Speaker 1: Hello, and Happy Saturday. So the Bib family has popped
Speaker 1: up a couple of times in recent episodes, and we
Speaker 1: actually talked about this family and its legacy in our
Speaker 1: episode where we also covered the development of the variety
Speaker 1: of lettuce named after them, the Bib Lettuce. That episode
Speaker 1: ran on July fifth, twenty twenty two. During that episode,
Speaker 1: we referenced the work of Lenay O'Neill, and she recently
Speaker 1: published a book about the story and her connection to it,
Speaker 1: titled Bib Country Unearthing My Family, Secrets of Land, Legacy
Speaker 1: and Lettuce. That book is out now and it is
Speaker 1: in my audiobook Q. I am very much looking forward
Speaker 1: to reading it. And we are rerunning that twenty twenty
Speaker 1: two episode on The Bib Family today. Enjoy Welcome to
Speaker 1: Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello,
Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Frye and I'm
Speaker 1: Tracy V. Wilson. Tracy. This episode was supposed to be
Speaker 1: another installment of eponymous food. Yeah, it went a different
Speaker 1: way though it is not. It is little, but as
Speaker 1: I got into the story of one of those foods,
Speaker 1: it really unfurled quite quickly into a much bigger and
Speaker 1: much more important story about the family of a man
Speaker 1: who cultivated lettuce in his later life just as it
Speaker 1: hits up. I promise there's another eponymous food coming at
Speaker 1: some point, but it's not today. This story is I think,
Speaker 1: really important because it offers a snapshot of a very
Speaker 1: rich person's choice to emancipate his enslaved workforce, the way
Speaker 1: his family received that information, and how their legacy, both
Speaker 1: good and bad, is all tied to having enslaved people
Speaker 1: building their familial wealth. Heads up, We're going to read
Speaker 1: a lot from writings that were composed in the eighteen hundreds,
Speaker 1: so of course some of the language there is a
Speaker 1: bit outdated. Uh. But first we are going to talk
Speaker 1: about bib lettuce and the man who cultivated it. Yes,
Speaker 1: I love it when episodes go in totally different directions
Speaker 1: from what they were playing, just a hard left. So
Speaker 1: John Bigger bib who was born on October twenty seventh,
Speaker 1: seventeen eighty nine, in Prince Edward County, Virginia. His parents,
Speaker 1: Richard Bibb and Lucy Booker bib moved from Virginia to
Speaker 1: Kentucky when John was about nine years old. We're going
Speaker 1: to get back to Richard in a moment and talk
Speaker 1: about him a lot more. They shifted around Kentucky for
Speaker 1: a bit. First they lived in Fayette County and then
Speaker 1: in Bullet, where Richard Bibb purchased assault works. Then they
Speaker 1: went to Logan County and established a large and successful farm.
Speaker 1: Bib's early education was largely under Joshua fry That was
Speaker 1: a fellow Virginia who had moved to Mercer County, Kentucky.
Speaker 1: Fry is a pretty interesting figure in Kentucky history because
Speaker 1: when he moved there, he didn't think there was an
Speaker 1: adequate educational system, so he opened up a school out
Speaker 1: of his house, and then a lot of prominent people
Speaker 1: in Kentucky's history were educated by Joshua Frye. After his
Speaker 1: primary education, John Bibb studied law under Judge HP. Broadnacks.
Speaker 1: But before he could get his law career underway, the
Speaker 1: War of eighteen twelve began and the twenty three year
Speaker 1: old bib joined the fourth Kentucky Volunteer Brigade. He began
Speaker 1: as a private and was promoted to the rank of
Speaker 1: major after the Battle of Thames in October of eighteen thirteen.
Speaker 1: Although the war continued into eighteen fifteen. John Bibb was
Speaker 1: discharged just a month after his promotion and returned to Kentucky.
Speaker 1: And it's a little unclear, at least in the documents
Speaker 1: that I had available to me, why he was discharged
Speaker 1: so soon after being made major. It very well might
Speaker 1: have been a health issue, though this is supported by
Speaker 1: the fact that although he passed the bar right after
Speaker 1: returning to Kentucky and opened his practice, he closed it
Speaker 1: down just a couple years later in eighteen sixteen, due
Speaker 1: to poor health. In eighteen twenty seven, bib ran for
Speaker 1: a seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives as a
Speaker 1: Whig and one. He was re elected in eighteen twenty
Speaker 1: eight and then ran for the Kentucky Senate one again.
