For a young, mixed-race girl growing up in the Antebellum South, the opportunity to become the belle of the ball in high society was not even a pipe dream, but Amanda America Dickson Toomer did just that and it seems she never forgot her roots.
Toomer would go on to become one of the wealthiest women of any color in America in the 19th century.
The 2000 television movie A House Divided, starring Jennifer Beal, was based on Dickson’s life story.
Dickson was born in 1849 in Sparta, Ga. She was the product of a relationship between 41-year-old plantation owner David Dickson and his 12-year-old slave, Julie. Under the law, because Amanda Dickson was born to a slave, she was herself considered property of David Dickson as well.
At the time, such relationships were common but rarely spoken of in polite company. Today, such relationships would be considered rape.
David Dickson never tried to hide the fact he fathered Amanda Dickson and even arranged for her to be taken in by her paternal grandmother where she received the sort of education usually only available to White society children of the time.
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According to the New Georgia Encyclopedia, Elizabeth Sholars Dickson taught her granddaughter to read and write, how to play piano and how to display the manners of a lady, but Amanda was also expected to work as a housekeeper alongside the other slave women, including her own mother.
The record shows that Amanda’s mother Julie remained in Dickson family’s employ as a housekeeper even after the Civil War when slavery was abolished. According to the Georgia Historical Society, Julie was, early on, transferred to work in Elizabeth’s household, so mother and daughter could see each other every day.
Amanda Dickson would go on to attend the Normal School at the University of Atlanta where she earned a teaching certificate. Dickson showed a particular aptitude in math and finances, a skill that would serve her well in later years.
In 1885, David Dickson died suddenly, and several members of the Dickson family were horrified to learn that Dickson left his entire massive estate to his former slave daughter.
Dickson stood to inherit millions of dollars in today’s money and large swatches of land, but the White members of the extended family tried to use her former slave status and legal illegitimacy to wrestle control of the estate away from her.
The case would be appealed all the way to the Georgia Supreme Court and was finally settled in Amanda Dickson’s favor.
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The court ruled that the “rights of each race are controlled and governed by the same enactments or principles of law—in other words, whatever rights and privileges belonged to a bastard White child belonged to a mixed-race child as well.”
David Dickson never contested his paternity, and he specifically named Amanda as his child and heir; therefore the estate belonged to Amanda, the high court concluded.
Amanda Dickson’s first marriage was to a White cousin, Charles Eubanks, was not recognized under the law, but Dickson didn’t care less. While the marriage produced two sons, it did not last.
After the death of her father, Dickson moved to Augusta where she met and married Nathan Toomer, a mixed-race Augustan. Toomer was also a former slave, according to the Georgia Historical Society.
The Toomers were known for their philanthropy, and they were especially generous to Trinity AME Church of which they were members.
The Toomer’s stately home on Telfair Street still stands and a historic marker sits out front reminding visitors of who once lived there. The Toomers are buried at Cedar Grove Cemetery, which was once the city’s Black cemetery.
…And that is something you may not have known.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
