Black Polly was probably enslaved in Nigeria aged about twelve, and had been brought to the island of Nevis from St Kitts by John Pinney, who had purchased her together with eight other male children.

[4] Coker had to leave her mother behind in Nevis as well as her half-sister Hetty, and half-brother Billy Jones (whose father was said to have been John Pinney).

The record from 10 March 1789 reads 'Frances Coker the descd.t of African ancestors, gave a most intelligent and pleasing acc.t of the work of God upon her soul, and was accepted as a candidate for Baptism'.

She made a conscious choice not to attend the nearby Anglican parish church of St Augustine the Less but instead committed herself to an alternative Protestant belief system.

Throughout her life Coker retained her contacts with Nevis: she wrote letters, sent presents and goods for her mother to trade, as well as cooper's equipment to her half-brother Billey.

Occasionally Coker was in charge of looking after Racedown and, whilst enjoying greater freedom on her own, she would have had to adjust to a quiet, rural life.

It is assumed that she had friends among the many people of African and Caribbean descent from Nevis who came to England as servants, and she enjoyed the company of the freed enslaved women Kate Coker and Polly Weekes on their visits to Bristol in 1785 and 1810-11 respectively.

[1] In 2017, Bristol based director and playwright Ros Martin directed the Daughters of Igbo Woman project in response to Fanny Coker's life.

The project included a trilogy of films shot in Nigeria, Nevis and England, and a memorial tribute to Coker at Greenbank cemetery on 26 August 2017.

In the work Martin gives Fanny Coker, her mother and grandmother (of whom there is no record) imagined African Igbo names 'Fumnanya', 'Adaeze', and 'Ojiugo'.

Us, African women writers from three continents are evoking ancestor’s voices in symbolic reconnecting and honoring of ancestral spirits who endured forced migration, separation & loss; adapting and surviving.