The Devil's Half Acre

The Devil's Half Acre is a book dedicated to the memory of Black women who blazed a trail and paved the way for the freedom of enslaved women and people everywhere. In particular, it shines the spotlight on Mary Lumpkin, born in Richmond, Virginia in 1832.

The book is written by Kristen Green, a reporter and the author of the New York Times bestseller, Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County, which received the Library of Virginia Literary Award for Nonfiction and the People’s Choice Award.

After learning of Mary Lumpkin, an enslaved Black woman, Green said she knew that the story had to be told, and so she spent years tracing Mary's roots. She did not uncover a great deal of information however, what she did learn was that Mary Lumpkin had suffered unspeakable hardships as an enslaved woman, but had also accomplished incredible feats, helping to free her children while playing a role in founding a school that improved the lives of generations of Black Americans.

Even though she could not uncover much information about this strong, resilient woman, Green was committed to finding a way to write about Mary. It took her years, yet all she found were tidbits, an entry in the US census, a testimony in a court case, a listing in a city directory and a mention in a book. The most compelling find was a Will naming Mary and her children as beneficiaries to the possessions of her slave master and enslaver who forced her to bear his children from the age of 13 years old. Green says she used genealogical research to trace Mary's children and grandchildren in an attempt to map her life from those scraps of knowledge.

I am most impressed by Kristen Green's tireless pursuit in the search for the words to give voice and a face to yet another Black woman who has been forgotten. These women were mostly deliberately erased from existence by the white men's insistence on pretending that they did not exist, had not existed and played a role in the revolutionizing of the great American 'civilization'.

Some of the women mentioned include Harriet Tubman, who fled her attacker, yet returned to help enslaved people find freedom. Ona Judge, who fled from her enslaver George Washington and was never caught. Sally Hemmings who bore at least six children by her enslaver Thomas Jefferson.

Green draws attention to Black women's contribution which is integral to families, communities and the entire country. Women like, Sojourner Truth, abolitionist and author, Rosa Parks, civil rights activist who have given us so much. Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tomeri, founders of the Black Lives Matter movement, and Tarana Burke, who launched the #metoo sexual abuse campaign, pushing back against shame and patriarchy. Mary Seacole, the equivalent of a Florence Nightengale who was forgotten, but first there was Mary Lumpkin.

Like her mother before her, maybe her grandmother and great-grandmother too, Mary Lumpkin had been born enslaved. Born to a mother who knew that her child would endure hunger, beatings, sexual abuse and exhausting forced labor.

Henry Box Brown, in his autobiography said:

"My son, as yonder leaves are stripped off the trees of the forest, so are the children of the enslaved swept away from them by the hands of cruel tyrants".

In 1844, Robert Lumpkin bought the jail, (known as The Devil's Half Acre) that would make him famous in Virginia. Mary was bought into this jail and saw children among those bought and sold. She saw enslaved men and women secured by iron rings to the floor and flogged with cowhide whips, sometimes for thirty minutes. Mary lived in a world of the screams, wails, and terror of the jail where she was forced to live and bear the children of Robert Lumpkin.

She educated her children and endured until the death of Lumpkin after the civil war, he did the decent thing and left her his inheritance which included the jail. From this she helped a Baptist missionary turn the Devil's Half Acre, a greatly feared place, into God's Half Acre. It went from a place where countless enslaved people suffered, into a school where dreams were realized.

Green writes that:

"The same grounds where enslaved people were imprisoned and beaten, became the cornerstone for one of America's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). Virginia Union University is still in existence today".

The narrative that Green uses in the book is most interesting. She refers to Black people, capitalizing Black as a sign of respect and recognition of the shared community and racial identity of Black Americans.

She uses white, which she keeps in lower case, white, because white people do not share a common culture or history, or face discrimination because of their skin color (I find this to be a somewhat debatable statement) and because some hate groups have used the capitalization for their own means.

There is a great deal more to this book. I have just barely touched the depth and emotions conveyed within the very eloquently written pages.

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