laughing and off-key singing, but they did splendidly.

At Betty’s behest, they hugged and kissed their stepmother goodnight. She seemed genuinely happy, more than she had ever seen her.

“It was their idea,” Betty lied. She hoped Lady Wigram would be nicer if she didn’t feel in competition with the governess.

“That’s very kind. Tell me Betty, you really were with Gabrielle Mercier this afternoon.”

“Yes, your ladyship.”

“Do you think… She is a very fashionable young woman. The talk of the town, one might say.”

“Yes, she is.”

“And her fiancé is a talented pianist. Their wedding is bound to be a grand event.”

“I suppose it will,” Betty replied carefully, wary of this unusual amiable tone.

“And of course, my husband is a close acquaintance of Colonel Mercier.”

The mention of Jean-François unsettled Betty, she panicked, until she realized what Lady Wigram was really after: an invitation. “I believe miss Mercier said you would be invited to her wedding.”

“As it should be,” she answered with a satisfied smile.

Maybe if she secured an invitation to the wedding for the Wigram, and made the children lover her ladyship, Betty wouldn’t be the target of the lady’s insecurities anymore. At least, Lord Wigram was nice to her, but it only made matters worse with his wife. Eventually, he might decide to grant his wife’s wish and fire Betty, instead of keeping an old promise made to her late father.

Back in her modest room, Betty put these thoughts behind her; she finally had time to read Jean-François’ letter, and she wouldn’t let anything distract her from his words.

She changed into her nightdress but put the earring back on, them climbed into bed with a candle.

Dearest, I am sorry to miss your day off. I trust you made the most of it, and followed your wonderful sense of adventure. I hope the gift pleases you. If I cannot be with you, at least let something from me be in your presence. The earrings are made of oxblood coral inlaid in white gold. Perhaps not the most luxurious of gemstones, but certainly more original. I believe you are far too unique to wear the same stone as everyone else. They reminded me of you.

Betty smiled. The Kama Sutra described “the coral and the jewel” as a type of biting done by bringing together the teeth and the lips “the lip is the coral, and the teeth the jewel”. Every time Betty moved her head, the earrings brushed against her neck, evoking his mouth on her skin.

The thought of being bitten shouldn’t arouse her, but she imagined herself with Jean-François, in the throes of passion, sweaty, naked bodies, clawing fingers and head-spinning pleasure, a state so primal sharp teeth become an aphrodisiac.

Her heart ached with longing for this kind of liberation, the complete opposite of her daily life as a governess where every action and word was calculated so as not to attract attention but also set the perfect example for her pupils.

With a sigh, she sagged against her pillows. Her thighs rubbed together as she reread his first sentences, hearing them in his lightly-accented voice: “you are far too unique”.

He went on to talk about his work in Dhaka, and even if he didn’t say so, she sensed his exasperation.

*

“I think we should wait before requesting a meeting,” the owner of the indigo plantation, Mr. Lelievre, said.

Mercier narrowed his eyes at him and bit the inside of his cheeks. Not for the first time, Lelievre was postponing the execution of a solution to his problems. Lelievre was a young man and had recently inherited this domain and its history of conflict with the locals. So far, Mercier had attributed his reluctance to inexperience bordering on ineptitude. But after spending days looking through dozens of old accountancy books, he was running out of patience, and his suspicions had grown. Lelievre was purposefully stalling their work. But why?

“We will not wait before requesting a meeting,” Mercier stated. “In fact, we will go there first thing tomorrow.”

“But—”

A messenger entered the living room, “Some mail for you, sahib.”

Two letters, one from the French consulate, and one from Gabrielle which he knew concealed a message from Betty.

“First thing tomorrow morning,” Mercier repeated sternly. “Now if you will excuse me, this is a confidential matter.”

Mercier’s favourite spot on the property was an old stone bench underneath a canopy. He lit a cigarette, taking a moment to relax and clear his mind before opening Betty’s letter.

My hopes to have a whole day with you were shattered by your departure for Dhaka, but I nonetheless tried to make the most of it as you said. I ate food I had never tasted before: bhelpuri. I bought it from a street vendor thanks to a few Hurdu words Samaira taught me. I ate it directly from its newspaper cone! It was like an explosion of flavours! I tried a sort of ice cream too- kulfi. I met with your sister and we visited a park I had not seen before...

Mercier imagined himself, right alongside her, ambling hand in hand through the streets of Calcutta, savouring spicy food and sweet kisses. And when she shared her excitement about attending a play next week, for her eldest pupil’s birthday, again he pictured himself at her side, perhaps in a private box, the coral pear drops drawing his attention to her slender neck… they would miss the third act.

The sky turned to ink and the night bugs’ chant rose in the air. Mercier smoked the last of his tobacco, still lost in a world of his own, his eyes trained southward. Some 400 miles away, lay his heart.

He opened Gabrielle’s letter next.

De Brem keeps coming over to our side of the house to talk to me. I told him to stop, but he’s very insistent. I asked Armand to come over but he has concerts most nights. I really don’t like this, Jean-François, he scares me. Can you do anything about it?

Mercier clenched his fists. This mission to Dhaka was nothing more than de Brem getting rid of him to make a move on Gabrielle.

He’d wasted enough time here, he was going back to Calcutta as soon as possible.

Chapter 7: Kissing

[brrahbrrahcharacterimagines]

Rotting Flesh and Burning Love Chapter 1

MASTERLIST

Pairing: Glenn Rhee x Samantha Greene (OC)

Word Count: 1581

Warnings (though not all may be included in this part): Swear words, sexual themes, violence, blood/gore, death

AN: Thank you guys for reading! I will post what I have written previously for this series and continue it, here is a first look. Hopefully the quality isn’t too awful.

"You know, I wish I had something like Beth and Jimmy have." I said to my sister Maggie, sitting on the porch enjoying the peaceful sounds of nature.

       "Me too Sam, me too." She responded with a wistful sigh. Suddenly she stood up, peering out into the vast field ahead of us.

       "What is it?" I asked, afraid that it might be another one of those sick people. One of them had found our farm not too long ago. It was scary, she didn't talk or anything. She just made weird groaning noises and lunged at our Step-Mom. She ended up getting the virus as well then passed it onto my step-brother Shawn, so Dad took had to take them out back one day. My step-mother had asked him to. It was hard for all of us.

       "I-I'm not sure," she responded. That's when I saw it as well, a dark figure bounding towards the house and desperately clinging to an object in it's arms.

       Maggie picked up the binoculars sitting on the small table beside us, using them to see the mysterious figure better. She held them up to her face for a few seconds before setting them back on the table, her face paling.

       "Dad!" She screamed, making our father come rushing outside. I grabbed the binoculars off of the table to take a look at the figure myself.

