Travelling with Susie King Taylor

Abstract

Susie King Taylorââ¬â¢s 1902 memoir of her Civil War experiences, Reminiscences of My Life in Camp, comprises a complex document testifying to the contest over the meaning of the Civil War in historical memory as well as the struggle of freed people, and black women in particular, to insert themselves into public dialogues as authorized subjects. Viewing Taylorââ¬â¢s narrative, the positioning of its author and the changing conditions of its reception, through the lens of black womanist theory and travel literature criticism presents an opportunity to consider the nature of knowledge in a way that resists dichotomizing authenticity and objectivity, or experience and interpretation.