Amanda America Dickson: Mixed Experience History Month

Amanda America Dickson (1849-1893) became one of the richest women of the 19th century.  She was the daughter of a black slave, Julia Francis Lewis, and Lewis' white slave master, David Dickson, reportedly as a result of rape.  Raised by her white grandmother, Dickson was afforded the privileges of a young white woman: she learned to read, write and play piano.  Known as "Miss Mandy," Dickson was doted on by her father and considered his favorite.  According to historian Kent Anderson Leslie who has written Dickson's biography titled Woman of Color, Daughter of Privilege: Amanda America Dickson 1849-1893, Dickson defined herself as a "no nation" among both her black relatives and white relatives.  When her father died in 1885, he left the bulk of his estate to Dickson (estimated at more than $300,000 plus land).  White relatives contested the will, but ultimately lost their lawsuit in the Georgia Supreme Court which ruled: the "rights of each race were controlled and governed by the same enactment on principles of the law."  In 1892, Dickson married Nathan Toomer, a wealthy man of color, who fathered Harlem Renaissance writer Jean Toomer later in life (with Nina Pinchback).  Dickson died on July 11, 1893.  The movie A House Divided, starring Jennifer Beals, is based on Dickson's life.