[1] These diaries are unique in their depiction of 19th century life of urban African American women and reactions to the events of the Civil War.

The family lived in Lancaster and Schuylkill counties before relocating to the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia by 1860, the first year in which the census records Emilie Davis as a resident.

[4] Between 1863 and 1864, Emilie described going out for ice cream on four separate occasions, an indication of the expanding space that black Philadelphians inhabited during the Civil War.

[3] On December 13, 1866, Davis (her name misspelled as "Emily" on the marriage registry) married George Bustill White, a barber and civil rights activist.

His brother, Jacob C. White Jr., co-founded the Philadelphia Pythians basketball team and who became principal of the all-black Roberts Vaux Junior High School.

[5] In the 1880 census, Emilie's occupation was listed as “housekeeper.” In later years, she donated money to her church and rented a pew under her own name rather than her husband's, an indication of her place in the Black middle class.

[5] Davis died on December 26, 1889, and was buried at Lebanon Cemetery, the burial place of Octavius Catto and other civil rights leaders of her generation.