author
Susie King Taylor
1848–1912
Born into slavery in Georgia, she learned to read in secret, escaped to Union lines during the Civil War, and went on to teach, nurse, and write one of the era’s most important firsthand memoirs. Her life story is full of courage, practical service, and hard-won witness.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Susie King Taylor was an American teacher, nurse, and memoirist born in 1848 in Liberty County, Georgia. As a child, she was sent to Savannah, where she learned to read and write through secret lessons despite laws banning the education of enslaved Black people.
During the Civil War, she escaped to Union-held territory and began teaching formerly enslaved children and adults. She later served with the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, which became the 33rd United States Colored Troops, helping as a nurse and laundress and supporting soldiers in camp. She is often remembered as the first African American Army nurse and as the only Black woman known to have published a memoir of her Civil War experiences.
In 1902, she published Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33d United States Colored Troops, a vivid account of wartime life and its aftermath. Today, she is recognized not only for what she survived, but for how clearly and bravely she recorded it.