Men, Women, & Gender pa

Continued from page 1

The slave owner's exploitation of the black woman's A master's control over both spouses reduced the
sexuality was one of the most significant factors male's potential for dominance over his wife. Marri
differentiating the experience of slavery for males and slaves, whose union was not legally recognized, he
females.  joint property in common. What is more, labor seg
The white man's claim to by sex and the frequency with which male slaves w
the slave body, male as sold meant women were
well as female, was not only left to raise their
inherent in the concept of children alone, but also to
the slave trade and was rely on female friends and
tangibly realized perhaps relations above
no where more than on husbands. 
the auction block, where In consequence, black
captive Africans were slave women were
stripped of their clothing, autonomous in ways that
oiled down, and poked and white women could not
Slaves exposed for sale. Library of prodded by potential be. Like the attention the
Congress, Prints and Photographs buyers. The erotic master sometimes aimed
Division. "Oh Miss Jinny ... " p.23 in
undertones of such scenes at female slaves, the
STORY OF A SLAVE (Chica
were particularly perceived "freedoms" of
Wesley, Elmore & Benson,
pronounced in the case of black women. the black woman Rare Book, Manuscript, an
sometimes provoked the Collections, Duke Universi
Throughout the period of slavery in America, white society resentment of mistresses. Durham, North Carolina.
believed black women to be innately lustful beings. At the same time, the
Because the ideal white woman was pure and, in the agency conferred on
nineteenth century, modest to the degree of prudishness, female slaves also helped to reinforce the notion th
the perception of the African woman as hyper-sexual were inherently depraved.
made her both the object of white man's abhorrence and
his fantasy. Within the bonds of slavery, masters often felt Whenever possible, black slave women manipulate
it their right to engage in sexual activity with black unique circumstances in the struggle for their pers
women. Sometimes, female slaves acquiesced to dignity and that of their families. As often as black
advances hoping that such relationships would increase black women rebelled against the inhumanities of
the chances that they or their children would be liberated owners. 
by the master. Most of the time, however, slave owners Like their ancestor
took slaves by force. counterparts in Afr
most slave women
For the most part, masters made young, single slaves the their motherhood
objects of their sexual pursuits. However, they did on seriously. They put
occasion rape married women. The inability of the slave responsibilities for
husband to protect his wife from such violation points to children before the
another fundamental aspect of the relationship between safety and freedom
enslaved men and women. The paternalistic language of provided for childre
slavery, the restrictions of slave law, and the their own, and gav
circumstances of slave life created a sense of parity even to those babi
between black wives and husbands. Harriet Jones with her daughter from violence. For
and granddaughter. Library of experience and kno
Congress, Manuscript Division.
as caregivers, elde
women were amon
most revered slaves on Southern plantations. For e
men, escape to freedom was the most promising a
for preserving masculine identity and individual hu
For the slave woman, faced with the double onus o
black and female and the added burden of depend
children, womanhood and personhood were easier
within the slave community.
Men, Women, & Gender page 1 | 2
By: Jennifer Hallam

For black men and women, slavery was an equally The activity of hoeing, in particular, speaks to s
devastating experience. Both were torn from homeland
ways in which the institution of American slave
and family. Both were forced to perform grueling labor,
subjected to mental and physical degradation, and denied upset the gender roles men and women played i
their most basic rights. Enslaved men and women were Africa before enslavement. In South Carolina, w
beaten mercilessly, separated from loved ones arbitrarily, rice was the dominant crop, men hoed the fields
and, regardless of sex, treated as property in the eyes of
the law.
alongside women. The task was an emasculating
given that the hoe was specifically identified wi
Despite common factors, woman's work in West Africa. 
however, the Because rice was
circumstances of
enslavement were
food item in this r
different for black women of Africa, hoeing
and black men. The first considered among
slaves to be brought to the female domestic d
British colonies of North
America were
along with cookin
disproportionately male. Ironically, therefo
Considered more valuable task of hoeing als
workers because of their disturbed the gend
strength, enslaved men Slave women cultivating a village
performed labors that garden, Central Africa. University identity of the fem
ranged from building of Virginia Library. slave. In the Ame
houses to plowing fields. South, enslaved w
When the Dutch brought wielding hoes were contributing to the commerc
African and Creole women
into New Amsterdam in production of their masters, not to the nourishm
the late 1620s, they did so their families.
not to supplement their
Africans on the slave bark Wildfire.
workforce, but to provide
Library of Congress, Prints and In Africa, woman's primary social role was that
Photographs Division. company for their black
male slaves. mother. In slavery, this aspect of African woma
Although most planters in colonial North America favored
was debased. Whereas childbirth in Africa was
robust young men as slaves, the bulk of these were passage for women that earned them increased r
shipped to the West Indies, whose sugar crops dominated within the American plantation system that deve
the international trade economy.  by the mid-eighteenth century, it was an econom
Early on, slave buyers in
the colonies turned to
advantage for the master, who multiplied his lab
purchasing female field force through slave pregnancy. The average ens
hands, who were not only woman at this time gave birth to her first child a
more readily available, nineteen years old, and thereafter, bore one chil
but also cheaper. In fact,
because skilled labor,
two and a half years. This cycle, encouraged by
such as carpentry and master, was not without benefits to the mother.
blacksmithing, was pregnant, she could usually expect more food an
assigned only to male fewer working hours. Because proven fertility m
slaves, the pool of black
men available for Isaac Jefferson Daguerreotype,
her more valuable to her owner, she was also les
agricultural work was Tracy W. McGregor Library of to be sold away from friends and family.
further reduced. As a American History, special
collections, University of Virginia.
result, female slaves Of course, the burdens, physical as well as
eventually outnumbered
men in field forces. psychological, that came with childbearing were

On small farms with few slaves, women were more likely
to perform the same labor as men. Usually, however,
especially on larger farms and plantations, fieldwork was
divided along gender lines, with more physically
demanding tasks assigned to male gangs. Men, for
instance, might chop the wood for a fence, while women
were put in charge of its construction. Men generally
plowed the fields, while women hoed.
enormous for enslaved women. Expected to put
needs of the master and his family before her ow
children, the slave mother on a large plantation
returned to the fields soon after giving birth, lea
her child to be raised by others. On a smaller far
slave's mothering responsibilities were simply a
on top of her usual duties. For the love of their
children, slave mothers often chose to stay in bo
while their male counterparts attempted escape.
female slave was, moreover, faced with the pros
being forced into sexual relationships for the pu
of reproduction. Perhaps more harrowing, she m
witness to her daughters suffering the same fate