Silvia King

Born in Morocco, Silvia King (also written as Sylvia King) was well into adulthood and married with three children when she was kidnapped and brought to Bordeaux, France by slave traders. King recalled receiving drugged coffee before she was forced into the bottom of a ship with other enslaved Africans for the Middle Passage to New Orleans. King was purchased on the auction block in New Orleans by Master Jones, planter and owner of a large cotton plantation. She was then chained to the other purchased slaves and forced to march more than 450 miles by an overseer to La Grange, Texas. Jones placed King in a marriage with another slave, referred to as Bob, against her will. An exceptional cook, she prepared Master Jones' meals full time and completed other domestic tasks such as weaving cotton cloth for use on the plantation. The federally sponsored Works Progress Administration's Federal Writers' Project documented King's extensive oral history in Marlin, Texas in 1937. From her narrative, one can gather a clear glimpse of the hardships that slaves endured and acts of resistance such as the ring shout, an emotionally charged, symbolic dance where slaves came together to gain cultural and spiritual sustenance from one another. After King gained her freedom, she went on to marry twice more and serve as a member of the Galilee Colored Baptist Church in Rosebud. Following King's statement that she was born in 1803, her death certificate state that she passed away on Nov. 10, 1937, at the age of 133, making her age a point of debate and legend. (2012).