FREE ESSAY ON SLAVERY

SLAVERY

A former slave during the antebellum era, Lewis Clarke, said, "How would you like to see
your sisters, and your wives, and your daughter, completely, teetotally, and altogether,
in the power of the master. - You can picture to yourselves a little, how you would feel;
but oh, if I could tell you!" Blacks during the time of slavery saw the many different
experiences women had to go through, from "breeding" slaves to working in the fields
(Woman and the Family in a slave society, Catherine Clinton, pg.13).
Many of times, masters would send for the younger female slaves around the ages of 13 and
older. At this time he would then rape her. This was not uncommon to happen. Madison
Jefferson, another emancipated slave, said, "Women who refused to submit to the brutal
desires of their owners, are repeatedly whipt to subdue their virtuous repugnance, and in
most instances this hellish practice is but too successful - when it fails, the women are
frequently sold off to the south. Living under a social order which deprived them of
virtually all means of gaining personal preferment except the granting of sexual favors,
there is little doubt that many slave women submitted willingly to the advances of their
masters, some of the family, or, overseers, hoping to receive favors in return. Legally
there was no such thing as the rape of a slave woman by a white man (Clinton, pg.13). 
Sexual abuse among young slave girls, especially those, who had worked within the big
house, was a crime of which many slaves complained. Records of the Freedman's Bureau
indicate that white men were slow to break the habit if abusing black women.
"Slave breeding was not uncommon on the plantation. Slaves hated when masters' attempt to
control mating by matching up couples. Some masters rented or 
borrowed men for stud service, subjecting their female slaves to forced breeding or rape.
The male slaves that were used were sometimes referred to as "travelin' niggers,"
"stockmen," or "breedin' niggers." These were not the only ways masters attempted to
control reproduction of slaves. Slave women were expected to reproduce as frequently as 
possible. If they fail to give birth they might be sold. Barren women were shunned by the
community and punished by their owners. All of these factors impaired slave sexuality and
crippled the stability of the traditional family (Clinton, pg. 14).
Evidence from both blacks and whites indicates that forced interracial sex was more
common than slave breeding was. Blacks were reluctant to discuss such matters, especially
with racial and sexual factors inhibiting responses. Former slave, Harry McMillan, said
that although most were church members, girls were more likely to succumb to sexual
temptation than were boys. McMillan also said, "I remember masters who kept one girl
steady, others who maintained sometimes two on different places, regardless of whether
they were married or unencumbered by white wives. ...If they could get it on their own
place it was easier, but they would go wherever they could get it. It demonstrates that,
as a rule, white males in slave society were at no liberty to exploit slave women,
despite family or Christian obligations to the contrary (Clinton pg.14)."
White men and enslaved women did form long-term liaisons, which may not have been founded
on mutual feelings but often grew into relationships that demonstrated 
fidelity and devotion. Records show that not all black female-white male liaisons were
maintained or even initiated by brute force.
Owner-slave liaisons not only caused havoc within the black family; they created violence
and resentment among members of white families as well. Lacking the power to prevent
sexual activities between male owners and slaves, white women on plantations 
struggle to discourage sons, brothers, and conceal marital infidelities. The jealousy and
hatred many white women harbored for the slave women to whom their husbands were attached
were a legend within the Old South (Clinton, pg. 19).
White women uniformly scorned black women's physical appearance. Complaining about the
"unattractiveness" of black women was an unconscious defense mechanism against the
"attraction" many white men acted upon within southern society. Travelers, observers,
court records, and slave narratives all testify to the hostility many white women felt
toward black concubines. They felt as if they were at the mercy of white men (Clinton pg.
19).
Some of the plantation matrons would beg their husbands' fathers for assistance, and
others might look to their own parents for comfort, but generally women were expected to
turn a blind eye. If a man abused his privilege by flaunting an affair, a wife might
demand that the slave be sold. If her husband refused, she could petition for divorce,
citing infidelity as legal grounds for dissolution (Clinton pg. 23).
