This week in Brattleboro history we are going to tell you about Lucy Terry Prince, or Luce Bijah, as she called herself. She lived from 1724 to 1821. In a book called The Music of Black Americans it says Lucy Terry Prince was a significant contributor in the efforts to maintain a sense of Africa in early America. Her storytelling and singing kept alive the African traditions. She made her home a gathering place for slaves and freedmen; a place where they could listen to tales and songs of old Africa.
Lucy was born in Africa. She was kidnapped, forced into slavery and shipped to Rhode Island. Around the age of four she was sold to Ebenezer Wells of Deerfield, Massachusetts and became his house slave. When she was in her early twenties, five people in Deerfield died during a raid by Abenaki Indians. Lucy became one of America’s first African American poets when she composed a poem about the raid. By all accounts, she was a gifted wordsmith and a captivating storyteller.
Abijiah Prince, a freed slave, bought Lucy’s freedom and married her in 1756. She had her first child the following year and by 1769 they had five others. During the 1760’s, the Prince family moved to Guilford, Vermont.
It is in Guilford that Luce Bijah, as she called herself, fought for her equality as a landowner and a citizen of Vermont. Luce was well known for her speaking abilities. Young people were attracted to Luce’s fireside where they were entertained with recitations, music and poetry. She used her communication skills several times to defend her family’s rights and property. In the 1780’s, a neighboring white family in Guilford threatened and bullied the Princes in an attempt to scare them off their land, so Luce appealed to Governor Chittenden for protection. She won the argument. The Vermont government ordered Guilford’s selectboard to defend the Princes’ against their neighbors.
In the 1790’s a well-known military man attempted to steal land that was owned by the Princes. The case eventually made it to the Vermont court system and Luce argued against two of the leading lawyers in the state, one of whom became Chief Justice of Vermont. Luce won the case and the presiding justice of the court, Samuel Chase, said that her argument was better than he had heard from any Vermont lawyer.
When her husband died in 1794, Luce remained in Guilford but, as she got older, in 1808 she moved to Sunderland, Vermont to live with one of her sons. She died in Sunderland in 1821 at the age of 97.
Lemuel Haynes, an African American preacher from Vermont, spoke at her funeral. He used the opportunity to praise Luce’s strength of character and her contributions to an almost invisible heritage of African American history. In his speech he gave an important statement against slavery and used her life as an example of African America’s struggle for justice.
Lucy Terry Prince was one of America’s first Black poets. She was an example of resilience as she worked hard not only to survive economically, but also to protect her family from racist harassment and vandalism.