Speaker 1: He served in the state Senate for four years, from
Speaker 1: eighteen thirty to eighteen thirty four. During that time, he
Speaker 1: also married Sarah P. Horseley. Their wedding was on August
Speaker 1: twenty fourth of eighteen thirty one. Bib was an amateur horticulturist,
Speaker 1: and in eighteen forty five he purchased land to support
Speaker 1: his hobby. He built his home, Gray Gables, on a
Speaker 1: property in Frankfurt Kentucky on Wapping Street. That's usually touted
Speaker 1: as he built it for his wife, and it included
Speaker 1: a large greenhouse, and there was a substantial garden, and
Speaker 1: today that's known as the Bib Burnley House and it
Speaker 1: has a historical marker, and it was there that he
Speaker 1: started working with lettuce. Over time, Bib developed something he
Speaker 1: called limestone lettuce. It was a lettuce that grew well
Speaker 1: in Kentucky's limestone rich soil. It was naturally resistant to
Speaker 1: a number of pests, including plant lice. It's also really tender,
Speaker 1: and it grows in a pretty compact head. And Bib
Speaker 1: was not cultivating this crop for profit. He gave most
Speaker 1: of it away and it actually was not renamed Bib
Speaker 1: Lettuce and commercially sold until decades after his death, which
Speaker 1: happened in eighteen eighty four. He had during his late
Speaker 1: lifetime given away both lettuce and seeds. That was in
Speaker 1: the latter half of the nineteenth century, and subsequently area
Speaker 1: farmers had started growing limestone lettuce for themselves. In nineteen nineteen,
Speaker 1: the green Wine Greenhouse of Louisville was the first to
Speaker 1: sell the lettuce with the name Bib attached to it.
Speaker 1: So that's the pretty benign story of where bib Lettuce
Speaker 1: came from. Now we have to take a look at
Speaker 1: the deeper legacy of slavery within the bib family and
Speaker 1: John B. Bibb's role within that. To do that, we
Speaker 1: have to go back to his father, Richard Bibb. So
Speaker 1: there's a historical marker outside of Major Richard Bibbs townhouse
Speaker 1: in Russellville, Kentucky. It was placed there by the Kentucky
Speaker 1: Historical Society in nineteen seventy five, and that marker reads
Speaker 1: quote bib a Revolutionary War soldier, was born in Virginia
Speaker 1: seventeen fifty two. He came to Lexington, Kentucky in seventeen
Speaker 1: ninety eight, moved to Logan County the next year, where
Speaker 1: he built Bibb's Chapel. Later erected this house for his wife.
Speaker 1: Major bib freed twenty nine of his slaves in eighteen
Speaker 1: twenty nine and sent them to Liberia. He died in
Speaker 1: eighteen thirty nine, and his will provided for the release
Speaker 1: of his other slaves and gave them land. Here's the
Speaker 1: more detailed story. Richard was born in Goochland County, Virginia,
Speaker 1: on April thirteenth, seventeen fifty two. His parents were John
Speaker 1: Bib and Susannah Bigger Bib, and during the Revolutionary War,
Speaker 1: Richard joined the Continental Army and rose to the rank
Speaker 1: of major. When Richard moved his family to Kentucky, he
Speaker 1: brought with them a large number of enslaved people. He
Speaker 1: had actually been the second largest slaveholder in Prince Edward County, Virginia.
Speaker 1: In eighteen seventeen, the American Colonization Society was formed in
Speaker 1: the US. Its goal was to provide an alternative to
Speaker 1: emancipation within the US for black enslaved people when the
Speaker 1: option of being shipped to Africa. This has come up
Speaker 1: in several previous episodes, most recently in our episode on
Speaker 1: Paul Cuffey. There were supporters of this idea who believed
Speaker 1: that it would truly be a viable option for free
Speaker 1: black people. There were also people who just saw this
Speaker 1: as a solution from a racist standpoint, it would get
Speaker 1: those free black people out of the United States. Both
Speaker 1: abolitionists and pro slavery white people used similar rhetoric about
Speaker 1: free black people never truly a similating into white society.
