Garafilia Mohalbi

Garafilia Mohalbi was born to a prominent family on the island of Psara. Her parents were killed in 1824 during the Destruction of Psara by the Turks. Garafilia and her sisters were kidnapped and sold into slavery. Ten years old she was working as a slave to a Turkish family in Smyrna. At a bazaar in Smyrna, an American Merchant named Mr. Langdon met her and she begged him to rescue her from her bondage. He purchased her from the family and adopted her as his daughter. Garafilia was sent to go live with his family in Boston. Her sisters were also freed from slavery and sent to live in Europe.[1] She was a student at the Ursuline Convent School in Charleston, a neighborhood in Boston.[2] She suddenly died of tuberculosis on March 17, 1830.[3]

After her death, Garafilia Mohalbi became extremely popular in the media in Boston, New England, and eventually the entire world. American painter and miniaturist Ann Hall created a miniature portrait of the little Greek slave girl. The miniature portrait later became a popular engraving by Edward Gallaudet the second cousin of Elisha Gallaudet, the engraver of the first US coin, the 1776 Continental Dollar.[4][5] The portrait of Garafilia Mohalbi was Ann Hall's most popular artwork.[6]

In 1831, Lydia Sigourney wrote a poem for The Youth's Keepsake A Christmas and New Year's Present, at this point the famous poet had not published any books.[7] In 1835, Lydia Sigourney published Zinzendorff, and Other Poems which featured the same poem entitled Garafilia Mohalbi.[8] In 1843, 19th-century American poet Hannah Flagg Gould was inspired by Ann Hall's miniature portrait. She had an engraving of the portrait. She wrote a poem which was featured in her book The Golden Vase A Gift for the Young entitled Garafilia's Picture.[9] Sarah Josepha Hale American writer, and Activist best known for Thanksgiving in 1853 featured an article in her book Woman's Record Or, Sketches of All Distinguished Women about Garafilia.[10]

In the 1850s, Carl Hause commissioned Carl Gartner to compose a mazurka for piano to honor the Greek slave girl Garafilia.[11] Carl Gartner and Carl Hause had a popular trio in the Boston area, they also taught music.[12] There were also many ships across the country that bore the name from Honolulu to Baltimore to Rio de Janeiro.[13][14] Parents began to name their children after the popular subject, some even changed their names to Garafilia Mohalbi.[15]

The popularity of the Greek slave story was circulating throughout the United States. Prominent American sculptor Hiram Powers traveled to Europe to see first hand the slave trade. While in Florence he began to sculpt the popular sculpture The Greek Slave. Many other artists adapted the subject matter which inspired The Slave Market (Gérôme painting), The Slave Market (Boulanger painting), and the slave Market Otto Pilny in the latter part of the 19th century.

In 1851, Christophoros Plato Kastanes publishes his book which features a chapter about his experience as a runaway slave from Chios in war-torn Greece.[16] The book became extremely popular in the United States and multiple editions were published. Harriet Beecher Stowe in The Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin, alludes to using the Greek slave girl Garafilia as inspiration for Uncle Tom's Cabin by writing “I was in Smyrna when our American consul ransomed a beautiful Greek girl in the slave-market. I saw her come aboard the brig ‘Suffolk,’ when she came on board to be sent to America for her education”.[17]

• The Slave Market at Constantinople[18]

• Gimber, Stephen Henry (1831). The Youth's Keepsake A Christmas and New Year's Present. A. Leavitt, publisher 1831.

• Kastanes, Christophoros P. (1851). The Greek Exile, Or, a Narrative of the Captivity and Escape of Christophorus Plato Castanis.