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72 Mary Mary Quite Contrary July 1799. Judge Samuel McDowell in Lexington, Kentucky, set free a slave named Mary, who sued her owner claiming she was entitled to her freedom. McDowell’s order contained verbatim a letter from Mary’s owner relinquishing ownership of the slave, saying she wasn’t worth the cost of contesting the suit. —lexington herald-leader Wonder who she thought she was Wonder how it wasn’t raped away a long winding memory spoken just as fresh as a constitutional amendment “Every fugitive slave who made a nuisance of himself to the local commander eventually made a figure of himself to the Congress”* Nuisance Mary Contrary Mary Ranking that busy man like that thought only queens got entitled thought only royalty could approximate then declare their net worth on the spot Wonder who she thought was her kin skin-to-eye talking to him like that *Social historian Barbara Fields, quoted in the Ken Burns documentary The Civil War 73 Wonder what she knew she was guaranteed Wonder how she figured up the total sum of her parts and didn’t bother with the division Wonder Wonder Wonderful ...

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