Speaker 1: So for the pro slavery crowd, this was seen as
Speaker 1: a condition of emancipation. The emancipated person would then leave
Speaker 1: the country, did not matter if they had been born
Speaker 1: and raised in the United States and had no real
Speaker 1: ties to Africa at this point, and Major Richard Bibb
Speaker 1: so again. Lettuce John Bibb's father, had at some point
Speaker 1: in his later life, realized that the institution of slavery
Speaker 1: was wrong. This was a position that is usually attributed
Speaker 1: to his religious studies and becoming a minister. There are
Speaker 1: some versions of his life story that indicate that one
Speaker 1: of the people that he enslaved had been the one
Speaker 1: to encourage him to become a Methodist minister, after he
Speaker 1: had initially been on a path to be an Episcopalian minister,
Speaker 1: and he had connections to the American Colonization Society. He
Speaker 1: was friends with Henry Clay, who was one of the
Speaker 1: society's founders. Richard eventually decided that the plan to relocate
Speaker 1: emancipated black peace people to Africa was a good idea,
Speaker 1: so in eighteen twenty nine, he announced that he was
Speaker 1: emancipating one third of his enslaved workforce on the condition
Speaker 1: that they would be sent to Liberia. There is a
Speaker 1: little bit of fractured logic about why only one third
Speaker 1: were going to be manumitted, and it's sometimes cited as
Speaker 1: Major Bib's reasoning here. He had just short of one
Speaker 1: hundred enslaved people working for him in eighteen twenty nine.
Speaker 1: Some of those were entire families self contained within the
Speaker 1: bib Families' holdings, but many were married to enslaved people
Speaker 1: who were owned by other families. So, according to this logic,
Speaker 1: he selected thirty one that no other white family could
Speaker 1: claim ownership over, believing that that would be better than
Speaker 1: breaking up families. Yes, there is some logic to that,
Speaker 1: but it also conveniently ignores the fact that Major Bibb
Speaker 1: almost certainly possessed the wealth to purchase and manument any
Speaker 1: number of enslaved people had he wanted to keep families together.
Speaker 1: The one exception to this whole scenario was a man
Speaker 1: named Richard Morton. He had been owned by Bibbs's son
Speaker 1: in law, doctor Bonarogos Roberts, and he was married to
Speaker 1: a woman named Hannah, who was part of Major Bibb's
Speaker 1: enslaved workforce. According to a number of accounts, the enslaved
Speaker 1: people that Bibbs selected were ones who also wanted to
Speaker 1: go to Liberia rather than remain enslaved, although there is
Speaker 1: no way to verify that, and sometimes it reads very
Speaker 1: conveniently in retellings of this story. We're going to talk
Speaker 1: about the only account of Bibb's emancipation of an announcement
Speaker 1: by a person who was there in just a moment first, though,
Speaker 1: will pause for a quick sponsor break. So there is
Speaker 1: an account of that announcement that this group of enslaved
Speaker 1: people would be emancipated, and it is the only first
Speaker 1: hand account that we have. It is not without problems,
Speaker 1: and we'll talk about that in a moment. This account
Speaker 1: was given by a formerly enslaved man named Andrew Bibb,
Speaker 1: who related to a reporter in late eighteen ninety seven.
Speaker 1: Andrew would have been seventy three at the time, and
Speaker 1: he would have been five in eighteen twenty nine when
Speaker 1: the events that he recounted took place. And we're going
Speaker 1: to read this account, but before we do, please know
Speaker 1: that it is really very romanticized. It puts Major bib
Speaker 1: in a very very kind light. So this account reads,
Speaker 1: in part quote, in the center of the yard stood
Speaker 1: an old gentleman with uplifted hands, and beside him was
Speaker 1: a barrel on ends, on top of which was placed
Speaker 1: a Bible and a hymn book. In front and around
Speaker 1: him were nearly one hundred slaves. Twenty nine of these
Speaker 1: were about to start as free men and women in
Speaker 1: the land of their fathers in far off Africa, after
Speaker 1: several generations of servitude in America. The old man asked
Speaker 1: a divine blessing upon them. Since his youth he had
Speaker 1: cared for them, and before that they or their parents
Speaker 1: had belonged to his father. He believed slavery was wrong,
Speaker 1: and was taking the initial step toward putting into execution
Speaker 1: a long cherished plan. He was about to send one
Speaker 1: third of his slaves to Liberia, the others he intended
Speaker 1: to liberate at his death. He had read a chapter
Speaker 1: in the Bible and had given out a hymn, And
Speaker 1: when his prayer was finished, many a blackface was bathed
Speaker 1: in tears, and the slaves gathered about and shook old
Speaker 1: Master's hand for the last time and heard the accent
Speaker 1: of his kindly voice. This goes on to say that
Speaker 1: the people chosen for the journey were quote shiftless and refractory,
Speaker 1: obstinately resistant to authority or control, unruly. So that last quote,
Speaker 1: of course, contradicts the framing that bib was selecting the
Speaker 1: people who wanted to go to Africa. So Andrew Bibb's
Speaker 1: story was published in the Courier Journal of Louisville, Kentucky.
