Yellow Wife

Pheby’s mother was a tailor, known for her beauty and elegance. The clothes she wore were different from those of the other enslaved workers on the plantation. She took great care in her clothing, evidence of her mantra that—while her body may be enslaved—her mind was free. Ruth felt it was important that her daughter respect herself and know that she deserved more than slavery. After Ruth’s death, Pheby spots her mother’s red dress hanging on a hook behind the door. Pheby alters the dress and wears it to her mother’s funeral. The first time she puts it on, she is overwhelmed with the smell of her mother and her own grief.

When she is taken away to Lapier’s jail and sold, Pheby refuses to put on a different dress, even though the red calico is stained and tattered from the eight-day march. She watches as other enslaved individuals are sold and forced to remove their clothing, but Pheby plants her feet and refuses to remove the dress—a reflection of how she holds on to her identity. Later, she carefully folds the dress and puts it in her closet. For Pheby, this is the last remaining connection to her mother, the person she loved most in the world.