Flora Stewart (Figure 1) is a Black woman who lived in Londonderry, New Hampshire in the 19th century. The exact date of her birth is unknown yet, as indicated by the caption at the bottom of her picture below, she was 117 years at the time this picture was taken on November 5th, 1867. Hence, Flora was probably born in the 18th century in the yea 1750. Historically, this period of the late 18th century America also corresponds to the American Revolution, the gradual Black self-emancipation during and after the Revolution, the starting point of the Underground Railroad, and the rising voice of abolitionists (Hodges, 2018).

Being born in that period of history is not the only factor that makes Flora exceptional and one of the most famous citizens of New Hampshire in the 19^th century. Flora was an enslaved woman who lived more than 100 years, and even in her old age had tremendous mental, physical, and intellectual abilities. An article published about Flora in The New York Times on May 19^th, 1867, from a reporter of the Manchester Mirror¹ read:

She [Flora] is reputed to be 120 years of age. Mr. Simpson has data proving it to be not less than 119. Flora is full of vim, with remarkably retentive memory. She has been a long time a member of the Methodist Church, and on one of my visits to the lady I learned that she has just completed the rereading of the Testament. Mr. Simpson gave her a bill, and without spectacles she looked at it and said, ‘Why. Wilson, this is $5’. Her memory embraces the incidents of a century.

Another article published in the Lowell Daily Citizen² read: “yet the old woman is full of life and vivacity. Her memory is unimpaired, and she reads easily without spectacles”. For someone who lived under the inhumane and harsh conditions of slavery, reaching 120 years was extraordinary and uncommon. Indeed, few enslaved Africans lived into old age compared to whites. An article published by Fanny Kemble³ in her journal in 1835 gives an idea of what it was like to be enslaved. Married into a family of “large slaveholders” whose livelihood and wealth depended on their extensive plantations, Kemble wrote “… the experience of every day, … forbids dependence on the duration of the mighty abuse by which one race of men is held in abject physical and mental slavery by another”.  

Flora’s longevity was so out of the ordinary that this exception was captured in two distinct publications in the late 19^th century. In the Chicago Tribune of May 22, 1867, the introduction to an article titled “The Oldest Person in New Hampshire” read: “A correspondent of the Manchester Mirror, from Windham, N.H., furnishes the following facts about Flora Stewart, who has lived half a century beyond the allotted three score and ten”. Concluding a section on Flora Stewart, “An Aged Colored Woman”, Moore et al⁴. (1893) wrote:  

A few years before she passed away she was brought to Manchester by John D. Patterson of that place and a photograph was taken of her form and features. It may be mentioned here that no person who reached the age of one hundred years has died in Candia so far as can be ascertained. The two oldest persons who have died in town were Mrs. Timothy Bagley and Mr. Benjamin Smith, Senior, who were each ninety-nine years of age (p.460).  

Flora Stewart's Background

In a book published in 1893⁵ on the history of the town of Candia, the following was written about Flora in a paragraph titled ,"An Aged Colored Woman": 

Mrs. Flora Stewart, who lived several years in Candia⁶ as a servant for William Duncan the trader, was born a slave in Londonderry⁷ in the family of a man by the name of Wilson. She took the name of Wilson from her owner and lived in his family until her marriage with a colored man named Stewart.  She had two sons who also lived with Mr. Duncan and worked upon his farm several years. After leaving Candia, about the years 1835, Mrs. Stewart returned to Londonderry where she resided until her death, nearly twenty years ago. From the circumstance that she was born on about the same day as that upon which a child of her master’s came into existence, it is known that she lived to a very remarkable old age. Many of the people of Londonderry and others who were well acquainted with her history are confident that she was about 118 years old when she died (p.459).

From the excerpt above, we learn that Flora was born to enslaved parents in the Wilson family. She became Flora Stewart after her marriage, and lived enslaved with her husband and two children in the family of William Duncan. After leaving the town of her birth, she returned years before her death. Yet, Flora was so unique that “a few years before she passed away she was brought to Manchester by John D. Patterson of that place and a photograph was taken of her form and features” (Moore et al., 1893, p. 459). This quotation is revealing for two main reasons. First it underscores the objectification and dehumanization of Black people in 19^th century America: Flora was brought to Manchester to be photographed for her “form and features”. For instance, in her autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,⁷author Harriet A. Jacobs⁸ provides a vivid historical account of enslaved Blacks' dehumanization and degradation. Second, hidden in Moore et al.’s statement is the subtle recognition of Flora’s elegance and selfhood. Flora’s humanity, vigor, and intellectual abilities did not leave indifferent anyone who met with her. Though the justification for her photograph is a reminder of the dominant society perception of Black people, Flora through this picture established her humanity, captivated the attention and mind of viewers. Looking at the picture, one cannot help but wonder about the identity of this  elegantly-dressed African American, her experience, and her reasons for sitting for it. These questions are evidence that Flora’s picture had served to tell her story even centuries after her death. As the adage says: “a picture is worth a thousand words”.

⁴ Moore, J. Bailey., Browne, G. Waldo. (1893). History of the town of Candia, Rockingham County, N.H., from its first settlement to the present time. Manchester, N.H.: G. W. Browne. Copy can be found at the New York Public Library

⁵ Moore, J. Bailey., Browne, G. Waldo. (1893). History of the town of Candia, Rockingham County, N.H., from its first settlement to the present time. Manchester, N.H.: G. W. Browne. Copy can be found at the New York Public Library

⁶ Town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States

⁷ Town in western Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States, situated between Manchester and Derry, the largest and fourth-largest communities in New Hampshire

⁸ The book was the first written narrative by a female slave, Jacobs, Harriet Ann, recounting the horrors of her life as a slave and a mother. Copy available at Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

⁹ Jacobs Harriet Ann enslaved woman born in Edenton, North Carolina, in the fall of 1813. used the pseudonym of Linda Brent in Incidents in the Life of a Slave to tell her story, who escaped slavery, and actively worked for the abolition of slavery. More in The Harriet Jacobs family papers, Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Hodges, G. R. G. (2018). Black New Jersey: 1664 to the Present Day. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.