These sexual liaisons caused major conflict between the black women and white women. It
stirred up conflict and resentment in the cabins and provoked equal disharmony among
members of the white family(Autobiography of a Female Slave, pg.12) . 
The presence of a slave concubine and, secondarily, her bastard children promoted
conflict within the plantation household. Most of the white women lashed out at the
helpless victims - the slave women. Blacks confirm that mistresses attempted to enforce
Christian principles and to deal with morally with a very brutal dehumanizing system.
Former slave James Curry said, "I could relate many instance of extreme cruelty 
practised upon plantations in our neighborhood, instances of woman laying heavy stripes
upon the back of woman, even under circumstances which should have removed every feeling
but that of sympathy from the heart of woman, and, which was sometimes attended with
effects most shocking."
The problems of white women pale in comparison to those that plagued slave women on white
households and black women within southern society. In some cases the anguish and
frustration of white women compounded black women's difficulties, resulting in physical
and emotional abuse of slave mothers and children. They both did share the fact that they
were both at the mercy of the male will.
The black female's experiences in slavery differed from the males' and to ignore that
difference would be to misunderstand the nature of slavery. The bonds of a female slave
were two-fold, linking her both to an interracial community of women and setting her
apart as a female in a white, patriarchal society. Black women had an opportunity for a
more normal life than did black men because they were less desirable purchases. Because
black woman outnumbered the men, it was easier for women to form families. 
Several factors though complicated a black woman's search for a partner. The dispersed
patterns of ownership meant few black women lived in a quarter or with other blacks.
Initially, blacks and especially black women, were scattered singly or in a small groups
among those families who owned slaves. Over one-third of the families owned some slaves
or rented them. No family before 1744 paid taxes on more than six blacks over age
sixteen. Before 1744 only two or three families owned enough slaves to have both males
and females. Thus, black women had to search for mates on nearby farms. 
Furthermore many black women lived very short lives especially in Manakin. Sometimes they
would seem to disappear.
The French community may have affected slave-naming patterns. Manakin whites had 
frustratingly few names, especially among women. Nine women's names , account for over 90
percent of the more than 600 white women associated with the Manakin community before
1776. While both black women and white women drew their names from a much smaller pool
than did men, the pool of black names had a diversity to begin with only eventually
matched by white families who added new names their intermarriages. That black women
shared the same names more frequently than black men parallels the pattern of the white
community. Slave names were more diminutive of white names, for example Betty for
Elizabeth. White women also were known by diminutive names such as Sally, Patsy, and
Nancy. Diminutives were share by both black and white women. Owners distinguished between
black and white female names by changing the form of their names or choosing names for
slaves not used by whites. 
Control over who would name the slave was an indicator of the power of the relationship
that existed between the owner and the slave.
Childbirth is an experience that women of all races can experience, but are kept
separate. Pregnancy, childbearing, and nursing were all common activities taking place on
the plantations. White women mad childbirth a community event, accompanied with the
rituals and support by other women, and that these rituals of lying-in were shared with
black women. The risks of childbirth were greater for black women than white women.
Although they may have participated in the rituals surrounding childbirth, black women
were the center of attention less frequently because they had fewer children; moreover
participation in this woman's culture required them to abandon some of their African
traditions. Black women had fewer children per month than white women did. Black women
usually conceived between the months of May through October. White conceptions were heavy
in the fall and early spring and lowest in the fall. Blacks were lowest in the deep
winter. Black women were in the later stages of pregnancy during the heavy labor season
of spring planting. Surely this affected their health. The work patterns of black women
fostered the high death rate among their children by exhausting mothers and making infant
care difficult. White women expected their children to survive through adulthood. Black
women did not. Slaves and owners in both of these areas preferred daytime arrangements
for slave infant care that kept mothers and infants close to one another, because infants
did not thrive when deprived of a mother's breast in the days before sterilization made
bottle feeding practical. Keeping nursing mothers from their babies was the most
practical solution to the problem of maintaining the 
mother's productivity while meeting the nutritional needs of the infant. Slave infants
who fed regularly at the breast of their white mistresses were uncommon but not unknown.
