Dime Stories Tiffany Isselhardt

Today, we continue looking at the stories of individual enslaved women, this time with the more infamous of the two: Margaret “Peggy” Garner, who became infamous a s fugitive slave who killed her own daughter to keep her from returning to enslavement. Margaret’s story has been widely circulated, but her real truth is hidden behind sensationalized accounts and reveals a narrative that is highly relevant to our modern lives.


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Earlier this season, we learned about the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, founded in part by Mary Catherine Spalding – and touched upon their dark history of slavery and the recent efforts to research and acknowledge that history. The Sisters’ actions are just one of many efforts to research, recognize, commemorate, and commit to reparative justice for Blacks in the United States – and Kentucky. Many of these efforts unfortunately focus on group stories – piecing together the narratives of individual enslaved persons is difficult for many reasons. Because enslaved persons were treated as property, many were illiterate – their stories hence being told only through oral traditions – while even those who were literate saw little opportunity to publish or preserve their writings. American history holds up the few published slave narratives, but what about stories from Kentucky’s history?

Two enslaved women’s stories are known to us: Matilda Lewis Threlkeld and Margaret “Peggy” Garner. Today, we’ll be looking at Matilda’s story, which reveals the daily lives of enslaved women in Kentucky.


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Today, we continue looking at the spaces where women contributed to forming Kentucky’s well-known institutions. But unlike Mary Catherine Spalding, our subject today – and her institution – challenged the status quo. Her name was Julie Ann Tevis. The institution? Science Hill Academy, which pioneered the idea that girls had equal abilities - and thus deserved equal education to - boys.


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As Kentucky became settled, women continued to contribute to forming the places that Kentucky is now known for. Two of these are the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and Science Hill Academy, both established in the early 1800s by women and which had a profound effect on female education in the Commonwealth. In this episode, we’ll explore the first of these – the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth – and one of their founders, Sister Mary Catherine Spalding.


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In our last episode, we recounted the story of Jemima Boone, among the first young women to help settle Kentucky, which was then considered part of the frontier. But Jemima’s story is one of vulnerability, forming a romanticized notion of what life for Kentucky’s white women was like.

To get a more complex story, we must turn to another pioneer family: William and Esther Whitley. Esther is particularly intriguing for the scant references we have to her. Bearing twelve children, eleven of whom survived, Esther was known to be a true frontier spirit. She is cited as being “independent, spunky, resourceful, and tough” - providing an alternative view of Kentucky's frontier women that has only recently been recognized. This is her story.


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In 1769, Daniel Boone was shown Kentucky’s flatlands by John Findley – and Boone found the area to be suitable for settlement. Six years later, he moved his family - including 13-year-old Jemima Boone - to the area. Jemima's story reveals the dangers girls and women faced in settling new territory - as well as the lies told to keep white settler culture intact. This is her story.


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