Interracial Sexual Contact

This is proof that this terrible act was very typical within slaveholding societies. Now, just because this relationship seems usual in the south, it does not mean everyone condoned it. The wives of many slave owners proved they were not okay with a white male and a black female relationship by the way they acted with “anger and resentment” towards other slaves (McLaurin, 26). Wives chose to ignore this behavior simply because if they didn’t, not only would their lives be in danger, but so would their children’s.

In “Lines of Color, Sex, and Service: Sexual Coercion in the Early Republic,” by Sharon Block she examines the startling similarities between Harriet Jacobs, an African-American slave in 1825 and Rachel Davis, an indentured servant during the 1790s. At first glance, it would seem that both girls would have no similarities, however, by uncovering their stories you can find many parallels between Harriet and Rachel. Both girls are faced with sexual pressure and sexual coercion from their masters, the power struggle between them, their mistresses attempt at inferring in their relationship, their eventual removal from their house, and their attempts at sharing the experience with family members and close friends. Block writes, “This contrast between

This article is based on Andre Brink’s novel A Chain of Voices (1982) and Yvette Christianse Unconfessed (2006) but based on the lives of escaped slaves during 1808-1835. Both present the lives of slave women and the efforts of their slave owners to hide the illegitimacy of their enslavement. These slave women had to accept their fate of being forced into having a sexual relationship with their white masters. They are raped and try to fight for their freedom must be granted to her by her slave owner. This book encouraged later historians to consider the origins of the institution of slavery, the profitability of the institution, the motives of slaveowners, the harshness of the system, and ways in which enslaved African-Americans affected the institution. This book uses descriptions of specific

Thesis: Fischer argues that sexual practices of can be used to “gain insight into the way ordinary people participated in the making of a racial hierarchy (5).” She argues for the setting of colonial North Carolina because it is not place that has been widely studied in colonial studies (7).

On the surface, Harriet Jacobs, a black slave, and Rachel Davis, a white indentured servant, appear to have little in common. However, these two seemingly opposite women do share a common experience: they were both sexually coerced by their masters. In the early republic, those who worked as bound laborers were sometimes subjected to instances of sexual coercion, as they were “vulnerable to the power and authority of their masters.” While the two women were in vastly different situations, there are many parallels that can be found in their respective experiences, including the role that their masters (and their mistresses) played, how friends and family were involved, and how each woman struggled to control the account of what happened. But

In a time period when women were considered inferior, as were blacks, it was unimaginable the horrors a black woman in the south had to endure during this period. African women were slaves and subject to the many horrors that come along with being in bondage, but because they were also women, they were subject to the cruelties of men who look down on women as inferior simply because of their sex. The sexual exploitation of these females often lead to the women fathering children of their white masters. Black women were also prohibited from defending themselves against any type of abuse, including sexual, at the hands of white men. If a slave attempted to defend herself she was often subjected to further beatings from the master. The black female was forced into sexual relationships for the slave master’s pleasure and profit. By doing this it was the slave owner ways of helping his slave population grow.

The slave owner’s exploitation of the black woman’s sexuality was one of the most significant factors differentiating the experience of slavery for males and females. The white man’s claim to the slave body, male as well as female, was inherent in the concept of the Slave Trade and was tangibly realized perhaps no where more than the auction block. Captive Africans were stripped of their clothing, oiled down, and poked and prodded by potential buyers. The erotic undertones of such scenes were particularly pronounced in the case of black women. Throughout the period of slavery in America, white society believed black women to be innately lustful beings. The perception of the African woman as hyper-sexual made her both the object of white man’s abhorrence and his fantasy. Within the bonds of slavery, masters often felt it was their right to engage in sexual activity with black women. Sometimes, female slaves made advances hoping that such relationships would increase the chances that they or their children would be liberated by the master. Most of the time, slave owners took slaves by force.

