Analysis Of Celia A, Slave By Mclaurin

In the summer of 1855, a slave named Celia committed a crime that would test the laws and precedents placed on slaves in Missouri during this time period. Celia was only fourteen when purchased by a slave owner, Robert Newsom in 1850. Five years after being purchased, she murdered her owner in self-defense because he tried to rape her. Throughout the 1800’s, slaves had few rights, if any at all. Celia, A Slave brings up many questions about these rights because of the controversy surrounding a black woman and her white owner. Many of these questions were also sparked because of the brutal crime Celia committed.

In the book titled Celia, a Slave, written by Melton A. McLaurin, the story of a young slave woman is narrated. Celia had been bought at the age of fourteen by a male slaveholder named Robert Newsom. Newsom purchased Celia with the intention to “purchase a replacement for his wife” (18). Newsom’s wife had passed away a few years earlier, so “he required a sexual partner” (18). Throughout her stay at the Newsom household, Robert Newsom consistently raped and sexually exploited Celia. Celia’s lover, George, gave her an ultimatum saying that if she did not stop having intercourse with Newsom, George would leave her. Stricken with anxiety over possibly losing her lover and determined to stop Newsom’s behavior, Celia beat Newsom to death and burned his body in the fireplace. Celia went to trial, was convicted guilty for the murder of Robert Newsom, and was sentenced to death. Celia, being both a woman and a slave, had to endure twice the amount of hardships in an era controlled by “the sexual politics of slavery,” which was characterized by the exploitation of slaves both financially and sexually, unfair power dynamics, and little legal recourse.

our generation of the horrific trades of slavery. The story of Celia is an emblem of the racial

Released in 1993, Celia, A Slave was written as a true story of a young slaved girl who broke some of the most unbreakable of the rules that applied to slaves which took more abuse than most of her peers. The work as a whole

Throughout history the North and South have always bumped heads when it came to slavery; the North saw slavery as a sin and the South did not see anything wrong with it because they grew up with slavery. Throughout the 1800’s slaves had little to no rights, it was not until the Celia Trial when the questioning of these rights came up. In June 23,1855, Celia had committed murder; she killed her Master Robert Newsom. Because of the crime that she had committed, this tested the laws placed on slaves in Missouri at the time. The policies that passed through affected Celia Trial, at the same time there were some policies that they could use in her advantage.

In Celia, a Slave, written by Melton A. McLaurin, the relationships of race, gender, sexuality, power, law, and slavery in the antebellum South is revealed by Celia’s case. In antebellum South, many things dictated a person’s worth, but the race of a person was the number one factor. If a person was of a race other than Caucasian, such as being Black, then he or she would live in the United States as one of two classifications: slave or freed slave. Of these two classifications, both were thought as being subpar humans when compared to white citizens. Due to these beliefs regarding Blacks, slave and free, Blacks themselves were unable to protect themselves from slave masters and in most legal standings (McLaurin 137). This means that Blacks did not have the same citizenship as white people because a slave was not a citizen in the eyes of the law but the human property of his or her master. Gender is the second idea that dictated a person’s worth and character. Males, white particularly, always held more power and sexual control over the women of the antebellum South. White women, when married, became the legal property of her husband (139). Even if a woman was not married, then she was still considered the property of her father and under his protection until she was given away. For example, Virginia Waynescot and Mary Newsome both lived with their father, Robert Newsome (10-11). By living with their father, the two daughters basically handed over their power because Robert

The main purpose for purchasing her was to help his daughters with the housework since his wife had passed away. Celia later then in 1855 began a relationship with one of the five slaves Robert Newsom owned named George. It was at this time Celia found out she was pregnant and did not know which of the two men would be the father of her child. George, to who is her intimate partner said, “he would have nothing more to do with her if she did not quit the old man.” according to (JRank Articles) Celia then decided she would include Newsom’s daughters Mary, who is the same age as Celia, and Virginia, 36, that her pregnancy is making her ill and she would appreciate if their father would respect her condition and leave her alone. “There was no indication that either Newsom daughters challenged her father.” In accordance with (JRank Articles) On June 23, 1855 during the morning time, Celia pleaded to her master, but he blatantly disregarded her wishes and said “I am coming to your cabin tonight.” according to (JRank Articles) Later that afternoon, Celia brought a piece of wood the size of a chair leg, but no bigger than to defend herself from her master of his obscene actions towards her. When Robert Newsom arrived that night and refused to leave Celia alone, she banged her master’s head twice and ended up killing him. Celia was frantic, for her intentions weren’t to kill her

