RUMORS AND THE STORY

Anne Bonny was rumored to have given birth to eight children. She was rumored to have given birth in prison and kept the baby, living out her life on a plantation in Jamaica. Or she was rescued by her father and lived on a plantation in So. Carolina. Or Virginia. And she may have married a Joseph Burleigh. And is buried in Virginia, or So. Carolina or Jamaica, or next to the prison. But no one knows.

I looked at all the rumors and created a life for Anne. Not only does she survive prison, she marries a man she comes to love and brings enlightened views to running a plantation. When creating a story in 18th century Virginia, on a plantation, there will be enslaved people. It was a fact of life. And at the time, owners were prohibited by law from freeing their people. But Anne’s view of the “institution” is a product of her knowledge of her father’s Carolina plantation, a traditional relationship, escaped enslaved people she has known as a pirate and even her mother’s servitude. Joseph, although he sees things in a traditional way, is open to change. There were plantations run on the system I have set up for Anne. Where the enslaved people had a stake in the outcome and remained loyal because of that.