Jezebel And Mammy: The Mythology Of Female Slavery

Because of that African Women had submitted to their masters sexually to escape harsher punishment while some, saw exploiting themselves as a way to lead a virtuous life, which never really went the way they wanted it to because the wife of the plantation owner would sell them off because of jealousy. For that very reason the Jezebel image could not reflect the everyday lives of female slaves, because female salves were forced to have sex by their masters because of fear or to try to escape the grueling punishment of their plantation owners. They did not enjoy exploiting themselves so therefore, the Jezebel could not have been a correct mythology for the black slave woman.

After the emancipation of slaves, the black man tried to take the role of head of the household. The black man expected their wives to take care of him, the children, and his household. Not only that but the woman was expected to do all of that and at the same time help the husband financially. Yes, the wife was expected to find a job and do all of the other necessary things for the house.

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.

This paper discusses the experiences of African American Women under slavery during the Slave Trade, their exploitation, the secrecy, the variety of tasks and positions of slave women, slave and ex-slave narratives, and significant contributions to history. Also, this paper presents the hardships African American women faced and the challenges they overcame to become equal with men in today’s society. Slavery was a destructive experience for African Americans especially women. Black women suffered doubly during the slave era.

They were just a phase, slavery was now the new tradition, but some slaves did benefit from their circumstances. For instance, some urban merchants and artisans employed slaves in their shops, which exposed them to marketable skills (1). Further proving that slaves located in towns, withheld more freedom than the others in the cities. Now onto the treatment of women during this slave era. During the 1600’s laws were put in place pertaining to servant women and their “illegitimate children’ (3). The law stated that women servants or slaves who conceived children with their masters will automatically experience an increase in their year of servitude. Since giving birth would mean any extra mouth to feed, the owners took it upon themselves to get the law passed. The masters can do whatever they please with them ,but woe betide the woman to get pregnant. Woe betide the woman to resist their master. Woe betide the woman to keep that child. The masters would sneak into the slaves quarters and rape them, yet they couldn’t respond because the master was always right . Many thought of running away yet due to their dark skin, it was hard for slaves to escape from their owners and blend into the rest of the population. As number of slaves increased, lawmakers constructed legal codes for strictly controlling slave activities. Lawmakers therefore made sure that the slaves had absolutely no

All African-Americans have been portrayed in stereotypical roles since their arrival into American society for the entertainment and amusement of others. Many people find it difficult to appreciate the diversity of the African American women. So instead of trying to do this, they create identities based on negative stereotypes. There are several negative stereotypes associated with the African American woman. The Mammy archetype is the one chosen to be analyzed in this essay. Collins described the mammy as “-the faithful, obedient domestic servant. Created to justify the economic exploitation of house slaves and sustained to explain Black women’s long-standing restriction to domestic service…” (72) She is commonly seen trying to soothe

Often times when talking about the institution of slavery in the United States of America, men are at the center of the discussion; whether they were owners or slaves, men are presented first. Black women are pushed in the background except for the most famous like Harriet Tubman and Sally Hemings. In North America, specifically the United States, more than six hundred thousand slaves were brought in from Africa and the Caribbean between 1620 and 1865, the laws regarding slaves were condensed into slave codes that varied from state to state. Female slaves usually received the worst of it. Abusing them was legal, since the were considered property and as long as the owner wanted, he could have his way with any women he chooses on the plantation. Female slave were subject to harsh punishment for refusing the advances of the master. As one of, if not, the most vulnerable group in America at the time, female slaves had more threats to their existence than black men.

White women back then were raised by the “Cult of Domesticity”, but black women were taken away from their families to move into other plantations and were stripped away from their moral values which destroyed them. In (Doc 7), Harriet Jacobs, a former slave girl, was abused by her owners and was

They needed and deserved protection. African American women were wanton, licentious, promiscuous […] African American men were lustful beasts who could not be trusted in the company of ‘good’ women, white women. [4]

The period of the antebellum south was among the most burdensome times for African American slaves, especially females. During the early 1800s the lives of enslaved women were extremely demanding. The female slaves were expected to bear children, as well as were required to work just as hard as the male slaves on the plantation. Days were long and laborious for slave mothers, they had to make sure that all the work that needed to be done was completed, and also care for their children. Female slaves’ jobs varied from housework, to field work. Slave mothers knew that giving up on their work was not an option, they had to persevere for their families. Motherhood and work went hand in hand for female slaves, one was not able to do one and not the other.

The term Jezebel, a seductive female slave concerned only with matters of the flesh, was used as a means of excusing miscegenation, the sexual exploitation of African American women, and the mulatto population (61). The term Mammy, the premier house servant with expertise in all domestic matters and known for the loving way she raised the master’s children, was used to symbolize race and sex relations at their best. The image of Mammy justified slavery for many white Southerners, for she reflected a positive idea that slaves somehow benefited from the institution of slavery (61).

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.

During the time of slavery, not only were African Americans were treated unfairly, but their women had it worse at times; African American women would be raped would be raped by their owners, or be trafficked around from man to man (Browne-Marshall). The white man was seen as evil, disgusting and cruel, so being a black woman carrying a white man’s child was basically

During the antebellum era, issues of race and equality persisted to plague social progress in the United States. Instrumental in leading the assault against women and African Americans, white slave owning male in the American antebellum South reign supreme in both the private and public spheres respectively. Although that is not to suggest that African Americans held any real power within the public sphere, instead the African Americans depicted in the movie, Twelve Years a Slave, were used as tangible property. As tangible property, the masters in the movie used their slaves to gain social perfection within the public sphere. Women, however, were purely relegated to the private sphere. Twelve Years a Slave did an exemplary job of expanding the notion of a women and slaves as intellectual and physical property within the broader construct of American antebellum society.

We made slaves of women, so it must have had something to gain, correct? The answer to that is yes, our society had something to gain. However, it wasn’t society as a whole, but the male society. Males during this time showed themselves as very dominant and in control. In Martha’s time, men showed their dominance over women by keeping them at home to do the work the men had no business doing, or so they thought. In some ways you could look at that and say we today have made improvements. Although we have made improvements we still have a way to go on reaching true equality among our society and people as a whole.