Friday, April 13, 2012

Quibbling With Details: Helen Pitts Seems Not To Have Worked at Hampton

Helen Pitts had a career long before she took advantage of the patronage system and went to work for her uncle's neighbor in the Recorder of Deeds office. Like many genteel and educated young ladies, both black and white, she became a teacher. The advent of the Civil War allowed her to put both her education and her reform impulse to work by joining the American Missionary Association in educating newly freed African Americans in the south.

All primary sources -- that is, the AMA records and her alumna file at Mt. Holyoke College -- say that she went to Norfolk, Virginia, in 1863 and remained there until 1864. Disease ran rampant, and she fell to typhoid or some similar infection. She convalesced through the following year back at her home in Honeoye, New York, south of Rochester.

If you look in Douglass's biographies, you find very little written about her until the past 20 years. In the more recent books, you find her mentioned, but, outside of a quite good and well-documented 1995 Shippensburg dissertation by Julie R. Nelson, most Douglass biographers have expressed little curiosity about her as a living person and an actor in Douglass's life. (This was one of the factors that led me to conceive of this book in the first place.) Lack of curiosity often leads to the repetition of unverified information, and I came across this in piecing together Pitts's life.

As an aside to the uninitiated: historians will look at secondary sources -- books written by other historians -- in order to see what those other historians say about a subject, to gain some insight into the subject, and to find clues pointing toward primary sources -- contemporary records documenting the events in question. As a rule, it is best to cite the secondary sources in matters of interpretation and only the primary sources for points of fact. Otherwise, you must place trust in someone else's reading of those primary documents and that is not always the wisest thing to do. This is a case in point.

William McFeely, in his well-written but weakly-researched biography Frederick Douglass, wrote, "In the 1860s, following the Civil War, Helen Pitts taught at Hampton Institute, later Booker T. Washington's alma mater. Ill-health, perhaps coupled with discouragement, sent her back to Honeoye, where she remained for several years." [p. 310] Maria Diedrich, in her extremely flawed Love Across Color Lines, wrote, "She was a well-educated woman who had graduated from Mount Holyoke Seminary in 1857 and had taught at Hampton Institute." (Actually, Pitts began in 1857 and graduated in 1859 -- but that's not the detail about which I am quibbling right now.) Diedrich cites MeFeely for that information, as does about every website mentioning Pitts, and McFeely has no source. That alone should be cause for consternation.

Hampton Institute was formed by the American Missionary Association, for whom Pitts did work as a teacher; but the Institute did not open until 1868, four years after she left Virginia. I don't have clear documentation for Helen's whereabouts between 1866 and her arrival in Washington, D.C., a decade later, so I wondered if this were true. McFeely's narrative resembles that of her experience in Norfolk, and he fails to mention Norfolk at all, so maybe he got his sources mixed up, or maybe he thought that, because she worked for the AMA and the AMA opened Hampton, then she must have taught at Hampton (hence his avoidance of specific dates). Maybe she worked in Norfolk, but after she recovered and after the war, she went back into the classroom, this time at Hampton. That could be an interesting layer to the story, and certainly Hampton might like that connection, as well.

So, I contacted Hampton University's archives. They responded with great efficiency. Not only did the school not open until after the period in which Pitts taught for the AMA, but the school has no record of her attending or teaching at the school. So, no connection with Hampton.

Still, her story will be fascinating to write because, aside from Nelson, Pitts only appears in conjunction with the death of Anna Douglass, the suicide of Ottilie Assing (the fallacy of the last is for another post), and the controversy that her interracial marriage caused. Like I said, no one but Nelson has attempted to understand her and she held a complicated place in Douglass's life, both while he was living and in commemorating him after he had died.

---------------------------------------
Image source: National Parks Service, http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/douglass/exb/homeinWashington/FRDO318_helenDouglass.html

11 comments:

  1. Nancy Davis Kho, April 14, 2012, 6:09 PM

    Fascinating. It'll be interesting to hear what you figure out about who Helen was working for in Norfolk in 1863, given the letters cited in Nelson's thesis saying that he ran into Helen in Norfolk that year and the notes made by Anna Edwards to the Mt. Holyoke College Archives that indicate she was indeed teaching that year.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Nancy! (My apologies for editing your comment.) Is your novel available?

