Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen by Sarah Bird
Cathy Williams was born a slave but her mother taught her
never to use that word. She was a
captive. The women in her family were royal in Africa and being caught and sent
to America to work as a slave didn’t change that. She was taught to be strong,
to think, to see past her bondage. These
skills helped her recognize the crack in the system when one presented itself.
Cathy’s chance, the crack in the system, presented itself in
the form of Union general Sheridan who recognized Cathy’s abilities to think
and took her into his service. And she recognized the chances she would have
when she was free. Not if, but when.
At the end of the war Cathy refused to return to a life of
service and disguised herself as a man, something some women did during the
war, and entered the Army as a Buffalo Soldier.
She struggled to hide as a woman
among men for years to eventually earn her Army pension and be truly free, able
to support her life.
Using her wits and strength, Cathy was the only woman to
ever be a Buffalo Soldier, but it’s not hard to see Cathy’s struggles with
identity and acceptance and fairness reflected still in our time. Her story was
almost lost to history but for the author.
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