Speaker 1: It was written by a reporter named M. B. Morton.
Speaker 1: Sometimes this story, as it's relayed, is told as though
Speaker 1: it's a direct quote from Andrew. I don't think that
Speaker 1: was ever the intention. It's a direct quote of mb
Speaker 1: Morton about the story as told to him, And we
Speaker 1: don't know if the account was edited or altered, although
Speaker 1: it certainly seems likely. I don't know anybody who speaks
Speaker 1: in such prosy, you know what I mean. I mean nobody.
Speaker 1: Mb Morton, we should say, kind of made a career
Speaker 1: out of talking about slave narratives. He went on to
Speaker 1: write extensively about Kentucky's enslaved population, including in a book
Speaker 1: he wrote called Kentuckians Are Different that didn't come out
Speaker 1: until nineteen thirty eight, so almost forty years later. That's
Speaker 1: also a book that he dedicated to the state's enslaved population.
Speaker 1: As his educators so there's a lot to unpack there.
Speaker 1: I just want to acknowledge sort of what was going
Speaker 1: on with it. We do know that it took several
Speaker 1: years for the plan to move all of those people
Speaker 1: to actually be executed. They were taken to Clarksville, Zuri
Speaker 1: by wagon, then boarded a steamship for New Orleans. In
Speaker 1: New Orleans, they were taken aboard a brig called the
Speaker 1: Ajax on April twentieth, eighteen thirty three. The oldest member
Speaker 1: of the group bibsent was a man in his thirties
Speaker 1: named Andrew, and the youngest was just a little over
Speaker 1: six months old. All of them, according to research done
Speaker 1: by Michael Morrow, museum director for the Sikh Museum that
Speaker 1: now exists on Bibb's former property, all the people Bib
Speaker 1: emancipated for this journey were the direct descendants of enslaved
Speaker 1: people known by the names Lucy and Keziah. That couple
Speaker 1: had been enslaved by the Bib family going all the
Speaker 1: way back to Virginia. We also don't know exactly why
Speaker 1: it took two and a half years to get them
Speaker 1: onto this ship after the announcement. That's all a little
Speaker 1: unclear in these retellings, and there doesn't seem to be
Speaker 1: like a journal or anything kept by any of the
Speaker 1: wagon drive anybody that explains why that took two and
Speaker 1: a half years. Even then, that seems like an extraordinarily
Speaker 1: long time. The voyage of the Ajax was paid for
Speaker 1: with funding from the American Colonization Society and the Kentucky
Speaker 1: Colonization Society. And in addition to Lucy and Keziah's family
Speaker 1: from the Bib properties, there were one hundred eighteen other
Speaker 1: enslaved people being emancipated through this journey. They were mostly
Speaker 1: from Kentucky. There was also a white missionary and an
Speaker 1: agent of the Tennessee Colonization Society named H. D. King.
Speaker 1: This journey was really rough. There was a cholera outbreak
Speaker 1: on the ship which killed several dozen people. Those numbers
Speaker 1: are usually quoted as between thirty and forty, but it's
Speaker 1: not one hundred percent clear. A Black minister named Abel
Speaker 1: Long visited Liberia years later, and he reported that he
Speaker 1: was unable to make contact with any of the people
Speaker 1: from the Bib group, although he was told that two
Speaker 1: of the women had survived and had gone into the
Speaker 1: jungle to live. That account is very strange. I read
Speaker 1: it in one newspaper, and it's also very sensationalized. There's
Speaker 1: language I did not care to include here. The rest
Speaker 1: of the people who went appeared to have died when
Speaker 1: Major Bibb died, as was indicated on that historical marker
Speaker 1: we mentioned earlier. He did as promised, emancipate his remaining
Speaker 1: enslaved workforce. He once again indicated a desire for some
Speaker 1: of them to go to Liberia, and he also offered
Speaker 1: an alternate plan. Here's the pertinent passage from his will. Quote.
