Catherine "Miss Kitty" Boyd was an enslaved woman owned by Bishop James Osgood Andrew of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Oxford, Georgia. In 1844, Bishop Andrew's ownership of Kitty and other enslaved persons became a national controversy, leading to the division of the Methodist Church into northern and southern branches. White southern Methodists seceded from the national church to found the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, which remained separate from the northern church for nine decades. Kitty's story remains a topic of debate, with some white residents of Oxford seeing her as a "loyal slave" who exemplified the "mutual understanding" between races in the Old South. They even renamed the slave quarters in which she resided "Kitty's Cottage" and restored it as a heritage site.
However, African American families in Oxford and Covington have a different perspective. They claim that Miss Kitty was the coerced mistress of Bishop Andrew and that he likely fathered at least one of her three children. They argue that no white man could be an "accidental" slave owner, and the story of Kitty as a loyal servant is a myth that perpetuates white supremacist ideas. The stone tablet erected in her honor is seen as an instance of white supremacist myth-making that fraudulently represents slavery as benevolent. Despite the differing narratives, Kitty remains a symbol of the national divisions over slavery within the Methodist Church.
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/remembrance-cemetery-search-accidental-slaveowner/
However, African American families in Oxford and Covington have a different perspective. They claim that Miss Kitty was the coerced mistress of Bishop Andrew and that he likely fathered at least one of her three children. They argue that no white man could be an "accidental" slave owner, and the story of Kitty as a loyal servant is a myth that perpetuates white supremacist ideas. The stone tablet erected in her honor is seen as an instance of white supremacist myth-making that fraudulently represents slavery as benevolent. Despite the differing narratives, Kitty remains a symbol of the national divisions over slavery within the Methodist Church.
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/remembrance-cemetery-search-accidental-slaveowner/
Catherine "Miss Kitty" Boyd was an enslaved woman owned by Bishop James Osgood Andrew of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Oxford, Georgia. In 1844, Bishop Andrew's ownership of Kitty and other enslaved persons became a national controversy, leading to the division of the Methodist Church into northern and southern branches. White southern Methodists seceded from the national church to found the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, which remained separate from the northern church for nine decades. Kitty's story remains a topic of debate, with some white residents of Oxford seeing her as a "loyal slave" who exemplified the "mutual understanding" between races in the Old South. They even renamed the slave quarters in which she resided "Kitty's Cottage" and restored it as a heritage site.
However, African American families in Oxford and Covington have a different perspective. They claim that Miss Kitty was the coerced mistress of Bishop Andrew and that he likely fathered at least one of her three children. They argue that no white man could be an "accidental" slave owner, and the story of Kitty as a loyal servant is a myth that perpetuates white supremacist ideas. The stone tablet erected in her honor is seen as an instance of white supremacist myth-making that fraudulently represents slavery as benevolent. Despite the differing narratives, Kitty remains a symbol of the national divisions over slavery within the Methodist Church.
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/remembrance-cemetery-search-accidental-slaveowner/
However, African American families in Oxford and Covington have a different perspective. They claim that Miss Kitty was the coerced mistress of Bishop Andrew and that he likely fathered at least one of her three children. They argue that no white man could be an "accidental" slave owner, and the story of Kitty as a loyal servant is a myth that perpetuates white supremacist ideas. The stone tablet erected in her honor is seen as an instance of white supremacist myth-making that fraudulently represents slavery as benevolent. Despite the differing narratives, Kitty remains a symbol of the national divisions over slavery within the Methodist Church.
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/remembrance-cemetery-search-accidental-slaveowner/
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