African American Educator And Nurse

Enslavement.

Susie King Taylor was one of many African American Southern women who served the Union army as a laundress, nurse, and teacher. She was born a slave on 6 August 1848 on one of the Sea Islands located thirty-five miles off the coast of Georgia. For most of her childhood she lived with her grandmother in Savannah. With the aid of white acquaintances and free African Americans, Taylor broke Southern laws regulating the activity of slaves and learned to read and write, an accomplishment that would help her find employment in the Northern army.

Contraband of War.

When the war broke out Taylor was sent to the Georgia coast by her owners. Shortly after she arrived a combined Union naval and army expedition attacked Fort Pulaski, a Confederate stronghold near her current home, and drove the Southern defenders into the...