Eliza Suggs - Shadow and Sunshine

One of the things I love most about history is that there is always more to learn, you just may have to dive a little deeper. Sometimes it takes multiple tries at certain phrasings on Google to find the stories you've never heard. Last night I was up trying to find stories of Black historical figures with disabilities, as I realized the only person I could think of was Harriet Tubman, who endured a traumatic brain injury as a child and suffered the consequences for the rest of her life (don't worry, she will absolutely be a topic in the future). Luckily, I was able to find more figures than only her and have added quite a few people to my list of future posts. Today we will learn the story of a young woman who, despite her race, gender, and physical limitations, became educated and had a career as a traveling lecturer.

Eliza, 1892

Elizabeth "Eliza" Gertrude Suggs was born on December 11, 1876 in Providence, Illinois. This community is a bit southwest of the Chicagoland area and was a former stop on the Underground Railroad. She was the youngest of eight children born to Reverend James Suggs and his wife, Malinda: Ellen, Franklin, Lucinda, Calvin, Sarah, Kate, and Lenora. The two boys died when they were young adults. Lucinda had died as a child, soon after the Civil War ended. The remaining five daughters lived long lives. The couple had not expected their youngest, Eliza, to live long, and certainly not past the age of ten. They were in constant fear that she would die and, in a way, almost hoped for the mercy of death to relieve their daughter's suffering. They even had burial clothes made when she was five years old, convinced they would need them any day.

Though she had seemed typical at birth, at the age of four weeks Eliza began crying inconsolably. The next day, her mother realized that she had a broken leg. Soon after that healed, she broke her arm; almost as soon as that arm healed, the other broke. James and Malinda tried to keep her safe, but even the gentlest of movements broke their daughter's bones. Her sister once broke her arm with just a handshake. She could not sit up on her own and could barely move. She was constantly in pain from various fractures and had significantly stunted growth. The first six years of her life were spent propped up in a baby carriage at the window, watching the world go by. Doctors did not know what was wrong with her. When she was a bit older, Eliza was diagnosed with "an extreme case of rickets." We now know that she actually had osteogenesis imperfecta, more colloquially known as "Brittle Bone Disease." This group of genetic diseases causes a lack of or abnormal collagen leading to problems with the body's connective tissues. This can cause bone deformities, muscle weakness, and easily broken bones. There are seven types, ranging from mild to fatal.

As we'll see in a moment, Eliza had a great deal of determination and fight in her. Her memoir, from which all of the below quotes are taken, showed me that she inherited this from her parents. Both James and Malinda were born into slavery in the American South, he in North Carolina in 1831 and she in Alabama in 1834. At the age of three, James was sold to Mississippi, away from his mother and twin brother, never to see them again. He was later sold again to a Mr. Suggs, who Eliza reported was "a kind master." He "had to steal what learning he got" by listening to the Suggs children tell him of their lessons. As an adult, he was considered "an industrious and obedient servant" and "a valuable slave." James learned blacksmithing and, because Mr. Suggs allowed him to work "for himself" in the evenings to earn money, this allowed him to buy nicer clothes than other enslaved people had. He also spent lavishly on his family, as evidenced when he once bought $7 (over $200 today) earrings for his wife; these were later stolen by raiding Union soldiers.

Eliza's father, before his death in 1889

Malinda had been sold to the Suggs family when she was young, separated from her mother and eight siblings. She had been taught to read and write by a previous owner's wife. This Mrs. Filbrick was "kind and gentle in disposition" and opposed slavery, going so far as to prophesying to the girl that "someday the slaves would all be free." When the Filbricks left the South, they sold their enslaved workforce, selling Malinda to the Suggs family in Mississippi. She and James fell in love when they were teenagers and were allowed to marry. Luckily for them, Mr. Suggs "did not believe in separating husband and wife," thus sparing them "the horrors and heartaches which were the common lot of most slaves."

In her memoir, Eliza chose also to include some harrowing stories from her parents' days of enslavement. One was a story of an older woman who married a younger man after being freed; both were horrified to learn that he was her son, sold away years before at an auction. She also told of Malinda witnessing her mother being brutally beaten by their master, drunk and angry after a night of gambling, when she was just a little girl. She wrote of spouses sold away from each other, of enslaved people being brutally beaten after not meeting the day's cotton-picking quota, and witnessing the devastation wrought on families at slave auctions.

Eliza wrote that her father, before his conversion to Christianity as a young adult, was a worldly young man. He was vain, danced, drank, and snuck off the plantation without a pass (if caught without a pass at night, an enslaved person was at risk of a severe beating or death). After converting, James asked permission from his owner for a pass to go to an evening church service, leading Mr. Suggs to say, "If James keeps on like this, he will surely make a preacher."

The couple had four children together while still enslaved. During the American Civil War, James escaped to serve in the Union Army. He had previously commented that, "When the car of freedom comes along, I am going to get on board." He would be apart from his family for almost four years. It was during this time that Malinda had her "first experiences that might be called real trouble." Mr. Suggs was convinced that James had run away at the prompting of his wife. To keep her from leaving, he took two of her children to Georgia. Malinda was left with her other two children, without her husband, while mourning the death of a sister. She was the only enslaved woman left on the plantation, so did not have time to grieve or care for her remaining children. She became weaker and weaker, almost to the point of dying, until she heard the Lord telling her that she would see her husband and children again. It was this faith that helped her survive.

