slave and later servant, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Perry Blake, a free African American, and his wife Charlotte, a slave in the household of a prominent merchant, Jesse Levering. The couple had several other children. In 1897 Jesse's daughter Sarah R. Levering published a booklet about Margaret Jane Blake's life through the Press of Innes & Son in Philadelphia. As of 2011 other sources concerning Blake s life were unknown Thus we should read this account with care recognizing that it provides only one perspective on Blake s life and that it comes from a member of the family who once owned her It nonetheless offers several insights on the life of an urban African American woman in slavery and freedom Levering designated the proceeds from the booklet s sale to a Presbyterian affiliated manual labor school for the benefit of the ...
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Blake, Margaret Jane
Mary Krane Derr
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Henson, Josiah
Elizabeth Zoe Vicary
escaped slave and preacher, was born in Charles County, Maryland, on a farm owned by Francis Newman. As a child Henson frequently saw his parents abused and severely beaten. On one occasion, as a punishment for defending his wife, Henson's father was sentenced to a physical mutilation that left him permanently scarred. Although he was raised without religion, Henson was immediately converted to Christianity after his first exposure to it at a revivalist camp meeting. As a young boy, he was sold to Isaac Riley.
Because of his unusual strength and intelligence Henson was made superintendent of the farm at a young age He managed the plantation well doubling the annual crop production One day during an argument at a neighboring farm Henson defended his master in an argument with the other plantation s overseer In revenge the overseer and three of his slaves waylaid Henson one ...
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Sophoniba
Duane W. Roller
Carthaginian aristocrat, was the daughter of Hasdrubal, the noted Carthaginian commander of the Second Punic War. Her name is also given as Sophonisba and Spnb’l (“Baal has pronounced judgment”). Essentially all that is known about her is the manner of her death, which may have been preserved in a tragedy known to Livy (30, 12–15); other parallel extant accounts are by Appian (Libyka 10, 27–28) and Dio (17). She was well educated in both literature and music, and she was noted for her charm. She was originally engaged to Massinissa, the great Numidian king (Diodoros 27.7) but eventually married the Numidian chieftain Syphax, who was politically opposed both to Massinissa and the official Numidian government. Sophoniba was instrumental in persuading Syphax to change his policies from pro-Roman to pro-Carthaginian.
When Syphax was captured by the Romans in 203 BCE Massinissa hurried to rescue Sophoniba before she was also taken ...
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Suʾda
Allen J. Fromherz
semi-historical Berber princess, was a main character in the Sira al Hilaliyya, the epic saga of the great Arab migration into North Africa in the eleventh century. Coming from the drought-stricken Arabian Peninsula and known for their warrior prowess on camelback, these Hilali Arabs were sent to Tunisia as a punishment for the Berbers breaking away from the Fatimid Caliphate in Cairo. One of the great classics of the Sira al Hilaliyya is a poignant portrait of the clash of two cultures, Berber and Arab, even as it insists on moments of reconciliation and the possibilities of peace through the theme of love transcending duty to one’s family, tribe, and people. At times Berber characters, especially women such as Suʾda were portrayed as even more noble than the Arab heroes themselves. Most closely analogous to the Dido character in the Roman epic The Aeneid Suʾda was the ...