Speaker 1: I do hereby emancipate all of my slaves from and
Speaker 1: after the first day of January next after my death,
Speaker 1: and desire that all of them who have not wives
Speaker 1: or husbands in bondage, be sent to Liberia. I give
Speaker 1: to my slaves hereby emancipated five thousand dollars, to be
Speaker 1: divided out among them, and paid out to them from
Speaker 1: time to time according to the discretion of my executors.
Speaker 1: And all of my stock of horses, cattle, sheep and hogs,
Speaker 1: farming tools, wagons and carts, and crops made the year
Speaker 1: of my decease, or that may be on hand. And
Speaker 1: each slave hired out to the hire do for the
Speaker 1: year in which I shall decease. I also give to
Speaker 1: said slaves all my lands which are unsold or undisposed
Speaker 1: of in the County of Grayson of this state. The
Speaker 1: land in the County of Logan conveyed to me by
Speaker 1: Benjamin Tompkins, Ralph E. Nourse, and Robert Norse is to
Speaker 1: be divided among them at the discretion of my executors.
Speaker 1: And also the land in Logan conveyed to me by
Speaker 1: Mark Harden, and about thirty acres adjoining it, conveyances to
Speaker 1: be made by my executors or either of them, And
Speaker 1: they are hereby authorized to sell and convey any of
Speaker 1: the land or either property hereby given to my emancipated slaves,
Speaker 1: and divide or lay out the money for their benefit.
Speaker 1: I give to my Errand the house and lots on
Speaker 1: which he lives in Russellville, and his carpenter tools, as
Speaker 1: his portion of the legacies left my emancipated slaves. I
Speaker 1: give to my woman Clarissa's is that part of most
Speaker 1: remote from the dwelling house, to include the smith's shop.
Speaker 1: Major bib then included a long list of names of
Speaker 1: the emancipated enslaved. They are listed only by first name.
Speaker 1: This part of the will then concludes with quote, I
Speaker 1: give to my slaves by this will emancipated my two
Speaker 1: lots under the Knob near M. B. Morton's and two
Speaker 1: fractional lots in Saunders, addition to Russellville near James Bell's stable,
Speaker 1: and a fractional lot near William Duncan's and William First's
Speaker 1: near the Public Square, to be divided and conveyed to
Speaker 1: them at the discretion of my executors. When Major bib died,
Speaker 1: his son John wrote two letters to his older brother,
Speaker 1: George M. Bibb, who had been a US Senator and
Speaker 1: was serving as a judge of the Jefferson County Court
Speaker 1: of Chancery when their father died. The first letter informed
Speaker 1: George of the Major's passing, and then the second asked
Speaker 1: for George's thoughts on the will because George's expertise and
Speaker 1: wills and trusts was just unmatched. George's response was twelve
Speaker 1: pages long, and he did not agree with his father's wishes,
Speaker 1: but he also knew he couldn't really contest the will.
Speaker 1: Although the advice that he gives to his brother is
Speaker 1: not in the interest of the people that Major Bib
Speaker 1: named for emancipation. We're not going to read this whole
Speaker 1: thing again. It is twelve pages long. That would be
Speaker 1: the whole podcast. Really. We'll read some excerpts of it, though,
Speaker 1: to show how George Bib made the case to his
Speaker 1: brother that he could hang on to assets that were
Speaker 1: mentioned in the will for as long as possible. Yeah, this,
Speaker 1: I have feelings about this letter. George's letter opens with
Speaker 1: some niceties towards John discusses that their father has died,
Speaker 1: and early on it includes this passage quote, what a
Speaker 1: in fact the experiment our father has made in sending
Speaker 1: negroes to Liberia, and in setting out some to work
Speaker 1: for themselves near him, might have had in changing his
Speaker 1: mind upon the subject of emancipation. I did not know.
