Seminar "By the Name of Mary": Black Women, Service and Freedom in Long-Eighteenth Century London

When: Tuesday, April 8, 2025, 5:15 PM - 7:00 PM
Where: Room 1. 01. 1., Bancroft Building, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS

Queen Mary Centre for Eighteenth-Century Studies seminar by Montaz Marché (University of Birmingham)

This paper explores some of the conditions of work and life amongst Black women in service across the long eighteenth century. Some of the most common representations or records of Black women in this period represent them in service, yet little is known about these women's daily lives. Using the comprehensive details of Mary Prince's life in London, as highlighted in her autobiography The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave, I explore the traces of Black women in service recorded across primary materials in long-eighteenth-century London. Between artistic representations, recorded instances of Black women and Mary Prince's autobiography, I correlate some important but overlooked details about Black women's experiences, illuminating their experiences of role performance, acculturation, enslavement and flight. This research highlights the potential to expand the social history of Black women in the long eighteenth century and develop methodological approaches towards uncovering their fragmented histories.

The Seminar will be available both digitally and in-person: sign up links are available here and on the mailing list a fortnight before each event.

The seminar is organised by the Queen Mary Centre for Eighteenth-Century Studies