       It was a man, a police officer judging by his outfit, clutching a limp child to his chest. Otis and another man were trailing the cop. All I could do was stand in a stunned silence. What the hell had happened?

       When the first man reached the front steps, I almost threw up. The sight of his clothes drenched in the young boy's blood paired with the smell accompanying it was too much for me. I had to walk away from them as I was about to be sick knowing that the boy was so hurt. I didn't want to throw up on the already shaken pair of males.

       I stayed outside while everyone else  rushed inside. My mind began racing a mile a minute. What had happened? Who are these people? Where did they come from? I wanted answers, but I couldn't bring myself to go inside in search of them myself.

       I heard the screen door open and turned to see Maggie standing there.

       "The man, Rick Grimes, wants somebody to go get his wife, Lori. Tell her that their son Carl has been shot. He said that she's out with a group on the highway. Could you ride out there and get her? I have to stay here and help Dad." She told me.

       "Of course I can," I said. I felt bad that I had done nothing to help, this way I could at least try to do something productive. I ran out to the stable and began saddling up my horse, Mickey Mouse.

       "Let's go M," I told him, and we began our short ride to the highway.

       I had almost reached the highway when I heard screaming from the woods on my left. I followed the sound to a blonde woman being attacked by one of the infected. I galloped over on my horse, elbowing the sick man in the head with my elbow.

       "Are you Lori Grimes?" I asked her as she stood up.

       "I'm Lori," said a woman from the treeline of the small clearing, a puzzled look upon her face.

       "Your husband, Rick, wanted someone to come find you. There was an accident, and Carl's been shot." As soon as Carl's name left my lips, she was getting on the horse.

       "Lori, stop. We don't know this woman. How do we know that we can trust her?" Said a gruff voice from the direction that Lori had come from. I looked over to see a man aiming a crossbow at me, his eyes narrowed and suspicious of my intentions.

       "Daryl, she knows my son's name. He could be in trouble, I have to take this chance."

       I nudged Mickey's head to get him to turn back in the direction of home, in turn making eye contact with a man about my age. He was wearing a baseball cap, and looked to be Korean. I'm not lying when I say I found him extremely attractive.

       Lori and I rode back mainly in silence. I couldn't help but feel bad for her. Her son might die, and she had been walking around not knowing mere minutes ago. I guess that's just how things are now. The world is an even more cruel place than it had been before people started contracting this virus. All I could do was pray for that poor little boy along with his family and hope for the best.

As soon as me and Lori reached the house, she jumped off my horse and into her husband Rick's  arms. I was unable to see her face, but I could tell that she was crying softly. I didn't want to invade on their little reunion, so I didn't follow them into the house right away. I can't even begin to fathom what they're going through, and I hope I'll never have to.

       I put Mickey up in his pen at the stable again before strolling back towards the house. On my walk back, my thoughts couldn't help but stray back to that man I  had seen only but an hour before. The one with the white baseball cap perched atop his head.

       I know it's horribly cliche, but I couldn't get him out of my mind, especially his beautiful brown eyes. Even though I had only seen him for a few seconds, I felt as if I could stare into his chocolate-colored orbs for eternity. On top of that, he still seemed so innocent. Not to the point that he is a wimp, but he just doesn't have that same harsh, cold feel to him like so many others these days. He seemed like a nice boy, something hard to find these days. Especially a nice, attractive boy.

       "Sam, that's enough daydreaming about a man you don't even know." I muttered to myself as I walked up the front steps before entering the house.

       Stepping through the front door, I saw Rick and Lori talking to my dad in the living room.

       "When Shane gets back with this other man," started Lori.

       "Otis." Cut in my father.

       "Otis," she cut back harshly, "the idiot that shot my son."

       "Ma'am, it was an accident." Said Dad, sticking up for Otis. Otis is a good man, he'd never hurt a fly. Much less shoot a young kid just for the hell of it.

       "Lori, they're doing everything they can to make it right," said Rick, her husband. I could tell that he, like Otis, was a good man, an honest man. Lori was the one I worried about, she seemed very rude. It could have just been the weight of the situation, however, so I try not to judge her too harshly.

       "We really are ma'am, Otis would never have shot your boy in there on purpose." I said from my position in the doorway, motioning to the room that young Carl was in with my hands.

       "Whatever. When they get back, you can perform this surgery?" She said, turning back to my father.

       "I'll certainly do my best." He responded.

       "I mean, you've done this before, right?" She said, her tone very rude to be honest.

       "Well, yes, in a sense."

       "What do you mean in a sense?"

       "Lori," Rick cut in. "We don't exactly have the luxury of shopping for a surgeon."

       "I get that, but you are a doctor, right?" She asked my dad.

       "A vet." Replied father.

       "A veteran? A combat medic?" She asked, surprised. 'Oh no," I thought, as I knew her expectations were far from the case.

       "Actually, he's a veterinarian." I told her. Her and Rick visibly paled.

       "And, you've done this surgery before on what? Cows? Pigs?" She said rather disrespectfully.

       "Horses, actually." I responded. At my words, Rick collapsed into a chair.

       "You're in way over your head, aren't you?" Said Lori.

       "Aren't we all?" Dad told the woman. As I would come to know, his words rang immensely true after these sick people started roaming God's green Earth.

       "I'm going to check the boy's vitals again." He said. "Blood pressure and such. The young boy's parents followed Dad back into the room, and I retreated to my own.

        My room is fairly large, and painted my favorite shade of green. A big, fuzzy, white rug lies in the center of the floor, covered in books and old vinyl records. I threw on one of my favorite records, "Runaround Sue" by Dion, and picked up a book to read. I chose a classic, "Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell. When I was younger I would put on my best church dresses and run around the farm, pretending it was my plantation. Until Dad told me to come inside and stop ruining my church clothes, anyway. He was the one to introduce me to it. He would read it to me, Beth, and Maggie when we were little.

      I began to drift off, thoughts of fancy dresses and the civil war on my mind. I had no way of knowing that the presence of that little boy a few rooms over would change my life so drastically, in more ways than just one.

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Third Time's the Charm: More Fun Facts about Austen

Though this may not be as exciting as Sheldon’s “Fun With Flags” segments on The Big Bang Theory TV show, today’s episode features the “Third Time’s the Charm Quiz” with questions about Jane Austen’s life and times. (It’ll also be the last quiz, so all those who stress over test-taking can look forward to a quiet future.)

For those who want to revisit the previous torture, here is Quiz #1 and here is Quiz #2. (Hint: Each will help with one question today.)

Like John and Fanny Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility winnowing their contribution little by little to their stepfamily, the number of questions has been reduced in each quiz, but by and large the questions have gotten harder. Today’s quiz may tax your Regency knowledge. It pertains to people and events current during Jane Austen’s time, but not all of them popped up directly in her novels. Let’s call these the graduate-level questions. However, two questions relate to the earlier quizzes, and one is included for extra credit. As before, there’s no rhyme or reason to topics or order. The answers appear below each question to avoid vertigo from excessive scrolling.