Speaker 1: The will which he has left shows that his mind
Speaker 1: was unaltered. It is done poor, as I am struggling
Speaker 1: at my time of life, by the most intense application
Speaker 1: to the duties, which does not afford any surplus at
Speaker 1: the year's end above the expenses of my family. Yet
Speaker 1: I would not for the property bequeathed by the will
Speaker 1: for all the Negroes nor the value ten times told,
Speaker 1: insult the memory of our father by and attempt to
Speaker 1: set aside the writing he has published as his last
Speaker 1: will and testament. Whoever suggested an intention on my part
Speaker 1: to oppose the will or to endeavor to break it,
Speaker 1: did but little understand my thoughts or temper, spoke at
Speaker 1: random without color of authority from me, and did me
Speaker 1: great injustice. At this point in his life, George had
Speaker 1: enjoyed a lot of success, but he had, for reasons
Speaker 1: that are kind of nebulous, gotten to the point where
Speaker 1: his finances were pretty lean by the time his father died.
Speaker 1: The only reasons he cites when discussing his financial problems
Speaker 1: were the banking system and quote my own confiding temper.
Speaker 1: So while you might understand his dismay and his father
Speaker 1: giving so much land and money towards his emancipation provisions,
Speaker 1: and why people expected that he would try to contest
Speaker 1: the will, It's also reported that Major Bib left his
Speaker 1: children well cared for financially. It was even mentioned in
Speaker 1: his death announcement. Yeah, I'm always suspicious of anyone who's
Speaker 1: like even though I am in the worst position, I
Speaker 1: would never try to do anything like when that's you're open,
Speaker 1: I'm going to lean back. Aside from insisting that he
Speaker 1: would never insult his father's memory, George makes his opinions
Speaker 1: pretty clearly known in this letter about how he believed
Speaker 1: the will should be executed, And we are going to
Speaker 1: dig into all of that after we first take a
Speaker 1: little break and hear from the sponsors that keep stuff
Speaker 1: you missed in history class going. George Bibb makes clear
Speaker 1: in his letter that he believed his father was wrong
Speaker 1: in emancipating slaves. He did not side with abolitionists. This
Speaker 1: writing is for me infuriating to read, and it includes
Speaker 1: the following quote, The emancipation of a large number of negroes,
Speaker 1: male and female, helpless and infirm, old and young, would
Speaker 1: provide a nuisance to society as well as an injury
Speaker 1: to the Negroes. And he hints that the key to
Speaker 1: managing the situation in the way he thinks would avoid
Speaker 1: problems is in the executor's hands, although he also adds
Speaker 1: quote the extent of discretionary powers given to his executors
Speaker 1: is not clear of difficulty. So remember, George Bibb was
Speaker 1: an expert in wills. He had practiced law was able
Speaker 1: to build a case, and as he continues with this,
Speaker 1: it definitely seems like he's trying to show his brother
Speaker 1: John that there is just so much gray area in
Speaker 1: the will when it comes to the specifics of the apportionment.
Speaker 1: So he continues quote to apply these rules to the will.
Speaker 1: I give to my slaves hereby emancipated five thousand dollars
Speaker 1: to be divided out amongst them, and paid out to
Speaker 1: them from time to time according to the discretion of
Speaker 1: my executors. The extent of the discretion which the executors
Speaker 1: are to exercise under the clause respects first the division
Speaker 1: amongst these collegiatearies, second the time of the payments. The
Speaker 1: important question is may the executors divide the money in
Speaker 1: unequal shares? If the shares are to be equal, share
Speaker 1: and share alike to each legatary. If the executors cannot
Speaker 1: exercise a discretion by giving five shillings to one and
Speaker 1: eighty dollars to another from time to time, graduated by
Speaker 1: the incapacities, families and infirmities which enter into the question
Speaker 1: of the respective abilities or inabilities to labor for self support,
Speaker 1: there the sentence would be no more operative by the
Speaker 1: presence of those words divided out amongst them, than if
Speaker 1: those were expunged and the Testament left with the words
Speaker 1: to be paid to them from time to time according
Speaker 1: to the discretion of my executors. By denying a discretionary
Speaker 1: power to the executors to make the division amongst the
Speaker 1: collegiatearias and unequal portions, the one member of the sentence
Speaker 1: would be made expletive with no effect whatever, contrary to
Speaker 1: the rule that every word shall have effect if consistent
Speaker 1: with the other parts of the Testament. After this, George
Speaker 1: invoked a seventeen ninety four law that Kentucky had passed
Speaker 1: regarding provisions for emancipating enslaved people. That law stipulated that
Speaker 1: anyone trying to manument an enslaved person had to quote
Speaker 1: writing under his or her hand and seal a test
Speaker 1: had improved in the county court by two witnesses, That
Speaker 1: paperwork had to be filed with the court, and the quote.
