Stowe, Harriet Beecher (1811-1896) to Mrs. S.C. Hall
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC01586 Author/Creator: Stowe, Harriet Beecher (1811-1896) Place Written: Andover, Massachusetts Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 29 December 1855 Pagination: 3 p. : envelope ; 18 x 14.5 cm. Order a Copy
Mentions the suffering of many families in England (likely a reference to the Crimean War) and hopes that it has not affected Mrs. Hall and her family. Stowe writes that she will probably be in England some time in the coming year, as there are many people she wants to visit. Reading over old letters has her reminiscing about a previous trip to England. Discusses a Miss Greenfield, a black singer. Envelope is adhered to first page of the letter.
Mrs. S.C. Hall was a popular Irish-born novelist. Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield (ca. 1824-1876), known as "The Black Swan," was a singer noted for her more than three-octave range. Born a slave in Mississippi, Greenfield had been adopted by a Quaker family and given musical training. Stowe was among her patrons, and had helped arrange for additional training in England, where Greenfield gave a command performance for the Queen. Stowe refers to her meetings with both Hall and Greenfield in the book "Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands."
[Excerpt]
I believe she [Miss Greenfield] is doing now pretty well, but she is in the hands of a speculator - The evils which beset a white cantatrice from this rapacious class of people are all doubled upon the head of one of her complexion. Yet she has been useful as shewing the world what astonishing musical capabilities & powers of voice lie buried in the slavery of her race. I hope one of these days that one of them gifted in this peculiar way will be taken at a sufficient early period of life and put through a regular musical drill in Italy. I think the world will then get a new idea of what singing is -- as well as what the African race are meant for...
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