The History of Violence Against Slaves
When researching the history of gendered violence in slavery it is interesting to note that the majority of the search results that appear are related to female slaves and the strife they experienced during the course of the dehumanizing institution of slavery. This in itself acts as an indication of how the experience of female slaves was somewhat different than that of male slaves.
One of the reasons for such extensive literature on the case of the enslaved woman is due to the fact that on top of the beatings that all slaves endured at the mercy of the whip, female slaves were further insulted and abused by the unwanted physical advances of their white owners. The basis of this unholy tradition can be traced back to the Jezebel stereotype that was used to justify the predation on enslaved black women. This stereotype characterizes black women of African descent as highly sexualized, and this was used “as a rationalization for sexual relations between white men and black women, especially sexual unions involving slavers and slaves” (“The Jezebel Stereotype”)¹. As such, it was common practice for women in the slave market to be sold as forced prostitutes. However, even women who were sold as household slaves often experienced these advances and acts of rape.
A case in point is that which is mentioned in an article titled “Seduction and the Ruses of Power” by Saidiya Hartman (1996) in which a slave woman by the name of Celia, who had been victimized by her owner for four years, was found guilty of murdering her slaver and was sentenced to be hung (539)². The laws which protected and sought justice for white women in situations of rape, failed the African American woman, a fact that can no doubt be tied to the lack of agency afforded to slaves. Essentially, slaves were the “property” of the owner and as such were theirs to do with as they pleased."The laws which protected and sought justice for white women in situations of rape, failed the African American woman, a fact that can no doubt be tied to the lack of agency afforded to slaves"
What is more shocking is that even after the abolishment of slavery, many former slaves were subjugated to the same brutal violence as when they were enslaved, at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan and other such groups. In an article titled “Sexualized Racism/Gendered Violence: Outraging the Body Politic in the Reconstruction South” (2002), the author Lisa Cardyn, explores the way in which violence against freed slaves continued, and how it was not simply physically damaging, but also psychologically traumatic (699)³. It is important to note here that the additional sexual abuse faced by female slaves does not act as a means by which the suffering of the males is demeaned or pushed to the side. In fact, Cardyn’s article highlights that this sexualized violence could be experienced even by male slaves, yet it still remains the case that females were more susceptible to such advances, and according to testimony quoted in Cardyn’s article, “colored women have a great deal more to fear from white men” (695).
References
- “The Jezebel Stereotype.” Are Negros Closer to Apes Than to Humans? - Letters to the Jim Crow Museum - Jim Crow Museum - Ferris State University, ferris.edu/jimcrow/jezebel/.
- Hartman, Saidiya V. “Seduction and the Ruses of Power.” Callaloo, vol. 19, no. 2, 1996, pp. 537–560., doi:10.1353/cal.1996.0050.
- Cardyn, Lisa. “Sexualized Racism/Gendered Violence: Outraging the Body Politic in the Reconstruction South.” Michigan Law Review, vol. 100, no. 4, 2002, p. 675., doi:10.2307/1290425.