Rating scale:

0-5: You’re the bumbling Mr. Collins of Austenia.

6-9: You’re Edward Ferrars/Edmund Bertram: solid but dull.

10-12: You’re Henry Tilney, learned on topics from muslin to crown lands to Udolpho.

13-15: You’re Liz Bennet, fiercely demolishing all comers.

The quiz:

Why were both the French and English slow to let women fly in hot-air balloons?

Both the French and the English hesitated to let women ascend in a balloon for fear of the effects of altitude on their “delicate” bodies.

Beyond the possible biological effect of altitude on women, what was the major fear about women “going into space”?

Just as it was considered improper for an unengaged man and woman to have private carriage rides, society was concerned about the morality of an unchaperoned couple in a hot-air balloon. One can only wonder what Elinor’s reaction would have been in Sense and Sensibility if Marianne and Willoughby had soared alone into the wild blue yonder. (She would not have looked on benignly as she does when Willoughby brings Marianne flowers, in the above photo from the 1995 movie!)

Even before they read the newspapers that came from London, how would ordinary citizens know of a British victory in the wars with France?

To celebrate British victories, the coaches were decorated. At night, candles and lamps were lit, and formal illuminations were held in large towns.

Lord Nelson won the major sea battle at Trafalgar, off the Spanish coast, that ended the threat of a French invasion. How was hero-worship for him expressed?

Egyptian-style ladies’ hats celebrated his earlier victory on the Nile; special needlework stitching was created; and housing developments were named for him. Jane Austen satirizes the commercialization of military victories in her last, unfinished novel, Sanditon. A real-estate developer laments his having named a building Trafalgar House because “Waterloo is more the thing now.” However, he’s keeping Waterloo in reserve for the name of a housing crescent (a semicircle such as in Bath).

What was the major cause of death in the French army during Napoleon’s catastrophic winter retreat from Moscow in 1812?

The French suffered hideous losses from typhus as well as from defeat in battle.

What likely most antagonized the British public over the behavior of His Royal Highness as both Prince Regent and later as King George IV?

Though his philandering and his personal attacks on his wife, Caroline, riled many citizens, his worst fault was extravagant spending at a time when England was heavily in debt from the war. Repayment of his personal debts earned its own line item in England’s budget. When the Prince Regent, now George IV, died, the Times of London remarked that “there never was an individual less regretted by his fellow-creatures.”

What were the political ramifications and the unintended consequences of the tax on hair powder during the Napoleonic wars?

A tax on hair powder in the early 1800s made it possible to tell political affiliation at a glance. Tories wore wigs, paying the hair-powder tax. Whigs, who opposed the war, stopped wearing wigs to avoid the tax. By the time the government reduced the tax, a more natural hairstyle had become fashionable. This marked the start of the Romantic era, when hair could be as wild as the heath.

Though Janeites recall the intelligence, wit, and character of her father and brothers, what medical problems did the males in Jane Austen’s family suffer?

Austen had an uncle and a brother who suffered the same serious mental and physical handicaps, apparently genetic. Both were reportedly “deaf and dumb.” Both lived away from the family. The son of her cousin Eliza died of epilepsy. More distant male family members also suffered serious neurological problems.

Before England ended the slave trade in 1807, how much did slaves cost in the West Indies and other British possessions?

The average selling price for a healthy adult male was about £50; women and children were less. It was usually cheaper to work a slave to death and buy a new one than it was to feed and care properly for a slave.

Several Austen family members, including Jane, were abolitionists, or at least no fans of slavery. Did Britain’s 1807 abolition act end slavery?

No. In the U.S., “abolition” usually meant the end to slavery, which did not begin to occur until 1863. In England, “abolition” meant only the end of the slave trade—the capture and sale of slaves in Africa. The hope was that the end to the slave trade would lead to better treatment of existing slaves. Both sides of the argument thought that the end of the slave trade would eventually end slavery itself. After the legal end to the slave trade in 1807, the British government did little to enforce the ban until 1811, when violation of the act was made a felony.

Two generations of Austen naval officers—her brothers Frank and Charles and their self-named sons—intercepted slave ships.

England did not abolish slavery until six months after the death of the great abolitionist William Wilberforce in July 1833. The end to slavery was phased in over several years, beginning in 1834. Slave owners received twenty million pounds in recompense.

Does Jane Austen ever touch upon the slave trade in her novels?

Yes, a surprising number of times. In Mansfield Park, the Bertram family’s wealth comes from a sugar plantation in Antigua. The heroine, Fanny Price, brings conversation to a halt when she asks about the slave trade. In Emma, both Jane Fairfax and Mrs. Elton make a passing reference to it. Mrs. Elton’s remark is hypocritical. She claims that her family, which has likely been involved in the slave trade, is “rather a friend to the abolition.” In Persuasion, Mrs. Smith’s estate is tied up in the West Indies, meaning a slave-based business. In her barely begun novel Sanditon, Austen introduces a wealthy “half mulatto” teenage girl. The wealth would have come from her white parentage, almost certainly a slave business. It’s unclear whether Miss Lambe would have become a major character.

What were the most dramatic changes to transportation during Jane Austen’s lifetime?

Steamboats and railroads entered service in England in 1812, though railroads did not become commercially feasible until 1825.

What was an obvious marker of the huge disparity of wealth in England during Jane Austen’s lifetime?

The cost of housing. The finest houses in London rented for £750 a year—more than what Jane Austen earned in her lifetime from writing.

Why did Jane Austen’s cousin, Eliza de Feuillide, give up her carriage in 1797?

The major reason was a new tax on carriages to support the war against France. These taxes would have affected all the wealthy in Austen’s novels, not only for carriages but for sporting horses. In December 1797, Eliza, who was soon to marry Jane’s brother Henry, complained: “These new Taxes will drive me out of London, and make me give up my Carriage.”

What Austen relative narrowly escaped hanging or banishment to Australia?

Jane Austen’s Aunt Leigh-Perrot was acquitted of stealing a card of lace from a shop in Bath. Though the theft may have been a setup by the store proprietors, Aunt Leigh-Perrot had a reputation for kleptomania. Her own lawyer questioned her veracity. Another case against her, for stealing a potted plant, was dismissed when a witness conveniently left town.

For extra credit:

Where did “bobbies,” the nickname for London police, originate?

