Jessie and her stepmother, Isabella Huff Fauset, have a very close relationship. Why do you think that is? How do you think Isabella influenced Jessie’s life? How is Isabella an extraordinary woman for her time?
Jessie was young and impressionable, I think 12, when Isabella became her stepmother. So Isabella was the only mother she “knew” who took care of her. Isabella was wealthy and was able to exposed Jesse to the “finer things” in life. She valued reading and education and stressed those values to Jesse who became well-read and well-educated. Jesse also learned social graces from Isabella which enabled Jesse to interact effectively across races. Isabella was extraordinary in her time in that, though there were other historical White women, (abolitionists) who were very supportive of Black people in helping them to get them educated, etc., I’m not aware of many who actually married a Black man. I was not surprised to learn that she was Jewish. I felt that Isabella genuinely loved her new family, especially Jesse.
Isabella came into Jessies life at a very young and impressionable age and showed her love and acceptance. I believe she truly loved Jessie as her own child and gave her the best of everything she could offer. Being married to a Black man was certainly unusual for the time, even for someone who was an abolitionist like Isabella.