Celia, A Slave - A True Story Essay

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.

Melton McLaurin’s book Celia, A Slave is the account of the trial, conviction, and execution of a female slave for the murder of her “master” Robert Newsom in 1855. The author uses evidence compiled through studying documents from Callaway County, Missouri and the surrounding area during the middle of the Nineteenth Century. Although much of what can be determine about this event is merely speculation, McLaurin proposes arguments for the different motives that contribute to the way in which many of the events unfold. Now throughout the book the “main characters”, being Celia, her lawyer Jameson, and the judge William Hall, are all faced with moral decisions that affect the lives of two different people.

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

In "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl", Harriet Jacobs writes, "Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women" (64). Jacobs' work shows the evils of slavery as being worse in a woman's case by the gender. Jacobs elucidates the disparity between societal dictates of what the proper roles were for Nineteenth century women and the manner that slavery prevented a woman from fulfilling these roles. The book illustrates the double standard of for white women versus black women. Harriet Jacobs serves as an example of the female slave's desire to maintain the prescribed virtues but how her circumstances often prevented her from practicing.

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

Slavery was the focal point of the economy in the South, this inthrallment was the fuel for the agricultural South as well as the industrial North. Slaves would work the lands of their masters and bring in the raw materials produced, and these raw materials, commonly tobacco and cotton, would be shipped to the North and Europe. The North used the raw materials for the textile mills from the South because it made more economic sense because it cost less than the raw materials coming from Europe. Both regions became dependent upon each other, "the ruin of thousands and hundreds of thousands in the manufacturing states..." (Doc A) would occur if slavery was prevented from spreading by the Republicans. This claim being that if the North continued its free-soil mentality, it would fail as well due to a lack of raw materials caused by an insufficient amount of land for slaves and plantations; "a blow at slavery ia a blow at commerce and civilization..." (Doc R). The North was strongly tied economically to the products of slavery, the South was immensely impacted by slavery, it was the foundation and

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

In the article “The Central Theme of Southern Slavery” Ulrich B. Phillips asserts that among several other motives that served as a drive for white Southerners to support slavery, the predominant one was their desire to preserve white supremacy in the South. He claims that all of the states in the US are similar except for the opinion about slavery. Phillips emphasizes that the idea of slavery in the South was important and perceived by southerners as heritage and a tradition. He also claims that the institution wasn’t merely economic, but also a system of social order. In addition, the white southerners saw abolition as a major threat to their economic freedom. According to Phillips, some Southerners saw deportation of african-american citizens as another solution to the slavery crisis in the United States. However,

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

The book Celia, A Slave is the analysis of the trial of a slave named Celia for the murder and attempted disposal of her master's body, which she committed due to her being raped repeatedly by her master. The book takes a deep dive into the history of slavery in Missouri and t how deep the problem and laws in the south were at the time. The author, Melton McLaren, also does a nice job of truly depicting the hopelessness of a female slave at the time. The story itself offers up the moral reality of slavery and what it meant to be an enslaved woman with no hope of fairness to reach out for. In the first two chapters of Celia, A Slave alone depict how dreadful the conditions were for a lot of slaves and how they could not ever really hope for

In the story Celia, A Slave by Melton A. McLaurin, readers receive a bottom-up approach: scholarship that attempts to explain the perspective of ordinary people, as opposed to elites or leaders. In fact, McLaurin is quite commendable to do so because students are usually 1 taught a top-down approach on a daily basis in any history class. Slaves, especially those who were female, are virtually invisible to all historians. Few historians see female slaves as an important role in society; simply because they didn't contribute much socially, economically, or politically when compared to their masters or white men in general. McLaurin used the account of Celia, as a young slave woman’s struggle through rape and injustice to depict a society in

Celia, A Slave, Trial by Douglas Linder is about a nineteen-year-old slave named Celia. She lived on a Missouri farm, five years, constantly being raped by her owner Robert Newsom. Many females, but, especially slaves had no control over their own lives. Douglas Linder states “For female slaves, rape was an “ever present threat” and, far too often, a reality” (Linder, Background and Crime, 2). For example, the night of Robert Newsom’s death, he entered Celia’s cabin and told her it was time for sex. She retreated to the back of her cabin with Newsom following behind. For many years Celia had no control of her own body. Newsom like many other men/ slave owners did what

The book Celia, A Slave by Melton A. McLaurin is about the trial and execution of a slave in Callaway county named Celia. Robert migrated westward to seek cheap land. He was a widow and had two sons and two daughters who still lived with him. In 1850 a Missouri farmer named Robert Newsom buys a teenaged slave named Celia. At the time Robert purchased Celia there was an intense debate about slavery throughout America. After buying Celia Newsom raped her on the way to his farm. He would rape her for the next five years she was his slave. Within the five years on the farm Celia has two children for Newsom. Celia becomes involved with another slave on the farm named George. Once George finds out about Celia and her masters relationship he gives her an ultimatum telling her if she doesn’t end it he’ll leave her. While pregnant with her third child Celia tells Newsom’s daughters about their father telling them to tell him to back off because she’s very sick. When Newsom didn’t listen to Celia she struck him with a pole and burned his body in her fireplace. When the family found out she was convicted and hanged.

On June 23, 1855 in Callaway County, Missouri, a female slave murdered her master and then burned his body. This was during the antebellum time period when an intense debate about slavery was going on throughout America about whether or not slavery would be legal in new states joining the Union. Owning slaves during this time showed a sense of wealth especially in Callaway County. By the 1840s, Callaway was one of the leading slave counties in the state and by 1850, slaves made up nearly half of the population. Also, during the antebellum period, whether they successfully resisted or not, slave women were considered fair game regarding sexual relations by many of the white men who lived in their households or nearby. In the book Celia, A Slave by Melton McLaurin, to prevent the tragedy of Robert Newsom's murder and the events that followed, ultimately Celia, Virginia, and Mary could not have done anything differently.