Dr. Michelle Chresfield

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151 appearances 2 recordings 1 series first heard Feb 2025 last heard May 2025

Dr. Michelle Chresfield’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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You're Dead to Me · Sojourner Truth: American abolitionist, suffragist, preacher · 28 Feb 2025 podcast
And in exchange from that land, they would have owed them labor, but also credits towards whatever it cost to cultivate that tract of land. We could conjecture that possibly at some point in time that the parents could have been able to purchase that land outright. But those dreams are really dashed when he dies and his son takes over. And the son is really trying to make money.
And that involves selling the young Isabella away at the age of nine. So her parents are frequently depressed, going into bouts of kind of emotional hardship because many of her siblings are sold away. So when Isabella grows up, she only knows her brother. And so it's this constant fear that our parents are going to have that their children will be sold away.
And this happens when Isabella is nine.
Right, that's correct. So she's sold for $100 alongside a flock of sheep. And the Neelys are an English-speaking family, and Isabella only spoke Dutch. And so she had a hard time, as you might imagine, and so she can't comprehend the instructions given to her. And on top of the language barrier, the Neelys are generally cruel people, and they make life difficult for the young Isabella.
And she faces violent and cruel punishments that she would later recall in her later life. and bear the marks of this abuse on her body for a long time.
Right, but her father, so Isabella's father, he is an older man, and he is some distance from his daughter after the sale, but he doesn't lose track of her. And this makes it very different than the relationship that he's able to have with his other children. So he travels a distance and actually implores the Neelys to sell Isabella.
And so she sold again, right? in 1809 to a tavern keeper called Martinus Shriver. And she spends about 18 months with the Shrivers, where she works at an inn. She makes beer, she picks herbs, she fishes, she farms. And she would claim that it's the Shrivers who taught her to curse, which is a very interesting development for a woman who would be known for her piety and religious devotion.
She's sold to John and Sally Dumont. And she would spend the longest time of her enslavement with the Dumonts, about 17 years in total. So she arrives around the age of 12, roughly, and she's there until... about the age of 30. And it's during her time with the Dumonts that Isabella would do farm work for John, but she also performed housework for Sally.
And so she gains a reputation for the hard work that also characterized her father. And she also has a stunning physique and figure. She's just under six feet tall. She's a very tall, statuesque woman. So she's doing the work of several people, which really gains her the kind of compliment and the admiration of John Dumont. And she begins to care very much about how Dumont feels about her.
And that is in stark contrast to her feelings about Sally, who she resents more so. And where Dumont might praise Isabella in her work ethic, Sally is a lot more critical.
So she is actually forced to marry another enslaved man owned by the Dumont family called Thomas. But interestingly enough, this is not the first man that she falls in love with. She actually falls in love with a young man named Robert, who was owned by a neighboring family. And Robert and Isabella very much loved each other. But Robert's owner did not want him with Isabella.
And Robert actually defies his enslaver and goes to see Isabella, and he is beaten within an inch of his life, which really kind of breaks his spirit to continue to kind of disobey. And so that relationship ends, which allows Isabella to be free to partner with Thomas. We don't know a lot about Thomas, but they have a general affection for one another, and they have five children together.
Diana, Peter, Elizabeth, Sophia, and a fifth unknown child.
Yes, that's absolutely right. Desiree Birch, you remain my best student.
Yeah, no, she's racking up the degree. She's a credentialed woman. But to get back to your point, you know, Isabella gets her freedom, but it's not an easy feat. So in 1799, New York State passes the Gradual Emancipation Act.
And according to the act, children born to enslaved women after July 4th, 1799 are born free, but are required to serve a period of indentured servitude ending at 28 for men and 25 for women. And they do this because state leaders were very concerned about the state instantaneously losing its labor force, right? And so they wanted to transition away from slave labor.
In 1811, the state of New York announces that enslaved people born before 1799 will be free on July 4th, 1827. But it retained the provision of the 1799 Act. for children born after 1799. Essentially, Isabella is poised to be free, but not her five children.
Yeah, right?
Right, absolutely. And so because of the act, the children are basically going to be laborers for the owner of the mother until they reach 28 for the young men, 25 for the women. Isabella tries to bargain for her own emancipation in 1826. and an early emancipation, which Dumont grants on the condition that Isabella would, quote, do well and be faithful.
And so if she does well and does her work, he agrees to free her one year early. So on July 4th, 1826. However, when that date arrives, Dumont went back on his word and argued that Isabella... Oh, who needs to be faithful? Not Dumont. Not Dumont. And so one of the reasons that he makes this claim is that she has an injury. She hurts her hand. And so she can't work at the full capacity.
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