Speaker 1: Court shall have full power to demand bond and sufficient
Speaker 1: security of the emancipator, his or her executors or administrators,
Speaker 1: as the case may be, for the maintenance of any
Speaker 1: slave or slaves that may be aged or infirm, either
Speaker 1: of body or mind, to prevent their becoming chargeable to
Speaker 1: the county. So, in short, if someone wanted to manument
Speaker 1: a person, they had to promise and make provisions to
Speaker 1: ensure that the manumented person would not become a burden
Speaker 1: on the state. George wrote of the law and reminded
Speaker 1: his brother John that this responsibility fell to him as executor,
Speaker 1: and that it cost money just to file the paperwork.
Speaker 1: He noted that for every certificate of emancipation, the law
Speaker 1: authorizes the clerk to charge a fee of five shillings.
Speaker 1: Then he reminds his brother that there are fifty four
Speaker 1: people named in the will for emancipation. Yeah, you can
Speaker 1: see him building his case of like this is a
Speaker 1: huge burden on you. We got to protect you. And
Speaker 1: he follows up by trying to show John that maybe
Speaker 1: their father really didn't think the money part through in
Speaker 1: other ways writing quote. But then again in another part
Speaker 1: of the Testament, to each slave hired out, the higher
Speaker 1: due for such slave for the year ensuing the death
Speaker 1: of the testator is specifically devised to that slave, which
Speaker 1: shows the equality of legacies to each slave emancipated was
Speaker 1: not in the mind or will of the testator, but
Speaker 1: that emancipation was the general object of the will, and
Speaker 1: not the fund of money. As well as the lands
Speaker 1: placed at the discretion of his executors, was not for
Speaker 1: the purpose of a quality of legacies to each slave,
Speaker 1: but an absolute and unconfined discretion to be exercised by
Speaker 1: his executors for support of the many, according to circumstances,
Speaker 1: such as he himself would have exercised if he in
Speaker 1: this lifetime would have emancipated them and come under the
Speaker 1: positive engagement to the courts to keep them from becoming
Speaker 1: a charge to the county. Next, George bib warns John
Speaker 1: that being the executor of their father's fortune is going
Speaker 1: to bring out the worst in people, adding quote, you
Speaker 1: and your brother Richard are to have some trouble in
Speaker 1: the execution of the trust, in all probability by reason
Speaker 1: of the interference of low minded ignorance and interested knavery
Speaker 1: by persons who will stimulate the negroes and speculate upon
Speaker 1: their interests and poverty. If you do not have so
Speaker 1: such you are fortunate above the condition of society here
Speaker 1: in Louisville. Then he talks about how the funds have
Speaker 1: to be carefully managed in a way then ensures that
Speaker 1: all the desires of the testator have been met as
Speaker 1: the executor sees best, and that if all the assets
Speaker 1: are distributed, then the executor is left on the hook
Speaker 1: for any additional funds that are needed because of any
Speaker 1: emancipated people aging or no longer being able to work,
Speaker 1: because that's an injustice. He literally uses that word. This
Speaker 1: all sums up to a man urging his brother to
Speaker 1: not distribute everything, but instead to hold the funds in
Speaker 1: reserve to manage and dole out over time. The implication
Speaker 1: here is that the emancipated people wouldn't handle the money
Speaker 1: they were given properly, and then the bib family would
Speaker 1: be on the hook to make good financially with the
Speaker 1: county and state. He spells this out pretty clearly in
Speaker 1: this passage quote. The time of payment and applications of
Speaker 1: the sum of five thousand dollars specifically denoted being left
Speaker 1: by the will uncertain to be judged by the executors.
