Mary Ellen Pleasant (1814-1904) used different names and disguises as a “slave stealer” for the Underground Railroad. Books and movies about her and a short timeline of her life are included at the end of this story.

Lily Rawlings is a fictional character, based on two letters written while Mary Ellen was “in the wind,” traveling to escape from slavery.

Virginia, 1851 — The Rawlings Plantation

My name is Lily. The master gave me to his daughter, Molly Rose, when we were both little girls. He told her to give me any name she liked. She chose Lily.

All the white girls have two names. When we grew older, she added Azalea after Lily. That’s another flower.

It’s a pretty name. I like to say it. Ah-zay-lee-uh. Lily Azalea sounds fancy. I like to be fancy.

Mama was not happy about the names. She said I already had a good name. When I was born, she named me Bondele. My grandmother had brought Mama from Senegal when she was a baby, and Bondele is a name that means “born away from home.”

I don’t like that name. I did not come from Senegal. I was not born away from home. This is my home. I was born in America. I am an American girl. I am Lily Azalea.

Next week, there will be a big party for Molly Rose. It is her sixteenth birthday. They call it a coming-out party. It means she is a young lady now.

I may be sixteen, too. I am not sure. Mama doesn’t know her numbers. She says sixteen seems about right.

Life will change for Molly Rose and me. After coming out, she will go to dances and parties. Boys will come to court her. She will pay long visits to her friends on other plantations and even in the city.

I will go with her to dress her and do her hair. I think we will travel to England and France with her family. She says we will see wonderful sights and become educated young ladies. I will be almost like her. Our lives will be almost the same.

Molly Rose is good to me. She gives me her old dresses. I am not allowed to wear them outside. No one can see me in those dresses. But it is fun to dress up in our rooms.

I have to put my homespun dress back on to go home to our cabin at night. But in the daytime, we pretend that Molly Rose and I are really sisters.

I am not allowed to eat with the Rawlings family. I eat downstairs with the other house slaves. But if there is a treat, Molly Rose saves some to share with me. She brings me candies and cakes when the family has those things.

Best, she has taught me all the things the teacher taught her. I am the only slave I know that can read and write. I read books. I even have a book of my own that Molly Rose gave me. It is a book of fairy tales by the Grimm brothers. And I know my numbers very well.

I've always known that I'm a slave. But I'm different from the rest. I see how hard my mama and the rest of them work. They are outside in the hot sun from sunup to sundown. If Molly Rose and I go outside, we bring parasols to carry and lemonade to drink.

My job is to be a playmate and a friend for Molly Rose. It's not a hard job, but one day, it comes to a sudden end.