"I have Gone Quietly to Work for the Support of My Three Children:" African-American Mothers in New York City, 1827-1877‪.‬

Phoebe Morris was born in New Jersey in 1820 and moved to New York City with her family in 1827, the same year that New York State abolished slavery. She had met her husband, Samuel Sisco, "sometime during the war with Mexico" and they had had four children over the next decade. "No we were never married but lived together as man and wife and were so recognized by all our friends," she recounted. "I was a New Jersey slave and we were not as particular in old days about getting married as they are now but I always considered myself his wife just the same as if we had been married by a preacher." In the city, the couple had first lived on Le Roy Street and then moved to Houston Street to a larger dwelling, which could accommodate their growing family. Phoebe Sisco worked as a servant while her husband took a job as a whitewasher. The Sisco family, like all of New York City's African Americans, witnessed the violence and depravity of the Draft Riot that erupted in July of 1863. During the four-day melee, white mobs protested the first federally enacted draft. Blaming the black population for the Union's involvement in the Civil War, rioters targeted the city's African Americans. After the race riot, however, over one hundred black men from the city enlisted in the United States Colored Infantry in order to demonstrate their support for the Union troops. Samuel Sisco was no exception. He mustered in as a private for one of New York City's three black regiments on March 5, 1864. "While he was in the army he sent me relief money," recalled Phoebe Sisco. "I got $60 first and after that Mr. Cooper of 71 Jayne Street collected the money for me and my children. We got a card to come and get the relief money for soldiers' families." Following his discharge in 1865, Samuel Sisco reunited with his family and went back to his work as a whitewasher. He fell ill shortly after his return to the city and, unable to work any longer, he moved to the Colored Home near 72nd Street where he died in 1880. According to Phoebe, "Samuel Sisco did not leave me a thing whatsoever. I can get out days work. I do what I can. I am too old to work much.... I have to depend on charity and such assistance that my neighbors and children can give. I have no other means of support and have no property or income of any kind." Her neighbor confirmed that, "Phoebe has (no) income except from her own labor." (2)