When Oscar Chrisman published “Secret Language of Children” in Science in 1893, he named Miss Edith Fly of Gonzales, Texas as the young woman who supplied information about Tut.
Why Edith Fly Matters
Edith is one of the earliest named people directly connected with the published Tut record. Through the information Chrisman reported, the article preserved a teaching chain involving Black girls and women linked to Gonzales, Austin, Galveston, and a girl who had come from Jamaica.
What the Chain Tells Us
It tells us that Tut was circulating through a Black transmission network before 1893. It also gives researchers concrete places and relationships to investigate.
What We Still Cannot Say
- We do not know the inventor.
- We do not know the original birthplace.
- We do not know the identities of most women in the chain.
- We do not know whether the Jamaica connection represents origin or transmission.
Tutnese.org keeps these distinctions visible so a promising research lead does not get turned into a false certainty.
See the full research status at Tutnese.org/what-we-know.
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