Womanica

Resisters: Henrietta Wood

Episode Summary

Henrietta Wood (c. 1818-1912) won the largest verdict ever awarded for slavery reparations in the United States.

Episode Notes

Henrietta Wood (c. 1818-1912) won the largest verdict ever awarded for slavery reparations in the United States.

This month, we’re highlighting Women of Resistance. Whether fighting tyranny, oppression, sexism, racism, reproductive control, or any number of other ills, these women created paths for change.

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. 

Original theme music composed by Miles Moran.

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Episode Transcription

Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan and this is Womanica. 

This month on Womanica, we’re highlighting women who led extraordinary lives of resistance. Whether fighting tyranny, oppression, sexism, racism, or reproductive control, these women created paths for change.

Today’s Womanican won the largest verdict ever awarded for slavery reparations in the United States.  

Please welcome Henrietta Wood.

Henrietta was born enslaved to a man named Moses Tousey in northern Kentucky sometime between 1818 and 1820. Her exact birthday is unknown.

She was just a teenager when she was separated from her family and bought by a merchant in Louisville for $700. Soon after that, she was sold to a man named William Cirode. He took her to New Orleans. William eventually left for France. His wife, Jane, remained and brought Henrietta with her to Ohio, a free state. In 1848, Jane registered Henrietta as a free woman with the county courthouse. 

For the next few years, Henrietta was a domestic worker around Cincinnati, enjoying her “sweet taste of liberty.”  But her liberty didn’t last. While Jane had wanted to free Henrietta, her daughter and son-in-law, Josephine and Robert White, did not. They viewed Henrietta as part of their inheritance. 

At this time, the Fugitive Slave Law was in effect. Slave catchers captured free men, women, and children and smuggled them into the South for a profit. Josephine and Robert struck a deal with a deputy sheriff from Kentucky named Zebulon Ward. Zebulon would pay the couple $300. If he could capture Henrietta, he could sell her and keep the earnings. So Zebulon partnered up with slave catchers and started plotting.

He paid off Henrietta’s employer, Rebecca Boyd, to help. One afternoon in April 1853, Rebecca asked Henrietta to take a carriage ride across the river. That meant leaving free Ohio and entering Kentucky, a slave state. Henrietta agreed. As soon as the carriage crossed state lines, Zebulon kidnapped her.

Henrietta began traveling to Lexington, where prices for slaves had skyrocketed as the cotton industry boomed in the South. On the way, Henrietta secretly told her story to an innkeeper. The concerned innkeeper followed her to Lexington and filed a lawsuit on her behalf. But Henrietta’s freedom papers had been destroyed in a courthouse fire in Cincinnati, and Zebulon stole her personal copy. Henrietta wasn’t allowed to testify, and the case was dismissed. 

Henrietta was forced back into slavery.  She was sold to Gerard Brandon, one of the largest slaveholders in the South. He enslaved  over 700 people on several plantations. Henrietta worked long, grueling hours in the cotton fields. During this time, she gave birth to a son, Arthur. 

Henrietta continued to work even after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. To evade federal soldiers, Gerard forced 300 of his enslaved men and women – Henrietta included –  to march 400 miles to Texas. Federal soldiers arrived in Texas years later on “Juneteenth” to free enslaved people, and even then Henrietta was still not freed. Finally in 1866, Gerard agreed to pay Henrietta a salary of $10 a month. Though she said she was never paid. 

In 1869, Henrietta returned to Kentucky seeking justice. She met the lawyer Harvey Myers who helped her file a lawsuit in Cincinnati against her kidnapper, Zebulon Ward. The case was taken to federal court.

Zebulon’s lawyers tried to shrug off the lawsuit. They said his innocence had already been proven in the earlier suit. They suggested the alleged crimes were too far in the past to be condemned. Still, Henrietta persisted.

In 1878, the verdict came in. It read, “We, the Jury in the above entitled cause, do find for the plaintiff and assess her damages in the premises at Two thousand five hundred dollars.” 

The award may be the largest in history for slavery reparations in the United States, yet  Henrietta’s story isn’t well known. The case briefly made national headlines, but it did not establish a legal precedent. Black Americans still argue for, and struggle to receive, reparations for slavery today.

And it wasn’t really much money at all. Henrietta was given $2,500 in exchange for more than 16 years of unpaid labor. A far cry from the $20,000 she originally sought. — And the payment made up only a small fraction of Zebulon’s  $600,000 estate. 

Still, she made the most of what she was awarded. Henrietta  used it to move her and her son to Chicago. With his mother’s money, Arthur was able to buy a house, start a family, and pay for his education. He became one of the first Black graduates of Northwestern University’s School of Law, and his descendants went on to have their own professional successes. Henrietta’s case may not be well known, but it left a long legacy.

All month, we’re highlighting women of resistance. For more information, follow us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast. 

Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator. 

Talk to you tomorrow!