Letitia Munson facts for kids

Letitia Munson née Leeney (c. 1820 – after 1882) was an African American herbalist and midwife, and the defendant in an infamous 1882 ... trial in Canada.

Biography

Letitia Leeney was born into slavery around 1820, probably in North Carolina. She once told a reporter that, at the behest of her enslaver, she had studied medicine and healing with physicians for five years and with indigenous Americans for another two years. Around 1860, having gained her liberty, she moved north and settled in Woodstock, Canada West, where, in January 1862, she married Commedess Munson. The couple had as many as five children; some or all were likely adopted. Commedess died in 1881; Munson's age is uncertain as she reported inconsistent ages in censuses and claimed to be as old as 110 in 1882.

Aftermath

Little is known of Munson following the trial. Her son Frederick is known to have married in 1885, but Munson is otherwise absent from any further historical record. The stigma of the scandal likely made Munson a social outcast and she may have been forced to move elsewhere.