Susie King Taylor

Susie King Taylor
Susie King Taylor
Born	Susan Ann Baker August 6, 1848 Liberty County, Georgia
Died	October 6, 1912(1912-10-06) (aged 64)
Resting place	Mount Hope Cemetery, Roslindale, Massachusetts
Occupation	Army nurse, author, memoirist
Spouse(s)	Edward King (?-1866; his death) Russell L. Taylor (1879-1912)

Susie King Taylor (August 6, 1848 – October 6, 1912) was the first Black Army nurse. She tended to an all Black army troop named the 1st South Carolina Volunteers (Union), later redesignated the 33rd United States Colored Infantry Regiment, where her husband served, for four years during the Civil War. Despite her service, like many African-American nurses, she was never paid for her work. As the author of Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33d United States Colored Troops, Late 1st S.C. Volunteers, she was the only African-American woman to publish a memoir of her wartime experiences. She was also the first African American to teach openly in a school for former slaves in Georgia. At this school in Savannah, Georgia, she taught children during the day and adults at night.

Susie King Taylor was born a slave at a plantation in Liberty County, Georgia, on August 6, 1848, as Susan Ann Baker. When she was about seven years old, her owner allowed her to go to Savannah to live with her grandmother, Dolly. Taylor's admiration for women may have stemmed from her close relationship with Dolly. Despite Georgia's harsh laws against the formal education of African Americans, Dolly, with whom Taylor lived for much of her childhood, supported Taylor's education by sending her to an illegal school run by a free African-American woman, Mrs. Woodhouse. After learning all she could from Mrs. Woodhouse, Taylor continued her education under the tutelage of various "teachers", both white and black, including playmates, and the son of her grandmother's landlord. From them she gained the rudiments of literacy, then extended her education with the help of two white youths, both of whom knowingly violated law and custom. Her education ended when she was forced to return to her mother on the Isle of Wight after Dolly was arrested at a suburban church meeting for singing freedom hymns. Taylor had to move back with her mother in Fort Pulaski but Union took the fort not long after. Taylor fled with her uncle and his family to St. Catherines Island, where they received Union protection and a transfer to St. Simons Island. Taylor impressed the commanding officers with her ability to read and write and was offered a position running a school for children and adults on the island.