English policemen are known as “bobbies” after Robert Peel, who created the first English police force, in London, in 1829. Early on, they were also called “peelers.” Peel served in Parliament almost nonstop from 1809 until his death in 1850. A protégé of Lord Wellington and a moderate Tory, he nonetheless supported many liberal reforms that kept the country from coming apart. These included Catholic emancipation in 1829, the voting reforms of 1832, the end to slavery in 1833, and child-labor reform in 1833. Because of the Great Famine in Ireland in 1845, he broke with the Tory Party to help end the Corn Laws, which had kept grain prices artificially high for more than thirty years.

—

The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen, which traces love from a charming courtship through the richness and complexity of marriage and concludes with a test of the heroine’s courage and moral convictions, is available from Amazon and Jane Austen Books.

[1baddmouthcrown]

1800 March 11 Petion just about makes it out of Jacmel whilst hundreds of soldiers of his army are killed or captured by L’Ouvertures forces. L'Ouverture takes Jacmel. August Riguad flees on the French schooner La Diana to Guadeloupe.

Over 500 Trelawny Maroons are sent to Nova Scotia, Canada including John Jarret, Charles Samuel and his brother Captain Andrew Smith as well as Montague James.

Gabriel Prosser rebellion Richmond, Virginia.

Cuffe purchases a half interest in the 162 ton barque Hero.

1801 January L'Ouverture and HyacintheMoïse invade and take Santo Domingo from Governor, Don Garcia. March L'Ouverture constitution drafted by constitutional assembly appointed by Louverture. July 7 Louverture constitution is promulgated making him Governor General of Hispaniola. Article 3 of the constitution states: “There cannot exist slaves [in Saint-Domingue], servitude is therein forever abolished. All men are born, live and die free and French.October Louvertures nephew top general Moise leads rebellion. Dessalines.July Rigaud flees to France.

1802 January Napoleon Bonaparte troops brother in law General Charles Emmanuel Leclerc tries to land Cap-Français held off by Christophe, Vicomte de Rochambeau attacks Fort-Liberté. Christophe burns Cap Francais. February 2 Henry Christophe Le Cap. February 17 Leclerc issues proclamationGeneral Toussaint and General Christophe are outlawed; all citizens are ordered to hunt them down, and treat them as rebels against the French republic. February 23 Leclerc 4 French columns march on Gonaives, Rochambeau’s column battle at Ravine a Coaleuvres/Snake Gully towards Lauroix with Louverture’s army. March 11 Dessalines and his 1,300 men defend the British built Crete a Pierrotfort, east of Saint Marc on the valley of the Artibonite River against 18,000 attackers, Dessalines waves torch open powder keg threatening to blow up the fort if the French break through. March 12 Jean Boudet and his column ambushed by Dessalines forces as they try to cross the ditch dug by the Hatians. General Charles Dugua’s column followed by Leclerc’s column fail their attempts in trying to cross the ditch. March 22 300 French die in another attempt to take the fort. March 24 Dessalines retreats, General Dugua falls in battle, Leclerc wounded. Rochambeau column try to cross the ditch, the siege ends after 20 days. May 6 L'Ouverture meets to treat with Leclerc at Cap-Français. May 22 L’Ouverture fails to instruct a local rebel to lay down his arms per the recent ceasefire agreement, Dessalines writes to Leclerc, Jean Baptiste Brunet. June 7 Louverture is captured. July 2 Louverture arrives in France. 10, 000 French are lost to yellow fever. August 25 L'Ouverture deported to France jail Fort-de-Joux in the Doubs. Dessalines becomes governor of Saint-Marc. September Leclerc dairy 8, 000 men left. October Dessalines and Petion switch their allegiance and fight against the French. Leclerc orders all blacks at Le Cap to be drowned in the harbour. November Leclerc dies of yellow fever. Vicomte de Rochambeau imports about 15, 000 attack dogs, at  the Bay of Le Cap, has blacks drowned. gases with Sulphur Dioxide by burning Sulphur.

1803 April 7 L'Ouverture dies in prison from ill health.France and Britain war.May 18 The British Royal Navy dispatch squadron under Sir John Duckworth from Jamaica. June 28 Squadron French convoy from Les Cayes off Mole Saint Nicolas capture one ship with the other escaping. June 30 French frigate chased and captured. July 24 A British squadron intercepts French squadron from Cap Francais trying to break past blockade to France.October 8 French abandon Port au Prince, Mole Saint Nicolas held by Noailles  and Cap Francais. November 3 The frigate HMS Blanche captures supply schooner near Cap Francais. November 16 Dessalines attacks French blockhouses outside of Le Cap.November 18 Dessalines and Pétion forces attack the fort of Vertières, south of Cap Francais/Cap Hatien in the Department du Nord, held by Rochambeau, near Cap-Français in the north, the Hatians position their guns at Fort Breda, Clervaux fires the first shot. Francois Capois on his horse leads four advances whilst the whilst under fire, on the fourth advance his horse is shot and falls, Capois gets up, draws his sword and runs towards with the French ceasing fire, a staff officer "General Rochambeau sends compliments to the general who has just covered himself with such glory!"salutes the Haitians. Rochambeau sends Duveyrier to Dessalines to agree the to terms of French surrender, Dessalines gives Rochambeau 10 days to round up his army and leave. November 30 8, 000 French soldiers and board the British ships, one of Rochambeau’s ships almost leaving the harbour, saved by a British lieutenant. December Bonaparte army surrender its last territory to Dessalines.December 3 General Louis de Noailles at Mole Saint Nicolas.

1804 January 1 Dessalines from Gonaives declares independence and renames Saint Domingue “Ayiti” after the indigenous Taíno/Arawak name. February to April 22 Haiti Massacre.September 22 proclaimed Emperor by Generals of the Haitian Revolution Army. 6 OctoberDessalines is crowned Emperor Jacques I in a coronation ceremony on in the city of Le Cap.

1805 Dessalines and Christophe capture Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) from French, invade and loots the towns of Azau and Moca, in Santiago according to witness barrister Gasparde Arredondo y Pichardo, at Moca church 40 children beheaded and the bodies found at the Presbytery the space that encircles the church alter.

1806 March 26 Christophe Kingdom North. April 6 Christophe takes all male prisoners to the cemetery and slits their throats including Presbyter Vasquez and 20 other priests. October 16 General Nicolas Geffrard commander in the south, minister of war and Navy Etienne Elie Gerin, Alexander Petion, commander in chief of the second division in the west sign Resistance to Oppression proclamation. October 17 Dessalines is assassinated at Pontianarge Pont Rouge north of the capital of Port au Prince.

Baumfree at nine years old is sold at an auction with a flock of sheep for $100 to John Neely near Kingston, New York.

1806

Cuffe's largest ship, the 268 ton Alpha and his favorite ship, the 109 ton traveler are built.

An engraving of Jean-Jacques Dessalines. It depicts the general, sword raised in one arm, while the other holds a severed head of a white woman.

