Susie King Taylor

Born into slavery in 1848 in Liberty County, Georgia, Susie Baker learned to read and write in secret, taught by other African American women in hidden schools, in defiance of the law. As a teenager, she escaped through the local waterways near her hometown alongside family members after Union troops occupied nearby St. Simons Island in 1862.

She went on to join the 1st South Carolina Colored Infantry (later the 33rd U.S. Colored Troops) as a laundress, nurse, and teacher, becoming known as the first African American nurse of the Civil War. While serving, she worked alongside Clara Barton, who later founded the American Red Cross. She married Sergeant Edward King during her service. After the war, she opened a school for African Americans in Savannah, though the venture later failed and she took work as a domestic servant before relocating to Boston in 1872. There she remarried and became an organizer with the Woman's Relief Corps, a national organization for female Civil War veterans. In 1902, she published Reminiscences of My Life in Camp, the only Civil War narrative known to have been written by a Black woman.

Key contributions

• First African American nurse of the Civil War, serving with the 1st South Carolina Colored Infantry / 33rd U.S. Colored Troops.
• Taught soldiers to read and write while serving as a nurse and laundress during the war.
• Opened a school for formerly enslaved people in Savannah after the war.
• Authored Reminiscences of My Life in Camp (1902), the only known Civil War memoir written by a Black woman.

Context

Taylor served during a war in which Black women's contributions — nursing, teaching, laundering — were essential to the Union war effort but rarely compensated or formally recognized; she reportedly never received official pay for her wartime service.

In their spirit: Do the work that needs doing, then make sure the record survives you.

About this set

Taylor's card is one of six in Set 1B — Freedom's First Draft, part of the Lineage: Origin Fire digital postcard collection. Freedom's First Draft gathers women who wrote, testified, and organized the first records of their own freedom.

Shop the Freedom's First Draft set or get the Complete Collection (all 12 cards).

Note: some sources give her birth date as August 6, 1848, and others as August 8, 1848.

Sources: National Park Service — Reconstruction Era National Historical Park network; Library of Congress — Susie King Taylor collection materials.