Author Melton McLaurin wrote this book for readers to know and understand a portion of the American past. He explained how the sexual politics of slavery presented an exact example of the power relationships within the larger society. In his writing, he demonstrates how

The plantation system demanded total submission to a white patriarchal figure. Both white and African American women were subject to repression based on sex. White women were subject to the idea of sexual virtuousness and domestic roles

In the year of 1863, two New York Democrats with the intention of obstructing Abraham Lincoln’s bid for re-election coined the term ‘miscegenation’. They believed that miscegenation was crucial to a progressive humanity. The Democrats posed as Republicans and anonymously wrote and published a seventy-two-page propaganda pamphlet, advocating for inter-racial marriages between “the white men’ and “Negro”. The article was entitled Miscegenation: The Theory of the Blending of the Races, Applied to the American White Man and Negro. During this time, the American Civil War was in action and two years later slavery in the United Sates was abolished. Da Cruz Brito said that, “ It was during and after the Civil War that sexual-affective relations

White explores the master’s sexual exploitation of their female slaves, and proves this method of oppression to be the defining factor of what sets the female slaves apart from their male counterparts. Citing former slaves White writes, “Christopher Nichols, an escaped slave living in Canada, remembered how his master laid a woman on a bench, threw her clothes over her head, and whipped her. The whipping of a thirteen-year-old Georgia slave girl also had sexual overtones. The girl was put on all fours ‘sometimes her head down, and sometimes up’ and beaten until froth ran from her mouth (33).” The girl’s forced bodily position as well as her total helplessness to stop her master’s torture blatantly reveals the forced sexual trauma many African females endured.

During this time period, slave owners would often rape their slaves. Slaves, especially light skinned slaves, were ideal sex companions because of their beauty, age, and inability to speak up for themselves. Louisa herself was the result of slave rape, and she lived a hard life although she appeared white. Louisa's second owner, Mr. Cook, whipped her very often, especially when drunk (Piquet 2). Mr. Cook's debt allowed Louisa to be hired out to Mr. English who would never whip Louisa (Picquet 3). While living in Mobile with Mr. English, Louisa noticed an encounter between a "perfectly white man and a jet black man," both of whom were slaves to the same master (Picquet 4). The darker skinned slave became jealous of the lighter skinned slave because he noticed the treatment for him was far better. In order to seek revenge, the darker skinned slave told their master that he saw the lighter colored slave walking out with a girl, which did not happen (Picquet 4). The master sent for Mr. T, the lighter colored slave, and he proceeded to whip him and then called for the alleged girl and whipped her before sending her off to New Orleans. This event shed light on the extent of the racial issue in American slavery to Louisa. Although there were many slaves that appeared white, they were considered black even if they were majority white. They may have received better treatment than darker-skinned slaves, but white men and women still hated them the same and treated them

“’Why-but you were married to me, by the minister, as much as if you’d been a white man!’ said Eliza, simply. ‘Don’t you know a slave can’t be married? There is no law in this country for that; I can’t hold you for my wife, if he chooses to part us” (22).

	The book discussed how one of the principle reasons as to how the white woman or mistress and the black women got along, depends on whether or not the slave women appeared to threaten the social status of the women. When the white men tried to rape the black women it made the white women socially look like nothing more than a slave. This made the white women feel forced to prove to the black women that power still remained in the white woman’s corner regardless of the master’s sexual desires. The mistresses made sure that the slave women understood that they valued less than any white women, for the main reason that the white woman had true power as long as the main wanted her. An example of this that I read would be when a white woman outwardly expressed that she worried mainly about her loss of power, not actually about marriage. Saphire, a fictional character that Gwin analyzes, says "...mainly concerned with her power... she views her husbands affections for a slave as an undercutting of her power over him in their relationship which. As the husband himself describes as, what makes her the master and him the miller." (pg 133) The slave that caused this upset usually received many beatings and unnecessary overworking of the slave. At the time, this treatment was not unheard of and needed, the white slave owners used it as an example to show all slaves that they were not worth the air they breath except in the fields.

In “Virginian Luxuries”, there is a depiction of a well-dressed white man embracing a black female slave on the left half of the painting. I believe the artist’s intention was to indicate that she was a slave by her simple clothes and lack of shoes. I suspect that the objective of the artist was to convey the dominance of white slave owners over their slaves and how they used that power to engage in sexual relations with them. The white man is wearing what appear to be fine clothes and seems to be enjoying the fruits of his privileged status. In the painting it appears that the act is consensual, but I know from this history course that this was not always the case.