Melton McLaurin vividly describes the life of a sexually abused slave who fought back in the non-fictional memoir titled Celia, A Slave. As the story began, the 1800s were impassioned with one civil disagreement between two sides of the United States—whether the nation should legally end or perpetuate human enslavement (16). Slavery was particularly and heavily supported by the citizens of the Calloway County, the home of Robert Newsom (19). The proof of increased crop production through slave labor convinced Newsom to begin his investment in black slaves (20). Having an increased number of farmhands allowed Newsom more time for relaxation and a higher social status. Soon, after understanding the ease of obtaining human property, Newsom

From emancipation leading all the way to the 20th century, African American women struggled to find better opportunities outside of their agricultural laborer and domestic servant roles. In Cooking in Other Women’s Kitchens: Domestic Workers in the South, 1865-1960, author Rebecca Sharpless illustrates how African American women in the American South used domestic work, such as cooking, as a stepping stone from their old lives to the start of their new ones. Throughout the text, Sharpless is set out to focus on the way African American women used cooking to bridge slavery and them finding their own employment, explore how these women could function in a world of low wages, demanding work, and omnipresent racial strife, and refute stereotypes about these cooks. With the use of cookbooks, interviews, autobiographies, and letters from the women, Sharpless guides readers to examine the personal lives and cooking profession of these African American women and their ambition to support themselves and their families.

During the antebellum South, many Africans, who were forced migrants brought to America, were there to work for white-owners of tobacco and cotton plantations, manual labor as America expanded west, and as supplemental support of their owner’s families. Harriet Jacobs’s slave narrative supports the definition of slavery (in the South), discrimination (in the North), sexual gender as being influential to a slave’s role, the significant role of family support, and how the gender differences viewed and responded to life circumstances.

The experiences, memories and treatment in any situation are viewed upon differently between a man and a woman. Obvious in the case of slavery, the two sexes were treated differently and so therefore their recollections of such events were-different. In the following short essay, we look closely at the perspective of the female slave, Harriet Jacobs in “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl”, and respectfully compared to that of a man slave, Frederick Douglass in “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”. Although both experienced their freedoms despite facing great

On Thursday, March 29th, three archivists gave a seminar with the overarching title: “Decolonizing History: Gender, Region, Slavery.” One of the archivist, Jessica Mane Johnson introduced Therese, a slave woman, in her presentation “Bury Me in the Ocean.” Therese was a slave who married a free black man John Mingo. Mingo tried to buy Therese’s freedom from slave owner Darby for $9,000, but she remained trapped. Documents about Mingo form Therese’s story, thus there is not much information on her. In the story of Therese, the concept of ungendering in Hortense Spillers’ “Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe” comes into context. Through connecting the life of Therese to Spillers’ work, I will illustrate how, in the journey to becoming a slave, women were

The Role and Significance of Food in The Help In the novel The Help by Kathryn Stockett, the role and significance of food is greatly expressed. Not only is the role of food used to show racism but to express how women, particularly African Americans, were the better of the cooks in the 1960’s. The significance of food in the culture of the South changed since the 1960’s to now because every meal used to be home cooked and not store bought or fast food like today. African American maids food used to be called “Soul Food” to relate to how well the maids cooked with what was available to them.

Slavery was a horrible institution that dehumanized a race of people. Female slave bondage was different from that of men. It wasn't less severe, but it was different. The sexual abuse, child bearing, and child care responsibilities affected the females's pattern of resistance and how they conducted their lives. Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, demonstrates the different role that women slaves had and the struggles that were caused from having to cope with sexual abuse.

Thousands upon thousands of slaves ran away to gain dominion over their physical bodies that were being exploited. Cora becomes a resistor by running away, believing it would bring her to freedom. She arrives in South Carolina where African American men and women walk freely, never once thinking that their bodies are endanger. While Cora knew the truth, the other women had no idea they were “still being herded and domesticated. Not pure merchandise as formerly but livestock: bred, neutered” (Whitehead 124). Cora compares the sterilization of black women in South Carolina to the enslavement on plantations. As women, they had no control over what happens to their bodies but even in the free world they are forced to follow the orders of others. Not only are the black women still unknowingly being oppressed but so are the black men. They are being experimented on with sugar water