Parishioner Sally Greene’s Work on Lydia and Thomas Ruffin

For over twenty years, St. Matthew’s parishioner Sally Green has researched and reflected on an enslaved woman known to us only as Lydia. When Lydia fled a man named John Mann who had ‘leased’ her from the man who enslaved her, Mann shot her. This led to the infamous appeals court decision, in State vs. Mann, by St. Matthew’s parishioner and State Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Ruffin, ruling that he power of slave owners over the bodies of the enslaved must be ‘absolute so as to render their submission absolute.”

A article about Greene’s work and the history of the case, exploring Ruffin’s legacy, can be found here.

AND…in the last issue of Southern Cultures (Volume 30, Number 2, Summer 2024) Sally reflects at length on Lydia’s plight and her strength. Access to this story is not free, but can be accessed here.