The need for a wet nurse by the white family put an additional strain on a breastfeeding
mother, who might find herself nursing another child in addition to her own (African
American Negro, Allen Weinstein, pg.89).
Work both separated and brought black women together with whites. In some areas, white
women were not counted in figuring the tithes. They only appeared on the tithe list when
widowed with slaves or male children sixteen-years-old or older. On the other hand, black
women were counted. It is easier to trace black women in the community because they are
listed on the tithe year to year than it is to do so for white women. Eventually in 1769,
free black women received the same exemption as white women, but slave women remained a
part of the tithe. In other words, black women were considered part of the agricultural
labor force in a way white women were not. White women seldom worked away from home,
black women sometimes did Slave rentals kept the labor supply flexible, cut cost for care
by owners, and provided an income for 
widows and orphans. Women slaves were hired out more frequently than men. Thus black
women might be separated from family and friends in order to secure the income that
allowed a white woman to remain on the family farm. Black women worked with white women
in the production of cloth on small farms, thus providing another way in which a
community of women cut across racial lines.
Through churches, slave women expressed their sense of self-worth and personhood. Slave
women appeared mostly in Methodist churches, but usually are seen 
through the filter of white clergymen. These men did not hold some Anglo-American
prejudices about black women. Minister's used phrases like "he speaks well for a Negro."
White minister also believed that a "godly" family was male-headed and that women are the
weaker sex. There is no evidence that early Methodist preachers ever spoke publicly
against sexual abuse and rape of slave women by white men. It is said that Methodist
preachers freed more women than men. Some women were free by Methodist owners outright.
Others were freed after a period of service in which Methodist owners recouped their
expenses. The Methodist preachers rarely blamed the slave women for their actions or
appearance. When ministers commented on inadequate slave dress, they faulted slave owners
for maltreatment (Discovering the Women in Slavery, Patricia Morton, pg. 204).
Black women offered themselves and children for baptism, and a few were married by a
church. Black women gave money to the church, even those who only had a little to give.
The church consoled black women in illness and suffering. Slave and free black women
praised, shouted, and testified in love feasts, services and classes. Although black
women frequently prayed in public, there is no evidence that they ever lead a
congregation. Most free black and slave women were denied leadership roles in the church
from the outside in (Bernard pg.56).
Slave owners recognized that black families existed, the value of slaves as property
meant that black family stability was tied to the life cycle of their owners. In a way
they incorporated the mother of the black family into their family. This is what was 
called a "mammy." The word "mammy" evokes strong and ambiguous feelings, especially in
it's racial overtones and implications and the confusing message of female sexuality and
motherhood. The "mammy" in contrast to the stereotype of the "loose" young black woman,
was represented as a sexual nonthreatening older black woman in intimate contact with
white children and part of the white families. Her success in mothering white children
implies neglect on the part of the white mother who used a black "mammy" to care for her
children. The relationship between the "mammy" and the children was very strong. The
white children were very devoted to her. They cared for her when she got old and after
slavery times. Many former slave women had had the experience of assisting in the care of
the white children of their masters while they were children or teenagers themselves
(Southern Women, Bernhard, Brandon, Fox-Genovese, and Perdue, pg.89).
Although it seems that the black slave women and the white women kept themselves distant
from each other, they really were not. They sometimes worked together and even nursed the
other's child. The black slave even took care of her children and was called what we know
today as a "mammy." Not everyone was against slaves and believed in slavery. The
Methodist church supported them in many ways (Perdue pg. 97).
Bibliography
Bernhard, Virginia. Southern Women. University if Missouri Press, Columbia, Missouri 
65201,1992.
Catherine Clinton. Women and the Family in a Slave Society. Garland Publishing 
Inc., New York & London, 1989.
Morton, Patricia. Discovering the Women in Slavery. The University of Georgia Press,
1996.
Weinstein, Allen. American Negro Slavery. New York Oxford University Press, 1979.
Autobiography of a female Slave. Mnemosyne Publishing Company Inc., 1969