Sexuality and Slavery: Reclaiming Intimate Histories in the Americas

by Daina Ramey Berry (editor), Leslie Harris (Editor), Jennifer L. Morgan (Editor)

In this groundbreaking collection, editors Daina Ramey Berry and Leslie M. Harris place sexuality at the center of slavery studies in the Americas (the United States, the Caribbean, and South America). While scholars have marginalized or simply overlooked the importance of sexual practices in most mainstream studies of slavery, Berry and Harris argue here that sexual intimacy constituted a core terrain of struggle between slaveholders and the enslaved. These essays explore consensual sexual intimacy and expression within slave communities, as well as sexual relationships across lines of race, status, and power. Contributors explore sexuality as a tool of control, exploitation, and repression and as an expression of autonomy, resistance, and defiance.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Race, American History, Sexuality, Social Justice, Gender and Sexuality

238 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2018

About the author

Daina Ramey Berry is an associate professor of history and African and African diaspora studies, and the George W. Littlefield Fellow in American History, at the University of Texas at Austin. An award-winning historian, she is also a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians.

Author photo: Brenda Ladd Photography

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not for the faint of heart. This series of essays takes the intimate lives of the enslaved seriously, from the ways they were violated to how they took control of their own sex lives. Definitely for a scholarly audience, but much of it is clear to anyone who is interested in seeing how historians sort through information to find out about this side of the lives of such undocumented people.

[Synthia Salomon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a part of my grad class with the gilder Lehman institute of history

Here I’ll transcribe the program:

