The Founding Mother

Chapter 1

The circumstances of my birth were not kept a secret in the household or even around town. People knew I was the illegitimate child of my parents. There was not much to it. It was not a rarity but not common either. What gave birth to me in the first place was curiosity.

If I had to describe the kind of man my father was with one word, it would be curious. He was not more cruel than the average man neither was her more merciful. Aside from his wealth, the only thing that stood out was his curiosity.

When I was younger, I heard from the older slaves that had he not taken over his family's plantation, he would have stayed upstate attending to his studies. And though I did not understand much at that age, I was not surprised. If anything, it made sense to me.

His library bursting with books, filling the shelves from the ceiling to the floor. The ladders that even adults had to climb in order to reach some of them. It must have been the biggest library in the colonies. The library right next to his own room. The first place he would visit in the morning and last in the night before he fell asleep. If one was searching for George Wright, the library was always the answer.

And that curiosity and insatiable thirst for the unknown led him to start an affair with my mother, a slave. Her appearance did not stand out from the other female slaves. She had the same dark skin, was the average height and weight of a slave and even had the same coarse dark hair as the rest. The only thing that stood out was her mind.

Despite never having being thought, she was able to read and comprehend simple sentences. She was able to tell the owners whose letter it was and whom it came from without being told so prior. She was able to adapt her posture depending on the guest of the manor. She was able to give the owners cues when something did not seem right with the guest.

Due to her usefulness, she was placed at the reception when guests arrived. Of course hidden between the more presentable white servants. Despite her weak presence among the servants, she stood out and earned the Wright family a lot of praise for training their slave so well. This made Sarah the favorite slave of the Wright family, a pet to showcase.

Admittedly my father was despite his myriad of books not the brightest. Not long after his wife of three years gave birth to their second child, he started an affair with my mother. It started with him regularly inviting her to the library, sending her books and teaching her how to read more complicated books despite his own wife being basically illiterate.

The curiosity to know what would happen if this slave of his got educated drove him to spend more and more time with Sarah. This made George's wife Mary jealous. It was not uncommon for men to sleep with their female slave and if it was only that Mary reckons she would not have been as bothered. However George was spending time with Sarah without making any sexual advances and this irked her incredibly.

Sarah's days in the house became increasingly difficult as the affair went on. She had to do more and more manual work. She had to receive more and more rowdy guests. And no matter what she did the Madame of the house was unsatisfied.

On the other hand through the time spent with George, she became increasingly efficient with the house work and could deal with even the more difficult guests. George was dissatisfied with the results and started spending less time with Sarah again.

The slave was still a slave not discussing and not arguing with him in the way he wished she would. Although her mind was brilliant, her mentality prevented her from thinking critically. She was absorbing everything like a sponge the good and the bad. He should have known the limits of a black woman.

The distance between George and Sarah was a pleasant development for Mary. She was growing tired of her jealousy and in all honesty did not what to work the most efficient slave in the house to death. However the two parties involved were less happy with the new development.

Sarah missed her time in the library and the books that taught her so many things that she could not explain before. So when George after a long time summoned her to the library one evening, she was excited. It had been a long time since she had openly held a book in her hand. A long time since she learnt something new. And him inviting her meant that she would get to learn something and she did learn something new. She learnt how children were created.

George was not able to find another intriguing project like the mind of Sarah. He felt restless. Nothing he started felt as comparable as the feeling he got when he saw Sarah's mind expanding. He wanted to know what would happen if a child was born to his wishes.

A child that although having a slave as a mother would be educated and act like a person with class. How would the child compare to his own children? Would there be a gap in their abilities due to their heritage? One being tainted by the blood of a slave and the other proper as it should be.

And so he struck a deal with Sarah. She would gain unlimited access to the library and in return she would bear him a child. Sarah was shocked. She had heard of slave owners sleeping with their slaves and the children that resulted of this unlawful relationship but she did not think of George that way.

She liked his mind and curiosity and he was by no means a cruel owner but that did not mean that she wanted to enter such an affair with him. Especially not when he had a wife that was starting to treat her better, not when she was his parents' most favored slave. She had a lot to lose.

Due to her skills and abilities, she had always been in the house helping out. A much more comfortable work than what the other slaves had to do. She was pampered compared to her peers that had to work on the plantation and after years of adapting to that role, she was sure she would not survive that kind of work.

However an unlimited access to various books in different languages covering diverse subject matters was tempting. Even more so since she had experienced the effects of knowledge. Her quality of life rose.

Perhaps this affair would not be too bad and so she agreed. That very night George deflowered Sarah and copulated with her in the library. It was to the surprise of both parties that they enjoyed it.

The very next morning Sarah went to Mary to tell her about the deal and happenings of the previous night. Mary and George were no longer newlyweds and had fulfilled their marital duty by providing four children, two girls and two boys. Thus they slept in different bedrooms and kept a polite distance to one another. Mary was none the wiser of the previous night.

She was surprised that Sarah would come to her and tell her what had happened. She did not know how to react. And as she was in deep thoughts and recollecting herself on the settee, Sarah stood by her side not moving until she was told to.

After recollecting herself, she said "Well the affairs of my husband are none of my business. Continue as he wishes. You can leave." With that Sarah did not hesitate to leave the room and the Mistress of the house alone. Mary continued to sit absentminded. She was surprised. Not because Sarah and George had started an affair, she had a feeling that that would happen sooner or later before either involved party even knew.

No she was surprised that she did not mind them having an affair. It was normal for men to have an affair in her circle especially when they married out of convenience and not out of love. Sometimes love would happen afterwards, other times love would never come. She had told herself she would love her husband but she was unable to. She could not hot a proper conversation with him and if she did it never lasted long. He never showed interest in social gatherings and did the mere minimum when he was in a good mood. Other times he would leave to his study.

She was actually relieved when they separated their bedrooms after she had given birth to four healthy children. They held less social gatherings and only attended the ones together that they could not avoid. The only times they would see each other during the day would be at the dinner table. The rest of the day she would spend with her children, going to town and visiting friends. And she has quite honestly never felt this relieved during their marriage.

And so the affair between George and Sarah continued with the consent of his wife and became the talk of the house. By the time I was born their relationship that started as a deal turned into something more romantic. They were often seen in the library together just sitting next to each other and reading. Sarah would often listen intently to his ramblings and experiments and George would sometimes just spend the time looking at Sarah when they were in the library.

After a year, I was born in George's bedroom.