William B. Gould

You need to know about him. (The Bus 4.3)

Welcome aboard The Bus!

The Stop

Late in the evening on 21 September 1862 in the middle of a yellow fever outbreak, eight men - all escaped slaves - made their way through the streets of downtown Wilmington, North Carolina. Betting that the outbreak and the raining, humid weather would keep most people inside, the men made their way down Orange Street to the Cape Fear River. Commandeering a small sailboat, they proceeded to row 28 miles to the river’s Atlantic Ocean outlet. Among the men was its organiser and leader, William B. Gould.¹

William Benjamin Gould (1837 - 1923) was the child of Alexander Gould, a white Englishman, and Elizabeth Moore, an enslaved Black woman. Though the ‘details of their relationship are unknown,’ it is known that William and his mother were the property of Nicholas Nixon, a white peanut farmer who owned a plantation near Wilmington at Porter’s Neck. Unusual for an enslaved person, Gould learned to read and write,² and he was also a skilled mason and plasterer who was hired out by Nixon to do various projects around the Wilmington area. One of these was to work on the plaster moulding at the Bellamy Mansion - now a museum - into which he carved his initials.³

When the Civil War began in April 1861, the U.S. Navy blockaded the North Carolina coast to cut off trade and military supplies. Fearing an invasion, Nixon - like many wealthy whites - moved his household and slaves inland, a move which resulted in a state of ‘confusion’ providing Gould the ‘opportunity to plot his escape.’ Escaping into the Atlantic, the men raised their sail and were intercepted by the USS Cambridge which picked them up as contraband.⁴ Though in most cases Union ships would send escapees north, the Cambridge was undermanned, and Gould and the others became part of the crew.

Gould served in the United States Navy until the end of the war, and from the beginning of his life on board the ship, he kept a journal - the ‘only known record of the war written by a contraband.’ His first rank was as a ‘First Class Boy’ - essentially an ‘onboard servant’ - and though as a Black man he had ‘limited opportunities for advancement,’ he was eventually promoted to Landsman and then Wardroom Steward. In sharp contrast to his life in Wilmington, the Navy was not segregated⁵ - ‘white and Black men served and lived side by side.’ Nevertheless, he still experienced ‘racism and discrimination at the hands of white officers’: in his diary he notes how on occasion they ‘refused to let Black sailors eat out of the ship’s mess pans because they did not want to use the same ones.’

After the War Gould returned to Wilmington, but found it ‘eerily empty’ and moved to Massachusetts where he married the formerly enslaved Cornelia Williams Read. Together they settled in Dedham, Massachusetts and had two daughters and six sons; all of the boys served in the Army. Returning to his trade skills, Gould began working as a plasterer and contractor, quickly gaining a reputation for excellence.⁶ Over the following years, Gould became an active and well-respected pillar of the Dedham community until his death at the age of 85.

Gould’s diary of his time in the Navy went unknown until 1958 when his college-aged great-grandson (William B. Gould IV) discovered it when cleaning out an attic. Curious about his great-grandfather, Gould IV began researching his ancestor while pursuing his own illustrious academic career. While teaching at Harvard in the 1970s, he investigated his life in nearby Dedham, and while serving as chairman of the National Labour Relations Board under Clinton in the 1990s, he searched the National Archives. After years of research uncovering most of Gould’s life story and knowing he had fought in the Civil War, it wasn’t until 1989 that Gould IV discovered in the log of the Cambridge a notation that his great-grandfather had been picked up as contraband, along with the name of his enslaver.

The Detour

Today’s Detour is to the official video (5:08) for the Icelandic band Sigur Rós’s ‘Skel.’ Described as ‘trippy, cosmic, colourful, with an undertow of anxiety,’ it’s a beautiful bit of animation to accompany the group’s atmospheric sound. Worth a watch.

'Skel'

The Recommendation

Today’s Recommendation is 12 Years a Slave (2013), an historical drama directed by Steve McQueen. Based on the eponymous 1853 memoir by Solomon Northup - a free African-American man who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C., in 1841 and sold into slavery in Louisiana - the film stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Northup, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Lupita Nyong'o, Sarah Paulson, and Brad Pitt. The winner of three Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress), it is a powerful, unflinching depiction of slavery in the American South. True to its subject, it is a brutal, difficult film to watch, but is nevertheless an important portrayal and reminder of the horrors of slavery.

12 Years a Slave (2013) Trailer

12 Years a Slave streams on various platforms.

The Sounds

Today’s playlist is a selection of five tracks championing civil rights - two from the 1960s, two from the 1970s and one from 1992:⁷ ‘Mississippi Goddam’ (Nina Simone, 1964), ‘What’s Going On’ (Marvin Gaye, 1971), ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’ (Gil Scott-Heron, 1971), ‘Revolution’ (Arrested Development, 1992) and ‘… A Change is Gonna Come’ (Sam Cooke, 1963). Enjoy!

The Thought

Today’s Thought is from Nina Simone’s ‘Mississippi Goddam’:⁸

‘To do things gradually/Will bring more tragedy.’

If you have a thought on this Thought - or any part of today’s issue - please leave a comment below:

And that’s the end of this Stop - I hope you enjoyed the diversion!

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Until the next Stop …

1. Despite having deep family connections to Wilmington, I had never heard of William B. Gould until 21 September this year - the anniversary of his escape - when he was featured on the City of Wilmington’s Instagram feed. I thought it was an amazing story for a Stop. Sources for today’s Stop include City of Wilmington (Instagram), Overlooked No More: William B. Gould (New York Times) and William B. Gould (Wikipedia).

2. It’s speculated he was taught these skills by white missionaries, who were ‘known to defy slave owners by providing enslaved people with a basic education.’

3. For a photo of his initials: Figure 10 (Initials).

4. This term - contraband - was used by the US military to describe people who had recently escaped slavery.

5. Which was in contrast to the segregation in the Army.

6. While overseeing construction of St Mary’s Church in Dedham, Gould noticed the cement had been mixed incorrectly. Despite knowing the mistake would ‘likely go unnoticed,’ he also know it would lead to serious damage in the future and had the ‘work torn down and redone.’ This decision almost bankrupted his business but, as word spread about his honesty and attention to detail, he won ‘significant esteem around town.’

7. And, unfortunately, they remain as relevant today as ever.

8. There are several versions of this song, and this lyric is from an earlier recording than the one included in today’s Sounds.