Duchess Quamino (c. 1739-1804) was the Pastry Queen of Rhode Island, an enslaved woman whose baking skills paved the way to freedom for her and her children.
Duchess Quamino (c. 1739-1804) was the Pastry Queen of Rhode Island, an enslaved woman whose baking skills paved the way to freedom for her and her children.
Food has been a unifier for millennia, not just gathering people together to share a meal, but acting as a warm introduction to new histories and traditions. This February on Womanica, we’re celebrating Tastemakers - the Black chefs, cooks, and food historians who created new foodways and preserved important culinary stories of the past. The impact of chefs like Pig Foot Mary, Mama Dip, and Georgia Gilmore stretch far beyond the culinary scene - uplifting their local communities and inspiring those who came after them.
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, Abbey Delk, and Alex Jhamb Burns. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.
Original theme music composed by Miles Moran.
Follow Wonder Media Network:
Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Chef Kia Damon.
I'm a Florida born chef, writer, host and recipe developer. I served as an executive Chef of New York City restaurant Lalito at the age of 24, and became Cherry Bombe magazine's first Culinary Director at 25. Since leaving I've founded Kia Feeds The People, a budding mutual aid effort. I’ll be your guest host for this month of Womanica.
This month, we’re talking about Tastemakers. We’re celebrating the Black chefs, cooks, and food historians who created new foodways and preserved important culinary stories of the past.
Today, we’re talking about the Pastry Queen of Rhode Island - an enslaved woman whose baking skills paved the way to freedom for her and her children. Let’s talk about Duchess Quamino.
Duchess Quamino was born on the Gold Coast of Africa, sometime between 1739 and 1753. In the middle of the eighteenth century, Duchess was captured from her home, and taken across the Atlantic Ocean to Newport, Rhode Island. At the time, Newport was a hub of the North American slave trade.
In the eighteenth century, about half of the voyages carrying captives from West Africa docked in Rhode Island - that’s about a thousand ships. White inhabitants of Newport were dependent on the work of enslaved Africans who performed agricultural labor, as well as artisanal work like stone carving and baking.
After Duchess Quamino was brought to Newport, the well-known attorney William Channing bought and enslaved her. She began working in his household, and quickly became known for her baking talent.
In 1769, Duchess met and married John Quamino, an enslaved man also living in Newport. Now, I’d say getting to marry someone famous for their baking skills is pretty much exactly like winning the lottery - but four years into his marriage with Duchess, John also won the actual lottery. He used his earnings to buy his own freedom. Then, he became one of the first Black men to enroll at Princeton, where he was trained to be a missionary.
But John’s missionary hopes were put on hold when the American Revolutionary War began. He enlisted in the army, in hopes of making enough money to buy freedom for Duchess and their two children, Charles and Violet. But in the fall of 1779, Duchess got terrible news - John had been killed in battle. Shortly afterwards, Duchess gave birth to their third child, Katharine. The task of providing for her family now fell solely to her.
And, in less than a year, Duchess had managed to buy freedom for herself, and for all three of her children - presumably, by selling her baked goods. She would make pastries in William Channing’s oven, and then sell them all across town to locals.
Although Duchess was now a free woman, she still worked as a servant in William Channing’s home. One of her main tasks became caring for William’s son, William Ellery Channing - a boy who later became a well-known Unitarian priest and strident abolitionist, no doubt thanks to Duchess’ early teachings.
And of course, she kept baking - cementing her reputation as ‘the most celebrated cake-maker in Rhode Island’. Her specialty? A frosted plum cake. When influential people came to Newport, they were usually greeted with Duchess’ pastries - according to some accounts, she even served her cakes to George Washington.
Two years after buying her family’s freedom, she was able to move into her own house with her children. But she still spent time at William’s home - using his big oven to bake her pastries. In return, she regularly invited his family over to her house for tea.
Duchess died when she was around 65 years old. She was buried in God’s Little Acre - one of Newport’s oldest public cemeteries, which holds 200 freed and enslaved Black artisans. William Ellery Channing, the boy Duchess had once cared for, wrote the epitaph on her tombstone, describing her as ‘intelligent, industrious, affectionate, and honest.’
In 2017, the tombstones in God’s Little Acre were restored - and the legacy of Duchess was given new life.
All month, we’re talking about tastemakers. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to Jenny and Liz Kaplan for letting me guest host this month of Womanica.
Talk to you tomorrow!