Rewritten in Their Names

In this episode of Rewritten in Their Names, Listra reads a single entry from an 1824 return of punishments from Union Plantation in Pointe a Pierre, Trinidad. The record names Betty Let and reduces her to one “offence” sentence, then measures the response in hours: from about ten o’clock in the field to foot stocks beginning at six in the afternoon, through the night. Staying close to the page, this episode follows what the record counts, what it leaves silent, and what still survives in Betty’s refusal.Content note:This episode includes the language of the colonial record and a description of punishment. There is no graphic detail, but the themes may feel heavy. Please listen in a way that feels safe for you.

Marie Rose appears in the colonial punishment record as a line, not a life.In this episode of Rewritten in Their Names, I read what was written about her on the Moka Estate in Trinidad, then sit with what the archive leaves out: her presence, her refusal, and the ordinary courage of a woman who did not exist to be managed on a page.This episode includes mention of punishment and the language of the colonial record. There is no graphic detail, but the themes may feel heavy. Please listen in a way that feels safe for you.Beyond the record, her truth lives.This episode was updated for pacing and clarity. The archival entries and the argument are the same.

In each episode, I call the name of one enslaved womanand read her offense and punishment exactly as it was recorded.Our focus is the woman, not the spectacle of enslavement.We sit with her line in the archive to honor her memory,to insist that she existed, and to remember that she endured a systemdesigned to break her.

In 1824, a Book of Punishment from the plantation called Friendship in the Quarter of Savoneta, Trinidad, recorded a woman named Nancy. In this episode of Rewritten in Their Names, I read Nancy’s entry aloud and sit with the fragments that remain of her life and of other enslaved women in Trinidad and the wider Caribbean.Content note: This episode includes references to corporal punishment, hunger, and the violence of enslavement.