1807 February 17 Christophe is elected President of the state of Haiti Republic in the south.

1808 Baumfree is sold for $105 Martinus Schgver of Port Ewen.

1810 Baumfree is sold to John Dumont.

The African Institution ask the British Government for a land grant in Sierra Leone for Cuffs.

1811 March Cuffs arrives in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

April Cuffe meets with Black merchants including John Kizele.

April 1 Christophe is crowned by Corneil Breuil archbishop of Milot as Henry by the grace of God and constitutional law of the state, King of Haiti, Sovereign of Tortuga, Gonâve, and other adjacent islands, Destroyer of tyranny, Regenerator and Benefactor of the Haitian nation, Creator of her moral, political, and martial institutions, First crowned monarch of the New World, Defender of the faith, Founder of the Royal Military Order of Saint Henry.

Louisiana German Coast revolt.

1812 Martin Robert Delany is born in Charles Town, Virginia.

Cuffs takes his favorite ship, the traveler into Liverpool, the Times of London reports that this is likely the first vessel.

1815 Baumfree gives birth to her second child, her first daughter Diana.

Cuffs arrives with immigrants at Sherbrooke Island is present day Sierra Leone.

1816 The American Colonization Society established at the Davis Hotel in Washington D.C., mainly by the effort of Charles Fenton Mercer as well as John Caldwell and the Presbyterian minister Robert Finley.

1819 Mulatto leader Jean Pierre Boyer sends 6 regiments to Grande Anse dislodge Goman shot off 1, 000 foot high cliff.

1818 Frederick Douglass is born on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Talbot County, Maryland. 

1820 Christophe commits suicide. Boyer marches with 20, 000 troops into Cap Hatien the Northern capital.

Reverend Daniel Coker and Reverend Samuel Bacon sail to Liberia on the Elizabeth with 88 emigrants. Sierra Leone Reverend Bacon King Jack Ben of Grand Bassa secured tract of land Cape Mesurado named Monrovia after President James Monroe.

Of the 4, 571 emigrants who arrived between 1820 and 1843 only 1, 819 of them survived.

1822 In the state of Virginia where education of blacks is prohibited, The New York Primer and Spelling Book Delany and his siblings used to learn how to read and write, given to them by a peddler, is discovered and Delanys mother Pati moves their family to Chambersbury in the free state of Pennsylvania.

The immigrants brought to Sherbrooke island by Cuffe are taken to Cape Mersurado by another ship, in Mersurado they establish the city of Christopolis.

1824

The city of Christopolis is renamed Monrovia after President James Monroe.

Douglass is separated from his Grandmother moved to the Wye House plantation.

1825 King Peter and other Kings sign a treaty with Ashmun granting them land and are given 3 barrels of rum, 5 caskets.

1826 Truth escape from slavery with her infant daughter Sophia born in the same year.

1828 Truth, after court proceedings, is reunited with her five year old son Peter illegally sold by Dumont in Alabama.

1829 Truth moves to New York City with her son Peter and becomes house keeper for Christian Evangelist Elijah Pierson.

1830 Douglass’s master’s Wife Sophia begins to teach him the alphabet, her Husband Hugh Auld however disapproves of the slave being made literate, being educated and gaining an understanding of what it means to be an equal, Sophia, also later snatches a newspaper from Douglass.

Douglass learns to read from white children in his neighbourhood and from observing the writings of men he works with. with this Douglass’s reading is greatly increased.

Douglass after being hired begins to teach large numbers of other slaves from the plantation to read the New Testament at weekly Sunday school.

1831 Delany at the age of 19 moves West to Pittsburgh where he works as a barber and labourer. 

December 25 SamSharpe owned by Samuel Sharpe Equire Attorney, enslaved on both the Croydon Plantation and in Montego Bay, Saint James where he is a Baptist deacon in the church of Thomas Burchell, leads a strike which turns into a rebellion of 60, 000 slaves from the parishes of St. James, Trelawny and Westmoreland. British forces suppress the rebellion under Sir Willoughby Cotton. 500 slaves are killed, 207 during the rebellion and 310- 340 executed, according to the account by Henry Belby three or four were executed at a time. Burchell, born on Christmas day is buried in the Abney Park cemetery in Stoke Newington, London. 1832 March The Jamaica Assembly estimated property damage of 1, 154, 589/£52, 000, 000.

August 21 Nat Turner leads a rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia.

1832 Delany during the National cholera epidemic becomes an apprentice to Dr. Andrew N. Mc Dowell, learns fire cupping and leeching techniques, and also studies with abolitionist doctors such as Dr. F. Julius LeMoyne and Dr. Joseph P. Gazzam of Pittsburgh.

August 3 Edward Wilmot Blyden is born in in St Thomas, Danish West Indies (present day US Virgin Islands).

Truth meets Robert Matthews/Prophet Matthias and begins working for him as a house keeper at Matthias Kingdom communal colony.

1833 Douglass is taken back from Hugh Auld by his brother Thomas Auld and sent to Edward Covey.

1834 August 1st Emancipation Proclamation.

Elijah Pierson dies of poisoning, Matthew and Baumfree are accused of stealing from and poisoning him.

1835 Delany attends the National Negro Convention in Philadelphia.

1837 Douglass meets Anna Murray.

1838 September 3 Douglass escapes from slavery in under 24 hours train Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad from reaches Havre de Grace, Maryland, in Harford County crossed Susquehanna River to Perryvile in Cecil County steam ferry and takes the train to Wilmington, Delaware port steamboat Delaware River to Quaker City" of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania abolitionist David Ruggles in New York City.

1839 Douglass becomes a licensed preacher.

September 15 Douglass marries Anna and settles in New Bedford Massachusetts.

Truths son Peter whaling ship  Zone of Nantucket.

Kassa Hailu’s (Emperor Tewodros II) half brother in whos army he served passes away, Empress Menen of Gondar takes Qwara district in the province of Dembiya Ye ma Qemas, Hailu assembles his army in Qwara and becomes Dejazmatch,marriesTawabachRas Ali Begemdersdaughter.

1840 Douglas makes his speech at ElmiraUnderground Railroad station in New York.

1841 August 9 Douglass William Lyod Garrison at the Bristol Anti-Slavery Society. New Bedford, Massachusetts.

August 11 Douglass speaks at the annual convention of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in Nantucket.

Frederick and Anna move to Lynn, Massachusetts.

September Douglass refuses to sit in segregated railway coach on Eastern Railroad train at Lynn Central Square Station and is thrown off with his friend.

1842 Blyden moves to Porto Bello, Venezuela.

Truth son Peter not on board Zone of Nantucket ship three letters from him in the third he had sent five and that he had never received any of her letters.

1843 Delany begins publishing The Mystery black newspaper, his articles and writings reprinted in William Lloyd Garrisons The Liberator and also meets and marries Catherine A. Richards Pittsburgh.

