“From 1896 to until 1954, they never really accepted the doctrine of “separate but equal” to which they now look back with so much longing.
They embraced the “separate” all right, but with stubborn consistency rejected the “equal.”
One gathers the impression that the only decision which has ever won their wholehearted approval was that of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney in the celebrated Dred Scott case.
Mr. Taney’s court held that in America a colored man has no rights which a white man under the law is bound to respect.
That was back in March 6, 1857.
The “Southern Manifesto” shows that almost a century later their thinking hasn’t changed one whit.“ – The Baltimore Afro-American March 1956
This unremarkable recipe for “Indian Pudding” was contributed to “Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland” by The Misses Alice and Lelia Taney of Frederick County. Their claim to fame is their relation to infamous Marylander Roger Brooke Taney, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1836 until his death in 1864.
The newspaper mentions I found featuring these two ladies consisted primarily of their obituaries or stories about the unveiling of various statues of Taney that were erected in Maryland.
A 1937 story in the Afro-American
While my grade-school education on the Dred Scott decision didn’t center much on Taney himself, a friend from Frederick explained it to me as it was taught to him in school: Taney, being the very opposite of an “activist judge” was interpreting the law as was his duty, and was not necessarily a racist or pro-slavery. He had, after all, manumitted his own slaves.
Many older articles in Maryland papers espouse that view of Taney. As recently as 1993, the Sun ran an editorial, “Happy Birthday Taney,” with the concluding statement that Sun staffer Theo Lippman Jr. “understand[s] why black Americans hate Taney, but we all need to remember
two things. (1) There was more to him than Dred Scott. (2) Dred Scott
probably advanced the timetable for emancipation by at least a
generation.”
Afro-American, 1957 (Dred Scott Decision centennial)
Many lamented that the statement about black people having “no rights which the white man was bound to respect” was taken out of context by misinformed “northern writers.” It is true that he was referring to the sentiment at the time of the writing of the Constitution. His ruling, however, in effect sustained that sentiment.
In 1986, Grason Eckel of Cambridge wrote in to the Sun suggesting
removal of the Taney statue in front of the state house:
”Though couched
in legal terms, Taney’s Dred Scott opinion contained a moral dimension
that repudiated society’s responsibility for the civil rights of blacks.
The opinion, therefore, became a symbol of shame.“ – Get Rid of Taney’s Statue, June 1986
In addition to statues, Taney has had some streets and such named in his honor, including a middle school in Camp Springs, Prince George’s County. This school faced turmoil after integration.
”To date the school athletic teams have been known as the Rebels, and the school emblem has been a confederate flag.
Integration at Taney – January 29 the school changed from about 99 per cent white to 20 per cent black – has been among the most touchy jobs facing the county school system…
Taney almost closed last month after a rock-throwing racial melee involving about 200 of the school’s 1,136 students.“ – Baltimore Sun, “Taney is Still Shaky with Race Tension”, April 1973
The president of the PTA dismissed the black students’ desire to change the name of the athletic team, under the basis that “they only number 20 percent of the student body [therefore] they would get voted down if they took a vote on the name.” I am not sure when the team name changed but the school’s name was changed in the 1990s. By then the student body was 83% black.
The Afro-American offers multi-faceted views of Taney. One article quotes him as saying:
”Slavery is a blot upon our national character, and every real lover of freedom confidentially hopes that it will be effectively wiped away. And until the time shall come when we can point without a blush to the language held in the Declaration of Independence, every friend of humanity will seek to lighten the galling chains of slavery.“ – Roger Brooke Taney, 1818
“Not until we read Henrietta Buckmaster’s new book, “Let My People Go,” did we realize that Judge Taney, an old scoundrel, was quite a decent individual in his younger days,” noted the 1941 editorial.
The quote at the beginning of this entry was one of many which bitterly recalled the Dred Scott ruling and its dehumanizing language as Jim Crow and civil rights struggles continued.
Afro-American, 1957 (Dred Scott Decision centennial)
As for Alice and Lelia, it is possible that at least one of them resided at the Roger Brooke Taney House in Frederick, or that their parents did. Although Roger Brooke Taney once owned this property, he never actually lived there. An illustration of the “Taney Kitchen” in “Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland” appears to be of that house. The historical home is open to the public and conducts hearth demonstrations that look far more delicious than this pudding.
Recipe:
- 1 Quart milk, scalded
- cornmeal
- .5 tsp salt
- 1.5 teaspoon ginger
- .5 cupmolasses
- 2 tb butter
Scald milk. Stir in enough cornmeal to make a thin mush. Add salt, ginger, molasses, and butter. Bake in a tin or earthen pan for two hours.
Recipe adapted from “Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland”