James wrote letters to his wife, but they were destroyed by her owners. Mrs. Suggs constantly told Malinda stories that James was being tortured by Yankees. Malinda allegedly told her mistress that, "Oh, well, he is as well off there as he would be here." Eventually, her other two children, abused and neglected, were returned to her in Mississippi. She remained at the plantation, praying that they would be reunited with James. When freed, she left the Suggs family and went to work to support her children. Finally, Malinda received a letter and lock of her husband's hair, telling them to prepare to come North.

Eliza's mother, 1906

During the war, James had been wounded while serving in the United States Colored Troops, Company I, but recovered and re-enlisted in the 59th US Colored Troops, Company C, rising to the rank of Corporal and serving in Tennessee and Mississippi until the war's end. James ended up in the North with his Captain, Mr. Newton, and was not sure how to retrieve his family. The Captain had business in the South so voluntarily, and at risk to his own safety being a Union veteran, brought Malinda and their four children north. James worked hard as a laborer, farmer, and a blacksmith to maintain a log cabin for his family in Illinois. He and Malinda were legally married as free people in June 1866. Their daughter, Lucinda, died from typhoid fever at the age of eight in December of 1867.

In her autobiography, Eliza recorded her father's call to ministry. James initially resisted, still holding onto his "worldly ambitions" of "making money," but eventually consented to the "responsibility of leading lost souls to Christ." He was given an exhorter's license in the Free Methodist Church in 1874 and a local preaching license in 1878; he was ordained as a deacon in 1879 and an elder in 1884. He was very active in the temperance movement, and Eliza spent a good portion of autobiography telling stories of his preaching and activism career. The entire family were counted as "hardy pioneers of Free Methodism in Kansas and Nebraska." Sadly, he died from a long illness in May of 1889, when Eliza was just twelve years old.

James and Malinda were examples of resilience for their children, especially Eliza. They wanted the next generation to have more education and opportunities than they had. The Suggs family moved to Kansas when Eliza was a toddler. Her older sister, Sarah, taught school in their home, giving Eliza the first chance at education. There she learned the basics of reading and spelling. The family eventually settled in Orleans, Nebraska, to be near a seminary, when Eliza was nine years old. It was here in this tiny south-central Nebraska town that her world finally expanded and her life changed for the better.

In 1889, after Eliza's father's death, Malinda got to know the seminary's principal, Miss Emma Hillmon. She desired that her youngest daughter be able to attend school like her sisters, but the classroom was on the second floor and inaccessible to her on her own. Close family friends donated a wheelchair (to use instead of a baby carriage) and, with this, she was finally able to attend school; she was even given free tuition. Her mother or sisters wheeled her to the building and then carried her up the stairs to her desk. At noon and at the end of the day, they would carry her back down the stairs and wheel her home. Due to Eliza's genetic disorder, she was not difficult to carry: she only grew to an adult height of 33 inches (83.82 cm) and weighed about 50 pounds (22.68 kg). By this time in her life, Eliza reported that "her bones did not break any more. I was comparatively healthy, and nothing prevented my attending school." She thrived in school, especially in singing and recitation.

Eliza, 1906

Eliza became a formally-educated woman and, given the many social and physical obstacles in her life, this is incredible. Most children with disabilities at this time did not attend school or frequently go out in public. Some were exploited via sideshows or "freak shows." Anyone who looked different could be considered a "freak," such as Charles Stratton (dwarfism), William Henry Johnson (microcephaly), Chang and Eng Bunker (conjoined twins), George Costentenus (heavily tattooed), and Fedor Jeftichew (hypertrichosis). The Suggs family refused offers to put their daughter into these shows. Eliza recorded this in her autobiography: 

“There have been persons who would say to my mother, “Why don’t you take her to the show or museum? That wouldn’t be any harm and you could make your living easily.” Others would say, “There is a fortune in that girl.” Quite recently a gentleman said to my niece, as he saw me for the first time, “There is ready money.” But, dear reader, God did not create me for this purpose. ... I once went to a museum in Chicago just to see and learn. I was asked by one there why I did not speak to the manager and get a place in the museum, and make lots of money. Oh, no! Such places are not for me.”

Before her father's death, Eliza had assisted him in his temperance activism. She remained incredibly passionate about this and continued his work when she was an adult. Accompanied by her sister Kate, Eliza attended Temperance conferences, camp meetings, and church services. At these gatherings, she would speak about her life, sufferings, and devotion to the teachings of Jesus Christ. Her faith, she said, was what sustained her through life's trials, beginning when she was just five years old. Though her physical body suffered on earth, she was comforted that she would receive a new spiritual body in heaven. In her autobiography, Eliza wrote that, "Some wonder how I can be happy in my condition. It is sunlight of God in my soul that makes me happy... If I had been strong and healthy like other children and young people, perhaps I should not have known the Lord. I might now have been running after the pleasures of the world." She also wondered that "perhaps God can get more glory out of me as an invalid than He could if I were well." 

