Sexual Exploitation Of Female Slaves During The American...

Sexual Exploitation of Female Slaves in the American South â€Å"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†¦Ã¢â‚¬  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. The power and authority given to overseers on plantations in the Antebellum South often led to a misuse of power, partic ularly in regards to enslaved young women. Overseers were slaves chosen by the master to control the fields on bigger plantations to keep the slaves in line and on task. However, sometimes this power led to abuse. An unnamed slave told of a young girl he knew who caught the eye of one of the overseers on the plantation she worked on. Her mother told her to stay away from him because she knew what he would do to her if she did not. In the field heShow MoreRelatedEssay On Celia A Slave1102 Words   |  5 PagesCelia, A Slave was written by a man named Melton A. McLaurin in 1999. Melton has written many books about his lifelong interests of racism. In fact he even received the Lillian Smith award for his book Separate Pasts: Growing Up in the Segregated South and a notable book selection award from the New York Times for Celia, A Slave. Melton says â€Å"The case of Celia A slave reminds us that the personal and the political are never totally separate entities† (xiv). Celia, A Slave is about fourteen year oldRead MoreMillion In Number—That Was Forcibly Transported South To1144 Words   |  5 Pagesmillion in number—that was forcibly transported South to reconstruct the plantation economy on new ground, as the center of American slavery shifted from the production of tobacco and rice in the seaboard states to that of cotton and sugar in the interior.† Between 1790 and 1860, approximately one million African Americans were transported from the Upper South to the Deep South in the domestic slave trade. Even when ex-slaves wrote their own narratives, many struggled to gain full free expressionRead MoreArnt I a Woman by Deborah White Essay927 Words   |  4 Pageshistory of the American black woman. Being an African- American and being a woman, these are the two principle struggles thrown at the black woman during and after slavery in the United States. Efforts were made by White scholars in 1985 to have a focus on the female slave experience. Deborah Gray White explains her view by categorizing the hardships and interactions between the female slave and the environment in which the slave was born. She starts with the mythology of the female slave by using mythologiesRead MoreEssay on Slavery, Womens Rights and Inequality in America1540 Words   |  7 Pages The foundation of American values lay in a belief of independence, nationalism, capitalism, and religion. However, many conflicts have arisen over these values in the past. Capitalism and other characteristics have made Ameri ca great, but they have brought about their own set of inequalities. Those inequalities have deep roots in race, culture, gender, and wealth. In the 1800s two of the biggest conflict lies with the issue of slavery and women’s rights. African slaves helped build the economicRead MoreThe Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass1728 Words   |  7 Pagesanywhere than in the United States during the nineteenth century. In fact, the slaves were forced, kidnapped or â€Å"born† to be the suppressed and were not only required to perform endless labor, but also tortured, suppressed and bestially destroyed in numerous heartless ways — physically and mentally. However, a few decades before the outbreak of the civil war, it was barely possible for the ordinary to know about the details of how the slaves lived in the south due to several factors such as theRead MoreEssay on Kindred, by Octavia Butler875 Words   |  4 Pagesby renowned African-American fantasy writer and novelist of contemporary times Octavia Butler. This superb piece encompasses the most burning issues and problems faced by the African-American community. The novel throws light on the pathetic condition of the black slaves and vehemently condemns domestic violence and slavery inflicted and imposed upon the black stratum of the American society. The novel also discusses atrocities and hatred exercised upon the African Americans on the basis of racialRead MoreThe Black Body : Racial Fetishism Essay1224 Words   |  5 PagesHypersexualization of the Black Body: Racial Fetishism Sexualization is to make something sexual in character or quality, or to become aware of sexuality, especially in relation to men and women; sexualization is often linked to sexual objectification. Before the sexualization of Africans/African Americans, sexualization was given to inanimate objects, Europeans documentation of their conquest is doused with language that’s sexually suggestive to describe the nature of the â€Å"discovered† land. ColumbusRead MoreAfrican American Women Under Slavery Essay2412 Words   |  10 PagesAfrican American Women Under Slavery 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 AmericansRead MoreDid Slavery Destroy the Black Family?1591 Words   |  7 Pagesdeal of evidence to substantiate that slave family stability varied with the size of the slaveholding. It is also inferred that family separations, slave trading, sexual exploitation and physical abuse occurred much more often in societies where the masters owned small amounts of slaves. Dunaway also speaks to the fact that small slave holdings permitted got more contact with the owner, which meant greater exposure to sexual exploitation. Consequently, slave families on small plantations were moreRead MoreWhite Men s Exploitation Of Black Women s Sexuality1667 Words   |  7 PagesThrough the antebellum period, white men’s exploitation of black women’s sexuality created an assumption that black women were driven by lust and sexual promiscuity. This false stereotypical assumption by the slave south held black women captive by the patriarchal society of plantations. This gave white males grounds for sexual activity with their enslaved women. Through a slave women’s â€Å"lustfulness,† the antebellum period, (the years prior to the Civil War and between the 1830’s and 1860’s), saw