Mary Jane Richards was born enslaved in the Van Lew household in Richmond, Virginia. After the death of John Van Lew, Elizabeth Van Lew and her mother, Eliza, considered Mary Jane to be free, though the legal realities were complicated by the stipulations in John Van Lew’s will and the laws of the time.

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Mary Jane was especially close to Elizabeth Van Lew and Eliza Van Lew. She was educated, gifted, and clearly valued by the women who helped shape parts of her early life. At a time when education for enslaved people was restricted and often illegal, Mary Jane received opportunities that reflected both her brilliance and the complicated circumstances of her position in the Van Lew household.

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Elizabeth Van Lew eventually sent Mary Jane to Liberia, where she spent several years. Elizabeth’s hope appears to have been that Mary Jane would become a missionary. This decision also existed within a larger historical context. During the nineteenth century, some white abolitionists and reformers believed that free Black people should be sent to Liberia or other parts of Africa rather than live as equal citizens in the United States. Whether Elizabeth Van Lew fully shared that view or was primarily motivated by missionary aims, Mary Jane’s own letters reveal the difficulty of that experience.

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While in Liberia, Mary Jane wrote to Elizabeth asking to come home. She struggled with illness, climate, food, and the pain of being in an unfamiliar place. Her letters give us a glimpse of a woman whose life was shaped not only by the decisions others made for her, but also by her own voice, desire, and longing for agency.

Mary Jane eventually returned to Richmond and became part of the Union spy network connected to Elizabeth Van Lew and Eliza Van Lew. Much has been written about Mary Jane under the name “Mary Bowser,” including claims that she had a photographic memory and was placed inside the household of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Historians continue to examine which details can be fully confirmed and which have been shaped by later accounts, oral histories, and historical fiction.

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What we do know is powerful enough.

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Mary Jane Richards identified herself as a spy. She helped the Union cause. She assisted in the care of Union prisoners, carried information, delivered messages, and participated in the dangerous work of gathering intelligence in Confederate Richmond. Whether in the Confederate White House or in other spaces connected to Confederate leadership, she used her intelligence, courage, and mobility to support the cause of freedom.

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After the war, Mary Jane continued building. She became an educator through the Freedmen’s Bureau, teaching formerly enslaved children and adults how to read. She taught in Virginia and Georgia, working in communities where education was desperately needed but resources were scarce. Families who had been stripped of wages, property, and opportunity were often expected to help pay for schooling, making the work financially difficult and fragile. Still, Mary Jane remained committed to education.

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She was also a speaker. There are accounts of her sharing her wartime experiences, including at historic Black spaces such as African Baptist Church, and of people being deeply moved by her words. Harriet Beecher Stowe is said to have encountered her and been captivated by the power of her story.

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Mary Jane’s surviving letters reveal a woman of intelligence, independence, gratitude, frustration, and resolve. In one letter to Elizabeth Van Lew, she asked not to be sent more money, expressing a desire to make her own way. Her words suggest a woman who appreciated help but also longed to stand without strings, expectations, or the burden of being reminded of what had been done for her.

In her Freedmen’s Bureau letters, Mary Jane also recognized the danger rising around Black communities after the war. She sensed the threat of organized groups forming to intimidate and harm African Americans. Her words carried both urgency and awareness, revealing a woman who understood that emancipation had not ended the struggle for safety, dignity, or freedom.

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Mary Jane Richards lived boldly, independently, and, in some ways, beyond the reach of easy historical categorization. She was educated, gifted, courageous, and willing to use her gifts in service of her people. Her story reminds us that even when the archive is incomplete, a life can still speak.