Memoir of Old Elizabeth, A Coloured Woman

Old Elizabeth, born into bondage in 1766 Maryland, recounts her life with a voice as plain as it is powerful. From a childhood steeped in Methodist worship to a painful separation from her family, she describes the loneliness of being sent to a distant farm and the desperate trek of twenty miles to reunite with her mother. Her mother’s parting words—“you have nobody but God”—echo through the narrative, shaping a steadfast reliance on prayer amid hardship.

The memoir captures a vivid spiritual crisis when Elizabeth, on the brink of surrender, experiences a vision of a radiant guide urging her to pray. This encounter propels her through a harrowing inner battle that ends with a transformative sense of peace and forgiveness. Listeners are invited to feel the raw resilience of a woman whose faith carried her through the darkest fields of slavery toward a hopeful, though unfinished, journey.