Silently sitting, stone cold, and apprehensive are two lone tombstones by the University of Alabama’s biology building. These are the graves of slaves Jack, who was buried in 1843 at an unknown location, and seven-year-old Bosey, buried in 1844. Both were finally marked at a memorial service held behind the biology building on September 29, 2004.
Prior to this, slavery was barely mentioned throughout the University. It wasn’t until Alfred Brophy, a UA law professor, studied the diaries of Basil Manly along with four other books, that it was unearthed. While finding information on the two specific slaves buried in the miniscule graveyard is slim, Brophy did find a large amount of information on slavery in general in relation to the campus. The total number of slaves owned on University grounds is unknown, however while the University owned few, students and faculty owned many, including personal slaves students brought from home. University slaves were “rented” from county residents to work on the campus as coal haulers, brick makers, and servants for students and faculty.
If a student or faculty member got angry with the slaves, violence was an acceptable punishment. An example of this comes from Brophy’s research when he claims that one student, when no coal was brought to his room for warmth purposes, stuck a fork into the slave’s arm as a response.
Basil Manly, former South Carolina church minister turned University president from 1837 to 1855, owned 38 slaves. Two of which are the very ones buried in the small cemetery today. Thanks to his diaries and Brophy’s research we are allowed a look into the University’s antebellum past. One of Manly’s entries describes an incident of a slave named Sam not taking coal from a student’s room and getting chastised and punished in front of a small faculty audience. In one of his sermons on the “Duties of Masters and Servants”, Manly stated that slavery made slaves “happy and industrious” while making the masters “prosperous and beneficent.”
Following in Manly’s footsteps was successor Landon Garland, English professor turned University president from 1855 to 1870. In his first lecture he stated that “the negro” through slavery has been taken up from the condition of barbarity and ignorance and “made serviceable to himself and the world, and elevated and improved socially, morally, intellectually, and physically.”
Upon being brought to light from Brophy’s research the University issued a formal apology for their past and held the memorial service for the marking of the two graves, and the small cemetery was born. Along with this, they also marked three other graves near the President’s mansion and the slave quarters behind it.
Facing the past is the only way to learn and continue on. It cannot be buried and unmarked. It must continue to be discussed, remembered, and learned for the prosperity of all involved and, in this case, the University as a whole. Which is why these marked sites became a part of the University tour in 2004. Thanks to the research of one man, lives are remembered and celebrated, unearthed and cherished, and two silently sit in the shadow of the biology building, just waiting to be rediscovered.
If a student or faculty member got angry with the slaves, violence was an acceptable punishment. An example of this comes from Brophy’s research when he claims that one student, when no coal was brought to his room for warmth purposes, stuck a fork into the slave’s arm as a response.
Basil Manly, former South Carolina church minister turned University president from 1837 to 1855, owned 38 slaves. Two of which are the very ones buried in the small cemetery today. Thanks to his diaries and Brophy’s research we are allowed a look into the University’s antebellum past. One of Manly’s entries describes an incident of a slave named Sam not taking coal from a student’s room and getting chastised and punished in front of a small faculty audience. In one of his sermons on the “Duties of Masters and Servants”, Manly stated that slavery made slaves “happy and industrious” while making the masters “prosperous and beneficent.”
Following in Manly’s footsteps was successor Landon Garland, English professor turned University president from 1855 to 1870. In his first lecture he stated that “the negro” through slavery has been taken up from the condition of barbarity and ignorance and “made serviceable to himself and the world, and elevated and improved socially, morally, intellectually, and physically.”
Upon being brought to light from Brophy’s research the University issued a formal apology for their past and held the memorial service for the marking of the two graves, and the small cemetery was born. Along with this, they also marked three other graves near the President’s mansion and the slave quarters behind it.
Facing the past is the only way to learn and continue on. It cannot be buried and unmarked. It must continue to be discussed, remembered, and learned for the prosperity of all involved and, in this case, the University as a whole. Which is why these marked sites became a part of the University tour in 2004. Thanks to the research of one man, lives are remembered and celebrated, unearthed and cherished, and two silently sit in the shadow of the biology building, just waiting to be rediscovered.
Destiny SimsPinson, Alabama
Destiny Sims is a graduate of the University of Alabama with a BA degree in English. She loves all things liberal arts—along with owls and the color yellow. Reading is her vice complete with a good cup of green tea. She plans to stay in the literary world and continue to work with books and magazines, along with acting on the side. One day she hopes to be published herself. She lives in Tuscaloosa with her bunny Asher.
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