Douglass American Anti-Slavery Society’s “Hundred Conventions” project, a six-month tour of Eastern and Mid Western states.

In Pendleton, Indiana Douglas attacked by mob and suffers broken hand which he never fully recovers from.Falls Park Pendleton Historical District.

Isabella Baumfree gives herself the name Sojourner Truth and becomes a Methodist and begins attending Millerite Adventist meetings.

1844 Truth joins the North Hampton Association of Education and Industry in Northampton, Massachusetts meets William Lyod Garrison and Frederick Douglass as well as David Ruggles. North Hampton camp meeting.

1845 June 14 Jose Antonio y Grajales is born in the town of San Luis in the province of Oriente, Santiago de Cuba.

August 16 Douglas sails on the Cambria for Liverpool, travels to Ireland and Great Britain, meets Irish nationalist Daniel O’ Connell as well as British abolitionist Thomas Clarkson.

October 9 Douglass makes speech at Waterford Hall in Ireland. 2013 October 7.

Autobiography Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass.

Douglass makes speech at Imperial Hotel in Cork, Ireland. 2012 August 31.

Kassa becomes Dejazmatch of Qwara marries Tewaback daughter of Ras Ali of Begemder.

Truth joins house of Garrisons brother in law George Benson.

Blyden Reverend John P Knox Pastor of Saint Thomas Protestant Dutch.

1846 Delany sued $650 for libel against a African American Fiddler Johnson who he accused in The Mystery newspaper of being a slave catcher.

May Douglass delivers his London Reception Speech at Alexander Fletchers Finsbury Chapel.

Douglass meets British abolitionist Thomas Clarkson.

October Hailu attacks the city of Demba south of Gondar.

1847 Delany meets Douglass and Lloyd Garrison whilst they are in Pittsburgh on an anti-slavery and helps to put together Douglass’s first abolitionist newspaper the North Star, printed from the basement of the Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Rochester, New York.   

Delanys eulogy for Rev. Fayette Davis widely redistributed.

Delany recruits for the Union Army. His son TouissantLouverture Delany serves with the 54th regiment.

January Hailu occupies Gondar Menen sends army after him north of Lake TanaHailu takes her prisoner, her son Ras Ali of Begemder gives Hailu all land west and north of lake Tana, Hailu releases his mother.

1848 July Delanys in the North Star that U.S. District Court Justice John McLean instructed the jury in the Crosswait trial to make it a punishable offence for a citizen to thwart those trying to “repossess” an alleged runaway slave, and as a result influences abolitionist Salmon P. Chase to remove McLean as a candidate of the Free Soil Party for the Presidency.

September Douglass writes open letter to his old master Thomas Auld.

Douglass is the only African American to attend the Senecca Falls convention, Elizabeth Cady Stanton resolution for Womens suffrage first refused then passed. James and Lucretia Mott 15th Amendment.

1849 Truth visits Dumont.

1850 Douglass attends the Fugitive Slave Law Convention in Cazenovia, New York with Mary Edmonson, Abolitionist Gerrit Smith and Emily Edmonson.

Delany becomes one of the first of three black men to attend Harvard Medical School but is dismissed on account of race complaint from white students within three weeks.

Blyden with Knox wife to enroll Rutgers Theological College. Blyden emigrates to Liberia at the age of 18.

Truths autobiography the Narrative of Sojourner Truth; A Northern Slave is published by  WilliamLyod Garrison.

“SWEET is the virgin honey, though the wild bee store it in a reed; And bright the jewelled band that circleth an Ethiop’s arm; Pure are the grains of gold in the turbid stream of the Ganges; And fair the living flowers that spring from the dull cold sod. Wherefore, thou gentle student, bend thine ear to my speech, For I also am as thou art; our hearts can commune together: To meanest matters will I stoop, for mean is the lot of mortal; I will rise to noblest themes, for the soul hath a heritage of glory.”

Truth also purchases house Northampton village of Florence for $300 and speaks at the first National Womens Convention in Worcester, Massachusetts. George Thompson.

1851 Douglass the North Star with Gerrit Smith’s Liberty Party Paper to form Frederick Douglass’ Paper ceased 1860. 

Truth lecture tour of central and western New York.

May Truth speaks attends Ohio Womens Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio organised by Hannah Tracy and Frances Dana Barker Gage, where she delivers her Am I not a Woman speech.

After 42 years at St. Paul Street and Central Avenue, and mostly because of the endless railroad traffic nearby, the monument had become “grimy and sooty.” And so a committee was formed, and a decision was made to move the monument to Highland Park. The place in the park for the statue was within a few hundred yards of where Douglass had once lived, on South Avenue. Not exactly the apex of city life, but away from the grime of the trains.

And so today the statue stands, as it has for 75 years, in the park. It was rededicated on September 4th, 1941.

1852 July 5 Douglass’s makes his What to the slave is the fourth of July? address to the ladies of the Rochester Anti-Slavery Sewing Society at Corinthian Hall, Rochester. It is admitted in the fact that southern statute books are covered with enactments forbidding under severe fines and penalties the teaching of the slave to read or write.

Delany being discriminated against and on account of African Americans not being elevated to such positions, publishes his The Condition, Elevation, Emigration and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States, Politically Considered.

1852 Kassa rebels against Menen defeating Ras Ali at in GurAmabo, Takusa, Ayshal, and AmbaJebelli and captures Menen at Ayshal with Ali fleeing. 

1853 Douglass attends the National African American Convention in Rochester.

September 7 Truth speaks at suffragist “mob convention” at the Broadway Tabernacle in New York City.

Kassa Dejazmatch Wube Haile Maryom and disposes Emperor Yohannes III.

1854 Delany publishes The Origins and Objects of Ancient Freemasonry: Its Introduction into the United States and Legitimacy among Colored Men.

Delany, during Cholera outbreak stays behind in Pittsburgh to treat patients whilst many leave the city.

August Dealany leads the National Emigration Convention in Cleveland, Ohio

and publishes his “Political Destiny of the Colored Race on the American Continent”.

1855 11 February Kassa crowned Emperor by AbunaSalama III in the church of Derasge Maryam after defeating DejazmatchWube Haile Maryam of Semien.

1856 Delany moves his family to Chatham, Ontario, Canada. 

Truth speaks to “Friends of Human Progress” at Battle Creek, Michigan.

Booker Taliaferro Washintong is born in Southwest Virginia.

Blyden edits the Liberia Herald and writes the column “A Voice From Bleeding Africa. 

1859 Delany publishes parts of Blake: Or The Huts of America in response to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, in which he criticises for inaccurately portraying the slaves as too passive although for cruelty of Southern slave owners the first half of part one serialised in The Anglo-African Magazine between January to July. 

March 12 Douglass meets up with John Brown and George de Baptiste William Webs house in Detroit.

