Squash

Squash, an enslaved man, was listed alongside another enslaved man named John in an 1856 list of proctor drafts appearing in the Journal of the Board of Trustees, which is held in Archives and Special Collections, J. D. Williams Library, University of Mississippi. On September 11, 1856, the University paid $62.60 for services performed by Squash and John.

Rather than the typical description of moneys paid to a slaveholder for slave hire, Squash and John received payment directly from the University for making repairs. In such circumstances, enslaved people would have been expected to carry and deliver the money they received to their masters for the work they themselves had performed at the University.

Although Squash may seem like an unusual name, it was a common adaptation of the West African day name Quashee, meaning Sunday, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

See Journal of the Board of Trustees, 1845–1860, Florence E. Campbell Transcription, 322. Archives and Special Collections, J. D. Williams Library, University of Mississippi.

Profile written by Anne Twitty