Louvinia

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Display Name: 
Louvinia
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Louvinia
Race: 
Black
Gender: 
Female
Class: 
Enslaved Black
Rank: 
Secondary
Vitality: 
Alive
Family: 
Strother
Family (new): 
Biography: 

Louvinia, a house slave before and during the Civil War, serves as the cook for the Sartoris family. She and her husband Joby are the head of the family of slaves who have served the Sartorises for several generations and who (with the exception of Loosh) stay loyal to them even after the Union army has passed through Yoknapatawpha, which gave most of the slaves in the area a chance to escape. Louvinia continues to work for the family after the War has ended and she has been emancipated. She shares her cabin with them after the big house is destroyed, works with her husband Joby to make the lumber out of which it will be rebuilt, and shows how deeply she can sympathize with their sorrows when she holds a crying Drusilla, Bayard says, "like she used to hold me" (197). She is described as wearing "Father's old hat on top of her headrag" (197), but there is no suggestion that in her case men's clothing implies any sort of rebellion. She is Ringo's grandmother.

Individual or Group: 
Individual
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