May Delany sails from New York to Liberia, signs treaty chiefs in the Abeokuta region for settlers to live on so long as they can.

October 16 John Brown raid Harpers Ferry federal armoury Virginia.

1860 Delany leaves Liberia for England where he is honoured by the International Statistical Congress, and returns to America the same year.

April Douglass travels to England, whilst there his youngest daughter

May Douglass sails back to via Canada.

1861 Delanys second part of part one series published in Weekly Anglo African Magazine prepares Abeokuta abandon abolition

Blyden becomes professor of Greek and Latin at Liberia College remains until 1864 and becomes Liberian Secretary of State.

Maceo begins working for his Father, Marcos Maceo who fought for the Spainish under Simon Bolivar and Jose Antonio Paez.

1862 Blyden becomes Liberian Secretary of State.

February Hailu defeats Tedla Gualu and orders 7, 000 prisoners to be killed.

May Truths speech Ohio Womens Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio is published by one of two organisers of the  Convention Frances Dana Barker Gage.

1863 January 1 Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which took effect, declaring the freedom of all slaves in Confederate-held territory. 

Douglass described the spirit of those awaiting the proclamation: “We were waiting and listening as for a bolt from the sky … we were watching … by the dim light of the stars for the dawn of a new day … we were longing for the answer to the agonizing prayers of centuries.”

When he was nine, Booker and his family in Virginia gained freedom under the Emancipation Proclamation as US troops occupied their region. Booker was thrilled by the formal day of their emancipation in early 1865:

As the great day drew nearer, there was more singing in the slave quarters than usual. It was bolder, had more ring, and lasted later into the night. Most of the verses of the plantation songs had some reference to freedom… Some man who seemed to be a stranger (a United States officer, I presume) made a little speech and then read a rather long paper—the Emancipation Proclamation, I think. After the reading we were told that we were all free, and could go when and where we pleased. My mother, who was standing by my side, leaned over and kissed her children, while tears of joy ran down her cheeks. She explained to us what it all meant, that this was the day for which she had been so long praying, but fearing that she would never live to see.

Delany begins recruiting black men for the Union Army Rhode Island, Connecticut and Ohio raising thousands of enlistees many joining the new United States Coloured Troops, his son serving in the 54th regiment, writes to secretary of war Edwin Stanton

179, 000 black men enlisting in the U.S. Coloured Troops making up almost 10% of those serving in the Union army.

Douglass’s son Lewis fights at the Battle of Fort Wagner.

Hailu takes British missionary Rev. Henry Stern as prisoner.

1864 Truth employed by the National Freedman’s Relief Association in Washington, D.C.

October Truth meets President Abraham Lincoln.

Douglass supports candidate of the abolitionist Radical Democracy Party John Freemont in the U.S. Presidential Election.

1865 February Delany meets Abraham Lincoln. Corps of black men led by black officers to blacks in the south.

Delany becomes the first black line field officer in the U.S. Army as well as the only black officer to receive commission of the highest rank of Major during the Civil War.

April 14 Delany invited to the War Department ceremony in Charleston, South Carolina, attending with Robert Vesey son of hanged black abolitionist, Denmark Vesey in ship named the Planter former slave Robert Smalls, Major Genral Robert Anderson Fort Sumter 1861, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison Senator Warner speak, Massachusetts Senator Henry Wilson and abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher.

April 15 President Lincoln assassinated by John Wilkes Booth.

Delany letter raises fund for Lincoln memorial.

Delany serves under General Rufus Saxton in the 52nd U.S. Colored Troops and is later transferred to the Freedman Bureau in Hilton Head. Freedman Bureau and resigns from the army.

Truth works in Freedman’s Hospital in Washington.

July 1 Sahle Maryam Emperor Menelik II escapes from Magdala.

October 7 James Geoghegon creates a disturbance in Morant Bay court house during the trail of a man sentenced and convicted for trespassing on an inactive sugar plantation, the police try to arrest Geoghegon, beat two officers with sticks and stones, the court house issues a warrant for those including Bogle.

October 11 Bogle leads hundreds to the court house, as they approach Cleave to black the confrontation between the militia begins with attacking the militia with sticks and stones, the militia shoot and kill 25 people dead, the parish goes into a state of unrest, Eyre declares martial law and sends government troops led by Brigadier General Alexander Nelson to bring Bogle and to the court to be tried and convicted, the militia kill innocent men, women and children 439 dead and arrest 354 tried and executed, flogged and sentenced, the soldiers also burn thousands of homes, Eyre has Gordon who he believes to have made the matter worse arrested in Kingston and brought to Morant Bay where he is tried under martial law, convicted and executed.

December 6 (Slaves in Union-held areas and Northern states are freed with the adoption of the 13th Amendment.

1867 May 9-10 Truth speaks at the American Equal Rights Association and moves from Battle Creek to Harmonia.

1868 February William Edward Burghardt Du Bois is born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

Douglass supports the U.S. Presidential campaign of Ulysses S Grant.

April 10 plain Arogye plateau of Magdala.

April 13 Easter Monday storm the Gate of Magdala, Tewodros II commits suicide with a duelling pistol given to him as a gift from Queen Victoria by Consul Cameron.

Truth travels to Western New York and visits Amy Post and travels the East coast, speaks at Florence, Massachusetts.

October 10 Carlos Manuel de Cespedes leads the El grito de Yara (Cry of Yara) revolt against the Spanish beginning the Ten Years War in Cuba.

Antonio Maceo at age 23 with his Father and brothers enlist as private in the the Ten Years War.

Magdala, Ethiopia expedition.

August Dillman and the Bavarian Academy publish The Book of the Glory of Kings.

1869 March Maceo promoted to Commander/Major and weeks after to Lieutenant Colonel.

1870 Douglass begins printing his last newspaper, the New National Era.

Truth land grants from the federal government for emancipated.

Maceo begins Brigader General.

Love serves as 1st Most Worshipful Grand Master of Prince Hall Freemasonry 1870-1872 in the Most Worshipful Sovereign Grand Lodge of Florida and in the Most Worshipful Sovereign Grand Lodge of Georgia 1873-1875.

1871 January 1 Truth speaks at the Eighth Anniversary of Negro Freedom as well as at the Second Annual Convention  of the American Woman Suffrage Association in Boston.

Douglas congressionally sponsored commission President Grant annexation of Santo Domingo   African American south congress Senator Charles Sumner.

Delany land and brokerage business black cotton farmers develop.

1872 Douglass becomes the first African American nominated as Vice President of the United States as Victoria Woodhull’s running mate on the Equal Rights Party ticket without his knowledge, not having campaign and Presidential elector for the state of New York takes the state votes to Washington D.C.