    I'm pretty sure that she was in Norfolk. All the evidence points there, as you note. She obviously wasn't in Hampton! McFeely sometimes get things off. I'll be getting to her chapter in the summer, so I'll learn more there. I have a few new ideas about her later in life, but you may already have thought of them!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Leigh - might be interesting to talk directly, you can find my email on my web site if you'd care to follow up. Either way I'm looking forward to reading your book!
      Nancy

      Delete
    2. I will do that -- write you, that is! We could have some interesting takes on the subject from our differing crafts. I like what you say on your website, about telling the stories. Again, that is part of what drives this project -- especially this chapter I'm working on about the women from Douglass's childhood.

      Delete
    3. P.S. If you don't hear from me until the end of the month, that's because I'm on the Continent for a little break and I'm finishing up this chapter.

      Delete
  3. As the Town of Richmond, NY, historian, where Honeoye is the hamlet, I have long been fascinated by this native woman who was so far ahead of her time. I caution you about using the dissertation by Julie Nelson as I had a professor from University of North Carolina, Dr. Frank E. Fee, Jr. visit Honeoye in 2006. He spent several days reading the information in my files on Frederick Douglass and Helen Pitts. He found several errors in the Nelson writing and was kind enough to provide me with what he believed to be correct information. He has done extensive research on Douglass. I also just recently visited Cedar Hill - a very worthwhile venture. I have a story on Helen Pitts coming out in our local newspaper in the next week or two. I am also considering nominating Helen for the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, NY so that her passion and knowledge will be long remembered. If I can be of assistance to you in your venture, please feel free to contact me. Nancy Kho and I have stayed in touch for a few years also. Helen certainly does have admirers after all these years!
    Carol Schoonmaker, Town of Richmond Historian

    ReplyDelete
  4. Leigh, I am the historian for the Town of Richmond, where the hamlet of Honeoye is located.
    I have a serious interest in Helen Pitts Douglas and feel strongly that her life should be made better known. She truly was a woman ahead of her time. I do want to caution you about the thesis written by Julie Nelson. Dr. Frank E. Fee
    of the University of Carolina visited our town museum in 2006 and as a researcher on Frederick Douglass spent some time reading the files that I have. He found several errors in the Nelson thesis. I also visited Cedar Hill last month which is quite the memorial to Frederick, created by Helen. Just last week, I wrote a column for our local newspaper on Helen. I also am considering a nomination to the Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls to keep her work known.
    Carol Schoonmaker
    You can reach me at: cmacdona@rochester.rr.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello Leigh and Nancy -

    Nancy, I briefly corresponded with you a couple of years ago regarding my own Helen Pitts research.
    Leigh, I just came across your blog in my own research on Helen Pitts. I'm a Pitts descendant--Helen was first cousin of my great-grandmother, Emily Pomeroy Pitts Stoddard-- with roots in the Rochester/Naples/Honeoye regions of NY.
    I'm headed to Mt. Holyoke this week to look at the archives. I also could not find any information to confirm Helen's alleged work at Hampton (only some brief research) so am glad to hear of your findings. I also am trying to find information on any work associated with the Alpha feminist newspaper she purportedly wrote for in D.C.

    The interracial marriage of Pitts-Douglass has been a fascinating topic in my family (and quite controversial for some family members several decades ago!) for years. I will be interested to read your work.--Katy Odell, North Creek NY

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hello Leigh and Nancy -

    Nancy, I briefly corresponded with you a couple of years ago regarding my own Helen Pitts research.
    Leigh, I just came across your blog in my own research on Helen Pitts. I'm a Pitts descendant--Helen was first cousin of my great-grandmother, Emily Pomeroy Pitts Stoddard-- with roots in the Rochester/Naples/Honeoye regions of NY.
    I'm headed to Mt. Holyoke this week to look at the archives. I also could not find any information to confirm Helen's alleged work at Hampton (only some brief research) so am glad to hear of your findings. I also am trying to find information on any work associated with the Alpha feminist newspaper she purportedly wrote for in D.C.

    The interracial marriage of Pitts-Douglass has been a fascinating topic in my family (and quite controversial for some family members several decades ago!) for years. I will be interested to read your work.--Katy Odell, North Creek NY

    ReplyDelete
  7. Katy O and Carol, thank you both for your comments. I hope to contact you soon. I apologize that I only just now realized that these had been caught in moderation.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Is your research on Helen Pitts still in progress? I note that the last comment was made in 2012. I am a volunteer at Cedar Hill and eager to learn more about this fascinating person. Thanks, Maureen

    ReplyDelete