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Sally Maria Diggs

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Freed American slave (born c. 1851)

Sally Maria Diggs (c.1851 – October 27, 1928) was an enslaved African-American girl, also known as "Pinky", whose freedom was famously bought by Henry Ward Beecher in 1860, during a sermon at Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, NYC. Beecher famously said, "No child should be in slavery, let alone a child like this" and raised $900 to purchase her freedom.

A parishioner named Rose Terry donated a ring toward Diggs' freedom. Upon her emancipation, Diggs was renamed Rose Ward, after Rose Terry and Henry Ward Beecher. The episode was celebrated in a number of paintings and drawings at the time, including Eastman Johnson's "Freedom Ring." Diggs later attended Howard University and married a lawyer named James Hunt, at which point she became Rose Ward Hunt. In 1927, Diggs returned to Plymouth Church to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Henry Ward Beecher's first sermon at Plymouth Church.

In 2010, sculptor Meredith Bergmann crafted a bust of Diggs. It was made in the style of the busts that flank the original entrance of the Center for Brooklyn History (then the Brooklyn Historical Society). The bust remains in CBH's collections.

References

  1. ^ "Negroes: Again: Pinky". Time. May 23, 1927. Archived from the original on February 12, 2009. Sixty-seven years ago the congregation of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, saw Pastor Henry Ward Beecher* mount the pulpit, accompanied by a trembling nine-year-old Negress.
  2. "Times Union 29 Oct 1928, page 6". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
  3. Library, Brooklyn Public. "Brooklyn Public Library: Brooklyn in the Civil War". www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org.
  4. Strausbaugh, John (October 12, 2007). "On the Trail of Brooklyn's Underground Railroad". The New York Times.
  5. "Crisis Decade (1850 – 1860) | In Pursuit of Freedom". Retrieved 2023-12-05.
  6. Library, Brooklyn Public. "Brooklyn Public Library: Brooklyn in the Civil War". www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org.
  7. "Crisis Decade (1850 – 1860) | In Pursuit of Freedom". Retrieved 2023-12-05.
  8. "Brooklyn Before Now: Artists Run Loose in Brooklyn Historical Society". Brooklyn Before Now. 2010-11-18. Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2018-02-22.
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