Daisy Turner (June 21, 1883 – February 8, 1988) was an American storyteller and poet. Born in

Grafton Grafton may refer to: Places Australia * Grafton, New South Wales Canada * Grafton, New Brunswick * Grafton, Nova Scotia * Grafton, Ontario England * Grafton, Cheshire * Grafton, Herefordshire *Grafton, North Yorkshire * Grafton, Oxfordshi ...

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the ...

, to former slaves, she became famous late in life for her oral recordings of her family's history, which can be traced back to Africa and England.

Biography

Daisy Turner's enslaved father, Alexander Turner, escaped from his

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Th ...

at the start of the Civil War, and joined the 1st New Jersey Cavalry of the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

. In the spring of 1863, Turner guided his regiment to his old plantation in

Port Royal Port Royal is a village located at the end of the Palisadoes, at the mouth of Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1494 by the Spanish, it was once the largest city in the Caribbean, functioning as the centre of shipping an ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

, where he killed his former overseer. After military service, he returned to

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian province ...

where he worked as a logger. He and his wife Sally had a homestead in

Grafton, Vermont Grafton is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The population was 645 at the 2020 census. History In the early 19th century, sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as ...

, where they raised 16 children. Daisy Turner was proud of her heritage, and was a strong, outspoken woman from childhood to her death at the age of 104. She is remembered as a gifted storyteller and family historian. The Turner family homestead, where they raised 13 children, is located on the "Daisy Turner Loop", a biking trail near Grafton Pond. Turner was a "striking beauty in her youth, with high cheekbones and deep-set eyes" and led an exciting life, many of the details of which have been recorded carefully. Daisy can be seen reciting Civil War poetry, aged 104, in

Ken Burns Kenneth Lauren Burns (born July 29, 1953) is an American filmmaker known for his documentary film, documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle United States, American History of the United States, history and Culture of the ...

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of ed ...

documentary, '' The Civil War''.. '' The Civil War: A Film by Ken Burns''. 1990-09-26. No. 5, season 1. One of Turner's favorite personal stories, which she recounted often, involved a school pageant when Turner was about eight years old. In the pageant, Turner's teacher had instructed Turner to recite a poem with a black doll, but at the last minute, Turner resisted and spontaneously made up her own poem. This story became the subject of a children's book by Michael Medearis and Angela Shelf Medearis, and receives scholarly attention in ''Racial Innocence: Performing American Childhood from Slavery to Civil Rights,'' by Robin Bernstein.Robin Bernstein (2011
Innocence: Performing American Childhood from Slavery to Civil Rights,''
(New York: New York University Press, 2011), 194-196, 221-222, 226-228. Daisy Turner's story continues to attract wide attention as part of an effort to preserve the folk history of Vermont and the United States.

Biography

References

Further reading