Quash was somewhat surprised when she learned that a doctor and his assistants from Savannah provided the same medical care for the owner’s family and the slaves, but later she came to understand that his slaves were Mordecai Singleton’s most valuable possessions, the source of his income and the measure of his wealth and social prestige. In fact, the slaves were usually worth about twenty times as much as the entire plantation on which they lived and worked.

The planting season continued for the next two months, as the crew moved from one field to another. Within two weeks, Quash could stay abreast of the other women and paused no more often than they to get the kink out of her backbone. She was proud when Big William met the group of women early one morning, looked at her, and said, “You be a full hand now.” From then on, her plot was the same size as that of the other women.

Quash Dolly was a slender girl of medium height, as black as her grandparents in Africa, always quiet and modest, and unaware that her posture and demeanor somehow set her apart. She seemed to retain her dignity even when she was wading barefoot in water and muck with her long skirt pulled up between her legs and tied around her waist. Although relatively young, a few months past seventeen, she did her work well and was respected by the other slave women.

One day, she and the other workers noticed Master Mordecai and his wife, Elizabeth, riding their horses near the field and stopping to talk to Big William. They seemed to be looking closely at the women, all of whom paid special attention to their work and refrained from glancing toward their owner and supervisor. As they were leaving the field that afternoon and walking toward their quarters, Big William motioned for Quash to come to him. Her mind quickly reviewed the status of her work plots, trying to remember if there were any that would warrant his criticism.

He said, “Quash, the missus want a worker in de big house, and you maybe can do it.”

She tried to think of a reply but realized that none was necessary. He had already made the decision. She had never been near the big house but had exchanged a few words with Maggie, the mulatto slave who was in charge of cooking and cleaning for the master’s family. She was treated with great respect, as one who had lived on the Hopewell plantation for more than twenty years and had personally served Mordecai’s parents before his father, Archibald, had died and his widowed mother moved to Savannah.