Eliza Winston

Eliza Winston (c. 1830–?) was an enslaved American from Mississippi who was freed from her owners while with them on vacation in Minnesota, a free state. She received a hearing in court via a Freedom suit, where she said she and her late husband had purchased her freedom from a previous owner, but it was not honored. She was freed from her Mississippi owners and possibly aided in getting to Canada, but no definitive account exists for her life afterwards.

Biography According to Winston's own account, she was born in 1830, though research indicates she was more likely born around 1817. As a child, she was enslaved by Thomas Hopkins on a plantation with her family. In 1822, she was purchased by a man she identified as "Macklemo", or John Christmas McLemore, and the deed of sale listed her as "about five years of age". McLemore was married to Betsy Donelson, who was part of a family of wealthy planters who were prominent in politics. Betsy Donelson's aunt Rachel Donelson was married to Andrew Jackson, dying before his first term as US President, and McLemore once visited Jackson at the White House. McLemore worked as a surveyor and invested in new cities like Memphis. He never enslaved more than ten people at a time in Nashville, but the people he enslaved were constantly changing. After the mid-1820s, the McLemore family suffered financially, defaulted on his investments, and sold off his real estate. In 1834, McLemore's property was seized by the sheriff of Davidson County, and "Eliza" was listed at 17 years old as she was sold at the family estate. She and all the other "property" was purchased by Lucius Polk, a cousin of James K. Polk. Lucius was given the money to buy Winston and the other people enslaved by McLemore by Andrew Jackson, as he was similarly tied to the Donelson family, and was to keep the furniture and captives in trust until they could be given to the McLemore daughters, Mary and Catherine.

Polk transferred Winston and the four other enslaved individuals (Gabriel, Harriet, Malinda, and Julius, who ranged from ages 25 to 8) to his plantation Hamilton Place. In 1840, over 50 people were enslaved on the plantation. The Polk plantation also housed some free African Americans. Many pro-slavery advocates and other notables, like Andrew Jackson and James Kirke Paulding, visited the plantation. Christmas gave Gholson $800 for Winston, which was the average price for an enslaved African American woman in Memphis at that time. Gholson used the money to buy land in trust for his daughter.

Winston had already determined to seek her freedom there and told her story to Ralph and Emily Goodridge Grey, who were free black citizens and abolitionists with strong local ties. The Greys worked with local abolitionists, such as W.D. Babbit, Ariel S. Bigelow, and William S. King, to free Winston. On August 21, Grey, Babbit, and Grey's white friend Mrs Gates, filed a complaint which asserted that Winston was being "restrained of her liberty by her master.". According to interpretations of the Dred Scott case of 1857 which had been announced a few months earlier, Winston would return to slavery if she returned to a slave state. Local businessmen and others who feared that discouraging slaveholders from visiting would affect their livelihood went to the courthouse to make their opinions known. The Saint Anthony Weekly Express opined that the event would damage the tourism trade.

On August 21, 1860, after a hearing, the judge ruled that Winston was a free woman. The Christmases attorney had argued that Winston's enslavement was legal; Winston's attorney read a single sentence from the state constitution. Judge Vanderburgh ruled in Winston's flavor. The courtroom scene soon became chaotic. That evening, a pro-slavery mob surrounded the Greys' home and demanded that Winston be returned to the Christmases. Three days later, Winston filed an affidavit telling her side of the story.

Some scholars believe that with the aid of people in the Underground Railroad, Winston was already on her way to Windsor, Ontario Canada, which had abolished slavery. Other accounts of her life have Winston relocating to Detroit.