Dates: 1863-1878 (scattered).
Original is restricted; reference photocopy must be used instead.

Biography:

Bettie Black Mayo

Bettie Black moved from Arkansas to Yalobusha County, Mississippi, in January of 1863 to stay with her uncle and aunt, J. S. and Martha J. Richardson. The Richardsons owned a plantation near the town of Graysport, then located on the Yalobusha River, now a site covered by the waters of Grenada Lake, a reservoir northeast of Grenada. Black was living in Duncan, Monroe County, Arkansas, by 1865. She had moved to Marvell, Phillips County, Arkansas, by the 1890s, and she was married to James Mayo, a real-estate agent in partnership with L. J. McKinney.

 
Scope and Content Note:

This collection consists of the diary of Betty Black (Mayo) and accompanying loose papers removed from it. Her diary contains daily entries from January to September, 1863, and a summary for the year 1865. The diary entries contain details of the daily lives of Bettie Black and her Mississippi relatives, the Richardsons. In most of the entries, Black mentions several of the household tasks she engaged in, especially sewing and weaving for her brothers and cousins, as well as her uncles slaves. Some of the entries discuss Blacks nursing of her aunt, Martha, and her cousin, Isabelle (Belle), both of whom had typhoid fever. Also mentioned are visits that Black made to her relatives in Providence, Attala County, Mississippi. Some of the daily plantation and business affairs of Blacks uncle are discussed, specifically the planting and harvesting of cotton and building a salt works in Graysport. Black also noted her daily interaction with slaves, including visits to slave mothers and their babies and attending a slave funeral. She also recorded the names of several slaves. There is some war news regarding the activities of Blacks brother, Sam, a member of Chalmers Brigade; her cousin, Willie, a member of Scotts Brigade; and her friend, Captain Stephens, a member of the McClung Rifles. Events such as the fall of Vicksburg and the burning of railroad cars at Grenada are briefly discussed, as well as the effect of the war, especially the Union blockade, on Black and her relatives and acquaintances in Graysport; Oakland, Yalobusha County; and Providence, Attala County. The accompanying loose papers include an 1878 newspaper article discussing people from Arkansas, several undated poems clipped from various newspapers, and two handwritten poems that are also undated.

 

Series Identification:

Series 1: Diary. 1863-1865. 1 folder.

Series 2: Loose papers and newsclippings removed from diary. 1878; n.d. 2 folders.

 

Box List:

Box 1, folders 1-3 (original is restricted). 
Box 2, folders 1-3 (reference photocopy).