1874 Delany runs as an Independent Republican for Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina (with John T. Green as the gubernatorial candidate). Former Republican Governor Franklin Moses Jr. loose ticket to Republican Attorney  Daniel H. Chamberlain.

March Douglas becomes President of Freeman Saving bank.

June 29 The Freeman Saving Bank goes bankrupt.

1875 Delany charged with defrauding a church forcing him to resign from his position Trail Justice serves jail sentence pardoned by the Republican Governor with the intervention of Wade Hampton.

1876 Delany supports Hampton as the Democratic candidate in the gubernatorial election paramilitary group Red Shirts White League military arm of the Democratic Party suppress Black voting at polls more than 150 Black’s killed by rifle clubs 20, 000 white men.

April 14 Douglass delivers speech at the unveiling of the Emancipation Memorial in Lincoln Park, Washingotn.

1877 Delany becomes chairman of the Charleston, South Carolina Liberian Exodus Joint Steamship Company finance committee. The Liberian Exodus Joint Steamship Company purchase the 400 ton Azor. The federal government withdraw troops from the south and Governor Chamberlain leaves the state.

Douglass visits Thomas Auld and purchases his CedarHill house Anacosta River in Washington.

1878 Liberian Exodus Joint Steamship Company make the voyage Charleston to Monrovia led by Harrison N. Bouey.

Booker T Washington attends Wayland Seminary in Washington D. C.

Henrietta Vinton Davis becomes first African American Woman to employed by the office of the recorder of deeds in Washington D.C.

March 15 Maceo meets with General Martinez Campesy Anton Pact of Zanjon/Protest of Baraqua with offering amnesty for Revolutionaries.

1879 Maceo and General Calixto Garcia Iniguez plan invasion of Cuba from New York, Maceo sends Calixto Garcia as highest commander Little War.

1880 Blyden serves as President of Liberia College until 1884.

1881 Hampton Institute President Samuel C Armstrong Washington made Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute first leader.

Douglass publishes his final edition of his biography The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass and becomes recorder of deeds for the District of Columbia.

1882 Anna Douglas passes away. 

Washington marries Fannie N. Smith his first wife.

1883 April 25 Newspaper Advertisement announcing the debut performance of Henrietta Vinton Davis at Marini’s Hall in Washington DC. Assisted by Miss Blanche Washington the talented musician introduction by Hon. Fred. Douglass..

1884 Douglass marries the daughter of abolitionist Gideon Pitts Jr suffragist and abolitionist Helen Pitts. 

Davis performs as Lady MacBeth with PowhatonBeaty at Fords Opera House in Washington.

Love migrates to Jamaica.

Berlin Conference German chancellor Otto von Bismarck.

1885 January 24 Delany dies of tuberculosis in Wilberforce, Ohio.

WEB Du Bois attends Fisk University Nashville, Tennessee receives bachelor degree.

Blyden presidential election for the Republican Party loses to Hilary R.W. Johnson.

1886 Douglass and Helen travel to England, Ireland, France, Italy, Egypt and Greece.

1887 Blyden publishes his Christianity, Isalm and the Negro Race.

King JaJa of Opobo is exiled in Saint Vincent.

1888 Douglass becomes the first African American to receive vote for President.

Du Bois attends Harvard University until 1890.

1889 Douglass is appointed U. S. minister resident and Consul General to Republic of Haiti and charge d'affaires for Santo Domingo by President Harrison. 

Love moves to Jamaica where he starts the Jamaica Advocate newspaper.

1890 Du Bois awarded his second bachelor degree, cum laude, in history by Harvard.

1891 Du Bois receives scholarship to attend sociology graduate school at Harvard.

1892 Douglass place at Fells point, Baltimore was constructed as rental housing for African Americans.

Douglass attends the Indianapolis conference convened by Bishop Henry McNeal Turner.

Du Bois receives from John F. Slater Fund to attend University of Berlin for graduate work studies with Germans top social scientists such as Gustav von Schmoller, Adolph Wagner, and Heinrich von Treitschke. 

1893 Douglass made co commissioner of Haitian pavilion at Worlds Colombian Exposition in Chicago.

Washington marries Margaret James Murray his second wife.

1894 Du Bois begins work as a teacher at Wilberforce University in Ohio.

1895 Du Bois becomes the first African American to receive a PhD from Harvard University.

Douglass attends the National Council of Women in Washington D. C. and dies in the same year of a heart attack.

Delegate of the Cuban Revolutionary Party Jose Marti writes to Maceo the Necessary War, Maceo Maximo Gomez highest in command. Maceo in Costa Rica faces assassination attempt by Spanish at the exit of theatre one of the attackers. Maceo with Officer Flor Crombet Baracoa eastern Cuba, manages to gather small contingent additional from Santiago de Cuba, Marti falls in battle in  Dos Ríos (confluence between the rivers Contramaestre and Cauto).

Bishop Henry Mc. Turner receives James Mata Dwane, of South Africa along with H. B. Parks, and  J. S. Flipper. Turner was also an advocate for repatriation for African Americans to Liberia and was responsible for two ships with 500 emigrants sailing to there in 1895 and 1896.

Maceo Jose Marti.

Washington makes his Atlanta Compromise Address approach to rights of African Americans.

James Mata Dwane South African Methodist Minister who left the Methodist Church to join the Ethiopian Church of MangenaMokone in 1896, founder of the Order of Ethiopia in the Anglican Church.

1896 First Italo Ethiopia war.

Du Bois becomes a sociological field researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, marries Nine Gomer a student at Wilberforce University.

Washington receives honorary masters degree from Howard University.

Maceo Lieutenant General second in command after Gomez General in Chief.

Maceo and Gomez commanding two mambises columns invade the west of Cuba from Mangos de Baragua in front of Martinez Campos cover horseback and by foot 1000 miles in 96 days.

Maceo Spanish forces in Havana and Pinar del Rio.

October Maceo arrives at Mantua in the western extreme of Cuba after fighting the Spanish in Havana and Pinar del Rio.

December 7 Maceo is shot, hit in the chest also suffering a broken jaw and penetrated skull from another shot, Gomez’s son Lieutenant Francisco Gomez faces column guarding Maceos body, is shot, struck with machetes and falls.

1897 Du Bois takes part in the American Negro Academy.

July Du Bois takes professorship in history and economics at the Atlanta University in Georgia.

August Du Bois’s Strivings of the Negro People is published in the Atlantic monthly. 

1899 Du Bois publishes his sociological study The Philadelphia Negro which was the first of its kind from the field research he conducted whilst in Pennsylvania University in.

Du Bois on his way to meet Atlanta Constitution editor Joel Chandler Harris about Sam Hose who was tortured, burnt and lynched for killing his landlord in an act of self defence turns back after being informed Hose knuckles were for sale a grocery store further down on the very Street (Mitchell Street) he was walking on.