The Women Of Female Slaves

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.

Slavery was common in the eighteenth century. Slaves were seen as property, as they were taken from their native land and forced into long hours of labor. The experience was traumatic for both black men and black women. They were physically and mentally abused by slave owners, dehumanized by the system, and ultimately denied their fundamental rights to a favorable American life. Although African men and women were both subjected to the same enslavement, men and women had different experiences in slavery based on their gender. A male perspective can be seen in, My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass. A female perspective is shared in Harriet Jacobs’ narrative titled, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Upon reading both of the viewpoints provided, along with outside research, one can infer that women had it worse.

While the majority of black women accounts are lost to history due to anti-literacy laws, we do have a good idea of what their lives were, through slave narratives and other records. The life of a female slave in pre-civil war America was characterized by sexual assault, physical and mental abuse along with harsh treatment both in the fields and inside the master’s house. Female slaves were treated as property with no regards to their

The narrative exhibits her awareness of the peculiar paternalism arising from the intertwinement of slavery and the cult of true womanhood/domesticity. She further notes that this form of bondage is not only enacted by husbands, fathers, and brothers, but it is also perpetuated by women themselves, who create the cage that holds them captive (Jacobs et al.,

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.

Women’s issues during slavery and even into the Reconstruction Era were not held as top priorities within the social structure of life during those times. The main political and social issues were within the male spectrum, and therefore left women’s rights and values in second place, behind men. Within the nineteenth century, there were four specific characteristics that society deemed should be associated with a woman; piety, purity, domesticity, and submissiveness. However, this was not the case when it came to black women. They were not able to exemplify the expected worldview of womanhood due to their circumstances.

Minrose Gwin‘s book, Black and White Women of the Old South, argues that history has problems with objectiveness. Her book brings to life interesting interpretations on the view of the women of the old south and chattel slavery in historical American fiction and autobiography. Gwin’s main arguments discussed how the white women of the south in no way wanted to display any kind of compassion for a fellow woman of African descent. Gwin described the "sisterhood" between black and white women as a "violent connection"(pg 4). Not only that, Gwin’s book discusses the idea that for most of the eighteenth and nineteenth century, a black woman usually got subjected to displacement of sexual and mental

Hannah Craft’s novel The Bondwoman’s Narrative reveals aspects that women in slavery face that many are unaware of. Such as marriage being enjoyed more by the free than slaves, how a profit can be made other than being sold, the awareness of their station in life, the jealousy slaves face from their female masters, and two-faced hypocrisy. The article such as “The Radical in the Kitchen: Women, Domesticity, and Social Reform” and Deborah Gray White’s book Ar’n’t I a Woman? Female Slaves in the Plantation South reinforce some of these points.

“He told me that I was made for his use, made to obey his command in every thing; that I was nothing but a slave, whose will must and should surrender to his…” The treatment of slaves varied in their personal experiences as well as in the experiences of others they knew, but Harriet Jacobs phenomenally described the dynamics of the relationship between many female slaves and their superiors with these words from her personal narrative, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861). Before slavery was outlawed it was not uncommon for young female slaves to be sexually abused and exploited by their masters. Although many people know about the cruelty of the sexual assaults that made too many young girls victims of rape in the Antebellum South, most people are unaware of the complexity of the issue and how many different ways these women were abused.

During the 19th century, black women faced a plethora of hardships culminating from hundreds of years of oppression and denigration while simultaneously fighting for equal rights with all other women. One of the biggest obstacles that was necessary to overcome was one of the most common ideologies of the West, the Cult of True Womanhood. This Victorian ideal of womanhood defined women within a domestic sphere and required them to be subservient to their husbands (Broude). These women gave up much more than their rights outside of the home, they were taken advantage of physically, mentally and sexually. The majority of women during this time did not meet this standard of true womanhood and never could hope to. This ideal and the common stereotypes of the time were questioned by an African-American woman named Sojourner Truth.

In the south, during the late 1800’s and throughout the 1900’s, someone’s worth was based on race and gender. With this, blacks and women were seen as inferior. At this time, a woman was supposed to be subordinate to men. Women are shown as sensitive, sweet, caring, faithful, moody, and naïve. To be completed as a whole, a woman needed a man.

Imagine yourself a female slave, living a life of service on a large plantation during the early-19th century. Imagine waking every morning at dawn to begin a never-ending day of cooking, cleaning, washing, and sewing. Imagine being at the beck and call of a master who not only uses you for daily chores, but also for his personal sexual pleasure. Imagine the inexhaustible fear of his next humiliating request and the deep feelings of shame and remorse for your inability to stand up against him. Imagine lying in bed at the end of the day wishing God would carry you to heaven so you would not have to wake and experience this hell on earth all over again.

Understanding the importance of women in regards to the slave exchange is essential for gaining insight into the investigation of slave society by and large. Not only were female slave subordinate in view of race however they likewise shared the trials of the abuse of the female sexual orientation. The black woman assumed a key part in the advancement of slave groups through the improvement of African Sexuality, Family Structure and Economic Productivity. It is in this manner that I will approach the slave exchange from a female viewpoint to comprehend the advancement of these slave groups.

During the colonial era, African slaves faced a life of struggle and fear. In 1793, the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney revolutionized economy as well as American slavery. This new machinery enabled the separation of the seeds from the cotton, making the cotton production increase extremely. However, with the increase of the white gold ( as it was called), there was a consequent increase on the request of slave labor. Therefore, slaves worked long hours on the fields, while many women slaves were confined to house duties, taking care of the masters’ family and home. Sadly, these women didn’t just work exhausting hours, but also suffered physical and sexual abuse by the hands of their masters. Undoubtedly, African women were not just used for labor, but they were also used to satisfy the sick fantasies of cruel men.

In the book of night women, James uses vivid imagery to depict the gender role. “You can’t keep her forever, cow. Just watch when we get her. First we goin’ beat her face off. Then we goin’ fuck out her cunt. Then we goin’ kill her. Then we goin’ fuck her again. Or we just goin’ deal wid her the way massa and maroon deal with you. Me papa tell me ‘bout you. (39)”. This quote shows how slave women did not have any value and what they went through during the time of slavery. Normally, women in general are supposed to be treated with kindness and dignity but slave women were treated differently. They were taking advantage of and were treated without respect, were often used as sex slaves, maids and for breeding. This quote also shows how the