The Two Lives of Sally Miller reviewed by Yuki Miura

In 1843, Mrs. Karl Rouff met one girl who was a slave at a cafe in New Orleans. The slave is familiar to her and Mrs. Karl realized that the slave is Sally Miller, who is a white, German immigrant. Mrs. Karl took Sally to Eve Shubert who was Sally's cousin and godmother. Shubert soon realized that the slave is Sally who is the lost girl. When Sally landed to New Orleans, Shubert took care of Sally and asked the Uncle Daniel Miller if he could take care of her. He could not raise two girls so Shubert married with an immigrant. Since then, Shubert never sees Sally until 1843 when Mrs. Karl took Sally to Shubert. With a support of Shubert, Sally prepared for a lawsuit because she was a white and it was illegal for her to be treated as a slave. The lawsuit was against Louis Belmonti, who is the owner of the cafe where Sally worked. But, then, John Miller who converted her life to a slave started to be accused because Louis said he bought Sally legally and he did not know that Sally is a white while John Miller knew that Sally is a white. The lawsuit became very complex because John Miller had a power. The lawsuit has three elements.
1. Mistaken identity
2. Illegal enslavement
3. Epic journey of an impoverished immigrant family
Therefore, the racial categorization was difficult. Also, there were two stories told in the courtroom:
1. The tale of Salome Muller, a little girl traveling to the New World with her family
2. The tale of Sally Miller, a lifelong slave of African descent

On May 23rd in 1844, the case Miller vs. Belmonti went to trial in New Orleans. In the time period, it is a very rare case that the slave sued the slave's master. The plaintiff witness started first. German immigrants said that Sally looked like Muller family so that she was Salome Muller. The ability of the slaves to sue the master directly was unique to Louisiana. The right is derived from the Spanish Law. Although the support, Sally did not have enough knowledge to flight against the opponent, so in her petition, she said that she did not know she was not supposed to be the slave until Mrs. Karl and Shubert came so she was accepting her slave status. Daniel Miller and the other three women said there were no doubt that she was Sally, plus Shubert said that she knew that Sally has a birthmark inside of her thigh. The doctors who checked if it was true prove it or not. The defense argued that it is strange not to realize she was Sally for about two decades because many people were around her, so it was unusual not to realize until 1843.

Let me explain her early life. Sally Miller was born in Alsace on July 10, 1813. She was the family's third child. In 1816, there were severe famine because the year was called a “year without summer”. The cold year was the most severe famine in Europe and when the job recruiter from American and Russian came, people were excited and left their country. So in 1817, there was a mass emigration and Sally's family was one of them. The travel was not easy because people left German as redemption, so they could not pay for the ship. They were treated like a cargo and diseases were everywhere. Seasickness was especially dangerous because people became dehydration, so they were malnutrition too. Their immune level goes down, so they were likely to become a disease, and it influenced to many people. Mullers were not paying so they were in jeopardy because they were served food but only for adults, so they had to share the foods with kids. On March 6, 1818, they were arrived at New Orleans. However, it is the beginning of the worst story. House is taken away from them and they had to walk 1000 miles. Although they paid for their travel, they were sold into indentured service.

The most interesting thing is that Sally Miller did not speak in the whole books. This is what she learned in her slavery. The silence makes her freed.