Speaker 1: According to the circumstances, The executors cannot be chargeable for
Speaker 1: interest unless for manifest delay and abuse. Contrary to the
Speaker 1: trust if the executors exercise the power of selling the lands,
Speaker 1: such funds so raised as shall not be divided or
Speaker 1: intended to be divided in their discretion presently after received,
Speaker 1: ought to be put out to interest until such divisions
Speaker 1: shall become proper. We're going over this document and quoting
Speaker 1: it so closely because it's an important example of how
Speaker 1: anti abolitionists could make a case that it was in
Speaker 1: everyone's best interests not to give enslaved black people full
Speaker 1: emancipation or assets, even when it was somebody's will that
Speaker 1: they do so. It's also important because it informed decisions
Speaker 1: that shapes an entire community and in ways that are
Speaker 1: still felt today. John B. Bib did take in this
Speaker 1: letter and he did start manumitting his father's enslaved workforce
Speaker 1: in waves, starting in February of eighteen forty. It was
Speaker 1: about a month after that emancipation was supposed to start
Speaker 1: according to the will. The first group was ten. They
Speaker 1: went as a group to the Logan County Courthouse for
Speaker 1: their freedom papers and they did get them, and these
Speaker 1: were followed by additional groups. None of the emancipated people
Speaker 1: chose to go to Liberia. Many of them moved to
Speaker 1: the land that had been set aside for them in
Speaker 1: Major Bib's will. It's an area that became known as Bibtown.
Speaker 1: That's actually two communities, Upper Bibtown and Lower Bibtown. But
Speaker 1: even so, the actual deeds to those lands were not
Speaker 1: fully granted until the late eighteen seventies, so nearly forty
Speaker 1: years after Major Bib had died. Presumably some of those
Speaker 1: people that had been emancipated had died. In that interim
Speaker 1: forty years other people left the area and moved to
Speaker 1: larger cities like Louisville or out of the state entirely.
Speaker 1: And it's important to remember that even once those who
Speaker 1: stayed had been emancipated and were living on land that
Speaker 1: had been set aside by Major Bib, even if they
Speaker 1: didn't own that land outright, these were still free black
Speaker 1: people living in a slave state. For the Civil War,
Speaker 1: it was not safe for them. There was always a
Speaker 1: risk of being re enslaved or being targeted with violence.
Speaker 1: And we have to go back to the lettuce because
Speaker 1: in having been left very comfortable when his father passed,
Speaker 1: John b. Bib was able to have leisure time with
Speaker 1: which to cultivate his plants. And develop that limestone lettuce
Speaker 1: listen no shade to Bib Lettuce I like it, but
Speaker 1: that inheritance that afforded all of that was possible due
Speaker 1: to the work of the hundreds of enslaved people his
Speaker 1: father had owned over the years and who had worked
Speaker 1: on his land, enabling him to amass a huge amount
Speaker 1: of wealth. Major Bib is often cited as one of
Speaker 1: the richest men in Kentucky. Today. Major Bib's home is
Speaker 1: a museum, the Sikh Museum, which stands for Struggles for
Speaker 1: emancipation and Equality in Kentucky. It's actually spread out among
Speaker 1: six buildings on two sites. The buildings have been restored
Speaker 1: in The museum's mission is to tell the stories of
Speaker 1: the enslaved people emancipated by Major Richard bibb. In twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: there was a reunion at that museum and anyone who
Speaker 1: was related to Bib, both black and white, was invited
Speaker 1: to attend. And that's because it is highly likely and
Speaker 1: widely believed that some of the enslaved children on the
Speaker 1: Bib property prior to Major Bib's death had absolutely been
Speaker 1: fathered by him. There are quite a few articles written
Speaker 1: about that reunion a lot of them are very feel good,
Speaker 1: but I would recommend one by journalist Linney O'Neil, which
Speaker 1: was written for the Site and Scape, and it's titled
Speaker 1: The Bitter Harvest of Richard Bibb, a descendant of slavery
Speaker 1: confronts her inheritance. It is a very frank piece of
Speaker 1: writing about the pain of such scenarios, things like this
Speaker 1: big feel good reunion for some of the black attendees.
Speaker 1: There's another reunion planned this ball. It's twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1: This is in September for Bibb's descendants, and there'll be
Speaker 1: a new documentary debut at that one titled Invented Before
Speaker 1: You Were Born, which examines the issues of the Bibs
Speaker 1: story and its legacy. And you can get more information
Speaker 1: about that at seek museum dot org. That's see k
Speaker 1: Museum dot org. Yeah, man, not about Lettuce, sort of
Speaker 1: about Lettus. I just it's one of those things where
Speaker 1: you realize, like, oh, this cute story about food is
Speaker 1: really about the people that made it possible for a
Speaker 1: white guy to have leisure time to make that food.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining us on this Saturday. If
Speaker 1: you'd like to send us a note our email addresses,
Speaker 1: History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com, and you can subscribe
Speaker 1: to the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.