Anna Kingsley
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Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley (c. 1793 – July 1870) was a Senegalese slave turned slaveholder and plantation owner in early 19th century Florida. She was married to Zephaniah Kingsley, her former master, and owned and managed many plantations in East Florida, including Kingsley Plantation (Florida's only surviving colonial plantation) in what is now Jacksonville.
[edit] Early years
Much of what is known of her life in Africa is based on conjecture. Anna (or Anta, in the Wolof tongue) was born to a distinguished Wolof family north of the kingdom of Cayor in modern Senegal. A descendant of the legendary leader Njajan Njay, founder the Jolof kingdom, she was very likely a princess in her own land. In 1806, when she was about 13, Anna was probably captured by the king of Fuuta Tooro's Tyeddo warriors and sold into slavery at Gorée Island in what is now Senegal. She was brought to Havana, Cuba, then under Spanish control, where she was purchased by slave ship owner, trader and planter Zephaniah Kingsley. Zephaniah took her to his home in Spanish Florida and she bore their first child the following year. According to Zephaniah Kingsley, their wedding "took place in a foreign land, where our marriage was celebrated and solemnized by her native African customs altho' never celebrated according to the forms of christian usage". Zephaniah, emulating the prevalent system in West Africa, had several wives of which Anna was the "principal" wife. "She has always been respected as my wife and as such I acknowledge her," continued Zephaniah in his will, "nor do I think that her truth, honor, integrity, moral conduct or good sense would loose in comparison with any one".
Kingsley Plantation operated under a "task" system, which allowed slaves to work for themselves once a day's job had been completed. Anna proved herself a capable businesswoman and became the primary manager of the estate soon afterwards. Zephaniah once remarked his wife "could carry on all the affairs of the plantation in my absence as well as I could myself." Zephaniah Kingsley emancipated Anna Kingsley on March 4, 1811, along with their "three mulatto children" George, born June 1807, Martha, born July 1809, and Mary, born February 1811. In 1812, soon after Anna Kingsley received her freedom, Spanish authorities granted her five acres of land in Mandarin, Florida along the banks of the St. Johns River across from Laurel Grove. With her children, she move off of Zephaniah Kingsley's land and established her own farm there. There she became a slave owner, purchasing 12 slaves and using them to raise corn, poultry, farm animals and oranges.
After Spain handed control of Florida over to the United States in 1819, the new government progressively enacted stricter laws separating the races. The mixed-race Kingsley family was directly and negatively affected by these "illiberal and inequitable laws". (Zephaniah Kingsley, will, 1843.) The family fought these laws through personal example and democratic activism. The Kingsleys transferred all their holdings to the three older children and moved to Haiti in 1837. Anna and their youngest son remained in Haiti after Zephaniah died in 1842. Anna returned to Jacksonville in 1860 to settle an inheritance dispute with some of her husband's white relatives, and became a Union sympathizer when the American Civil War broke out the following year. She and other free blacks were evacuated by Union forces when they captured Jacksonville in 1862. She returned home the following year, and died in 1870 at the age of 77.
[edit] References
- Weightman, Sharon (February 1998). "Anna Kingsley: a 'free person of color'". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved June 18, 2006.
- Schafer, Daniel L. "Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley: African Princess, Florida Slave, Plantation Slaveowner". University Press of Florida (March 2003).