Because of her small size, Eliza was frequently mistaken for a very young child. She wrote in her autobiography: 

“As I go about, being so small for my age, I am quite a curiosity to strangers. I have often been amused when people would crowd around me and ask mother or Sister Katie questions about me, such as, “Can she talk?” “Is she smart?” “How old is the baby?” ‘Has she got feet?” “Can she use her hands?” “Oh what a big baby!” One lady on the train, not long ago, came up to me and began to talk baby talk. “Hello, sir! Hello, sir! Boo!” This was indeed amusing to me. It drew the attention of every one in the car. Of course, the baby did not respond in the way she expected, she supposing it would laugh and crow. When I was explained to her she was somewhat taken back. ”

She also wrote about being frequently asked if she got tired sitting all the time; she had responded that she knew "nothing else but to sit" as she "had never walked a step in her life."

Eliza continued her activism and also became passionate about foreign mission work. She was an officer for the Orleans Women's Foreign Missions Society. Her beloved former teacher, Miss Hillmon, became a missionary to Africa and maintained a long relationship via letters with her. Though she was unable to travel internationally, Eliza met many missionaries to Africa, China, and India. She also wrote for the Free Methodist magazine Missionary Tidings. She spent the rest of her time reading books, enjoying nature, and making a little money with handiwork ("knitting, crocheting, fancy work, and making horse hair watch chains").

In 1906, Eliza published her autobiography, Shadow and Sunshine (available here digitally). Burton R. Jones, who had known her for over ten years, wrote an introduction, saying that, 

“She saw light where others would have seen only darkness; she cherished hope where others would have felt only despair; and fearing it might displease her Master, she rejected offers of worldly gain which others would have eagerly grasped. Of humble parentage, limited advantages, physical embarrassments, she is shedding rays of light along her pathway, and making impressions for good on the hearts and lives of those with whom she associates. What a marvel of grace!... [This narrative] will serve to forcibly illustrate how one in sore affliction and deep privation may possess the grace of perfect resignation to the will of God, and be ready for any service he may require.”

C.M. Damon also introduced the book and family:

“The devotion to the author of her sister, Katie, for years a member of the Official Board at Orleans, is something interesting and touching. Hard working as she is at home and away, she seems never to tire of the care of her afflicted but honored charge. When Eliza, hidden in church behind the seats in front, would testify, Kate rises with her in arms, and she speaks clearly and forcibly. There is not a family among our people in the place more respected or more deservedly so.”

The memoir is short, just 96 pages, but rich in content. The memoir consists of narrative of her own life and of her parents' experiences while enslaved, diatribes against alcohol, testimony of her faith, and her original poetry. Almost all of the information known about Eliza is from this short book. 

Eliza and her sisters, 1906

At the time of her memoir's publishing, she lived at home with her aged mother and sister/"faithful attendant," Kate. Of her sister, Eliza wrote, 

“I am thankful to God that He has spared to me my dear mother and sister, who have cared for me so kindly and tenderly all these years. In all of my helplessness, and now more especially in mother’s old age and failing health, Katie has been and is today our cheerful and faithful standby. She has surely had abundant opportunities for the exercise of patience. Of her it shall be said, ‘She hath done what she could.’ ‘Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.’”

It was there at home, on January 29, 1908, that Eliza passed away at the age of 41. She was buried in the family plot in Orleans, Nebraska. The last poem in her memoir was entitled "The Death of the Old Year." The final verse reads:

“Tick tock, tick tock, soon time will be no more
Tick tock, tick tock, then all will be o’er
Let us labor hard this year
Working for the Lord with fear
Eternity is drawing near,
Tick tock, tick tock.”

Most sincerely,

Christina

Further Reading

• Shadow and Sunshine by Eliza Suggs

Works Consulted

Free Methodist Feminist. (2010, October 15). Small in Stature But Big in Faith: The Story of Eliza Suggs Part 1. Free Methodist Feminist. https://freemethodistfeminist.com/2010/10/15/small-in-stature-but-big-in-faith-the-story-of-eliza-suggs-part-1/.

Free Methodist Feminist. (2010, October 31). Eliza Sugg's Use of Poetry for the Temperance Cause. Free Methodist Feminist. https://freemethodistfeminist.com/2010/10/31/eliza-suggs-use-of-poetry-for-the-temperance-cause/.

Mildly Irritated Cripple. (2019, May 1). Eliza Suggs: Early #disabledsnark at its finest. Daisy the Chronic Invalid. https://www.daisythechronicinvalid.com/post/eliza-suggs-early-disabledsnark-at-its-finest.

Ramp Your Voice! (2016, February 4). Little Known Black History Fact: Elizabeth Suggs, Early 20th Century Author with Brittle Bones Disorder. Ramp Your Voice! With Vilissa. http://www.rampyourvoice.com/little-known-black-history-fact-elizabeth-suggs-early-20th-century-author-with-brittle-bones-disorder/.

Last Updated: 21 Sept. 2023