Margaret Garner (1834-1858) is known for a desperate act that became immortalized in Toni Morrison’s award winning novel, Beloved.
Margaret Garner (1834-1858) is known for a desperate act that became immortalized in Toni Morrison’s award winning novel, Beloved.
This month, we’re talking about muses–women who were drivers of creativity and inspiration. Once again, we’re proud to partner with Mercedes-Benz (whose famous namesake was inspired by a young muse named Mercedes). Tune in daily for stories of women whose lives inspired work that has shaped our culture.
History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.
Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Liz Smith, Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Ale Tejeda, Sara Schleede, and Alex Jhamb Burns. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan. This is Womanica.
This month, we're talking about muses -- women who were drivers of creativity and inspiration.
Today, we’re talking about a woman whose desperate act became immortalized in Toni Morrison’s award winning novel, Beloved.
Please welcome Margaret Garner.
Margaret Garner, who was sometimes called Peggy, was born on June 4, 1834 in Booneville, Kentucky at Maplewood plantation. Both of her parents were enslaved – which meant that she, too, was enslaved from the day she was born.
As a child, Margaret was put to work in the plantation’s main house. Sometimes, she traveled with the family into Cincinnati, a free territory. When she was around 16 years old, she became romantically involved with a man named Robert Garner, who was enslaved on another plantation nearby. The two were soon married, and the next year they welcomed their first child, Thomas.
But trouble was on the horizon. Maplewood Plantation, where Margaret lived, was sold to the original owner’s brother, Archibald.
Over the next 6 years, Margaret gave birth to three more children. Because she and Archibald’s wife were often pregnant around the same time,
Margaret was forced to serve as a wet nurse while weaning her own babies.
Giving the light skin of some of Margaret’s children, there is significant speculation that Archibald fathered at least two of them. Because of the extreme power imbalance in their relationship, it’s assumed that any sexual encounters between them were not consensual.
In the harsh winter of 1855, the Garners decided they would try to escape north to freedom. The Underground Railroad was at peak operation – and Margaret was pregnant with her 5th child. A plan was made: the family would cross the border into Cincinnati, Ohio. There, Margaret had a free cousin, Elijah Kite.
On January 27th, 1856 Margaret, Robert, Robert’s parents, and their four children crossed the frozen Ohio River and made it to Elijah’s home. But within hours of their arrival, chaos descended on the home. Archibald Gaines and a crew of federal marshals stormed in. The slave catchers had been tracking them. It was in this moment that Margaret made a decision that would be forever remembered in history.
She couldn’t live with the idea that her children would suffer the same way she had. She grabbed a butcher knife and slit the throat of her youngest daughter Mary. She had started to stab her other children when she was discovered and imprisoned. Death, from her perspective, was better than returning to slavery.
Cincinnati had a strong abolitionist community, and that community stepped up when it came time for Margaret’s trial. A lawyer, John Joliffe, volunteered to represent them. He argued that because Margaret had made several trips to Cincinnati with the Garner’s, she was a free person.
But the opposing side made the case that because Margaret had willingly returned to Kentucky, she had surrendered that free status. By the end of February 1856, Margaret and Robert were returned to their enslavers.
Their lawyer tried to prolong their freedom by convincing officials to try Margaret and Robert for murder and accessory to murder – anything was better than returning to slavery.
If they had been convicted of murder, it would have also set a precedent of trying them as people, rather than property.
But the Garners’ enslavers caught wind of the plan and hid the couple across a network of plantations. Just as authorities were close to finding Margaret, she was sold to Archibald Gaines’ brother. Authorities never found her, and she never stood a second trial.
In 1858, Margaret died from typhoid. Though her life was short, her story has lived on through Toni Morrison’s 1987 Pulitzer-Prize winning novel inspired by the events of Margaret’s life, Beloved. The book later was adapted into a movie and was the inspiration for the 2005 opera titled “Margaret Garner.”
In a 2010 interview about the opera, Morrison told NPR that “The interest is not the fact of slavery, the interest is what happens internally, emotionally, psychologically, when you are in fact enslaved and what you do in order to transcend that circumstance. That really is what ‘Margaret Garner’ reveals.”
All month, we’re highlighting muses. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you tomorrow!