Yellow Crocus
When Elizabeth Wainwright is born in 1837, her young mother, Ann, is overwhelmed by the unfamiliar responsibilities of childcare. Ann becomes dependent on Mattie, the slave who serves as wet nurse, to care for the little girl. Although forced to leave her own son and move into the Wainwrights’ big house, Mattie comes to love Elizabeth—and the child loves Mattie.
Ann’s husband and her mother-in-law object to Elizabeth’s attachment to a slave and send Mattie back to the slave quarters. Mattie’s husband makes plans for them to run away, but Elizabeth becomes dangerously ill. When the Wainwrights, desperate, call Mattie back, Mattie promises to follow her husband later.
As she grows up, Elizabeth’s choices tell us Mattie is a better mother than Ann could ever be. Perhaps that’s why Mattie is turned away again. Heartbroken but resigned, Mattie finds her own family living as “free Negroes” in a “free” state.
The Wainwrights personalize the thoughtless cruelty inherent within the institution of slavery. Countless slaves were separated from their own families for the convenience of their owners. In a final irony, Mattie and Elizabeth meet as adults where they must hide their relationship and forever stay apart for fear of revealing Mattie’s past. This is a well written and touching, if not original, story. Yellow Crocus will be hard to forget.