Interview with the authors
Subject if you can tell us about, and then some of the difficulties and talking about sexuality and slavery started at a conference that we hosted at the University of Texas Institute for historical studies to find a way to address issues of slavery that are not always covered we want to look at sexual abuse among look at love and marriage intimacy, slave communities, hosting conference Conversation dialogue topic historical impossible sources of topics but also a lot of stereotypes. We have to be very careful to look for precious sources written by African-Americans to sources that were created by critical sources of scholars on this topic to use a wide range of sources records for example, although legal records are not often as well Plantation records use oral histories from oral in 19 century as well as oral histories from formally from the late 19th and early early mid 20th century recovering sexuality, intimacy, different ways sometimes when we particularly think about some elements of sexuality was overlooked because it was not familiar to us, just mentioned the sexual abuse of a male slave in the book there is 10 different chapters and essays and there’s some thematic elements that come through in several of them and for some people like myself, I wasn’t very familiar at all with the subject it made you think about it all of these things in a very different way that male slaves were also the victims of sexual assault sexual abuse And that women, a white, southern women could be the perpetrators of it and either through enabling it or themselves taking advantage of being in the position of power. Can you talk a little bit more about some of these kind of things of white women white women in the south pedestal , moral moral white men historians white women, manipulated sexuality, Rogers on this topic reevaluation of white women and sexualities women involved in sexual relationship, relationship, these relationship relationships, because of the slave relationship where the white woman often help power over black black men and women perhaps because they the children Will be more valuable the last set of relationship or contact. I struggle with talking about some of these exchanges relationships because they’re fraud with abuse and power and and they’re not necessarily consensual so I talk about the kind of relationships described when you have African-American not necessary to be there in these relationships, and the owner is present and this and I look at that as a form of third-party rape, they’re being forced to have sex with someone they don’t choose to have they’re not consent. They may even have partners that are on the plantation or elsewhere, they really consider that These exchanges are also important us. Also, we look at the experiences of the sexual relationship or sex, or rape of people with their flavors we need to look at the age gap between sometimes you have a 13 or 12 year old woman and the enslavers like 45 or 55 today Society that would be considered statutory people would be considered pedophiles, but we talk about this slavery hidden from the larger community, or show up on the plantation that look like were trying to address and get in our conversation very very difficult and scholarship, but I still think we still have more room to grow in that area and relationships or Connections And then another thing that you guys talked about in the relationships between the slaves themselves because it an important part of what I sent from this book was also giving the slaves a sense of their own humanity, their own agency, and it wasn’t dealing not just with these forced connections and rape and exploitation, but they themselves were fully human people that had their own desires, their own sense of love for their children or for spouse. Can you talk a little bit more about that so common and it’s throughout the recorded scholars have chosen to focus on recent historiography in the last 2030 years we’re looking more about getting into cabins and trying to understand the day-to-day experience. Like how did they? How did they fall in love Terra Hunter was participant participant conference published And explore peoples relationships and the complexities are involved so we wanted to try to find ways to identify the relationship, black marriages wedding ceremonies, Joy were Americans were choosing partners and being in those relationships, because so much of what we do find in the literature, because of court cases or other documents is that the level and which was obviously very high level of abuse in the abuse of exploitation they had created families, and they were able to make changes to when they were separated, they were forced to make changes, and they were highly adaptable to find another partner another state and help me find my people where they’re trying to find out first Because they moved onto another relationship so lots of other scholars talk about cereal marriages. It’s a really really challenging relationship understand the complexities of love and marriage under the institution of slavery relationship with each other in the larger politics, particularly as far away as we are from lifetime, African-American relationship, male, female relationship sexual dysfunction in families in the 20th century African-Americans African-Americans disruption of racial immorality, which describe century intervention, separation continual ideology, persistent slavery of slavery. People were sexually promiscuous. They did not hear about emotional connection as much disorder. It’s very important for us to push about the destruction of families another thing that I noticed in the book is the changing of the laws, and when the founders originally founded the United States, there was a sense that slavery is an institution would fade away on its own, but as various laws were passed it evolved with the laws and in the chapter, I think it was the fifth chapter by Jessica Millward, rooms of liberation About Letty Ogg petitioning for the freedom of herself and her five children, and doing so claiming that she was descended from a free woman and then it was also within that chapter talked about on 1808 participation in the slave trade was made illegal, but then changed how slave women were looked at us from being just items to People to do production to work to also their importance for reproductive capabilities. It seem to strengthen slavery and away. Can you talk a bit more about that about this as well in women where we look at the changes with women’s physical reproduction, and because of legislation in Maryland Virginia and 1662 and 1663 the status of the mother of the woman was inflamed and she gave birth so that’s where the 60s slavery becoming part of hereditary institution. Start seeing some racialized examples of how slavery is connected to its way and then we see that it’s been connected to a woman’s body jumping into Dr. essay I think she did a wonderful job, explaining how legislation and around their body trying to fight freedom because they’re trying to connect themselves to ancestry is one way women Trying to claim their bodies back but after the Atlantic slave trade is outlawed and the domestic slave since the 1760s or 1770s, according to several scholars informally, but the institution of group a number of factors of cotton expansion of slavery, Native American removal and pushing people into Indian territory Women to give birth, encouraging them giving them incentives and also really change the way in which women experience slavery and also I would add this was also when you start to see for couplings occurs as well, so after the domestic trade after the Atlantic change the way the institution of slavery grows from the belly of its slave, and every stage Starts off with Stefanie‘s camp, chapter early European views of African bodies and and then talking about how Europeans for the first time saw Black people and they’re changing look at what what defined beauty but then also, then they began as slave trader as quoted from the chapter slave, traders, interpreted bodies through a merchants mindset And through all the chapters there seems to be the dichotomy of the objectification of the body for desire for sexual desire then also this modification of the body for profit. Can you talk a little bit about that explore black women compare to white women not disagreeing at the time And at the same time to Africa to become wealthy differences advantage, marketplace, fitness scholarship bodies peoples bodies begins even before they’re born just like a few minutes ago looking at legislation we also know that some of the laws with women and the production of workforce you don’t have a supply source coming in from parts of West Africa, because this is natural reproduction force Become prominent by looking at a mother looking at a woman’s potential looking at whether or not a woman would be able to get birth if she had already given birth birth, children survive, healthy children. We know that there are also very high rates during this time in the 19th century and the 18th and 17th century Trying to find the value of placing monetary values on bodies of enslaved women and their offspring. Children are are buying and selling and trading slave, mothers, and their future increase selling woman and her future children. That’s also part of the language we see transactions related every stage of life until they die when they die their diet Passed away so this modification does not end when a person passes away and it starts going off of that as well and a few of the chapters talked about I’m going kind of back to Lugton and the petition for her children. They were these laws that, as as it was mentioned earlier that the mother might become free, but her children were retained in slavery, and what I found even more tragic was in the south, the laws that once you were free, you actually had to leave and forcibly splitting families up , can you talk a little bit more about that as well that indicates the fear of example of freedom fear about slavery for example, when some people are offered freedom because they have to leave which means they have to leave marriages across the line of slavery and freedom partners is free and Marie communities Suspicious, spouse, spouse spouse, retain labor and resistance, survive communities just want to cover is the last chapter of the book, and how Jim Downes in his chapter when present is passed, and kind of going back to how we started the conversation with the difficulty of locating resources, and actually now having to reimagine historical research and actual the study of sexuality and slavery is so important, not just for the history of slavery, but for the entire study of history itself in taking it away from this purely scientific way of studying history and kind of trying to fill in some of these gaps in a more expanded way can we can we talk about that? I think us historians often feel to have a document to show, we’re always happy to find that document that supports the argument that we’re making or aluminates that argument but I think often times because we have to we were lying on a group of people that were trying to study that were largely illiterate didn’t have a huge archive of slavery is the archive And we use archive to try to understand the enslave and so you have to think outside the box when you’re doing this history and it’s not that we’re adding we’re not adding material we’re thinking wide or more it’s imagination to think about OK description or description of a confrontation between labor, and we only have that one side of the story. How can we imagine that confrontation from what we know about a person we know about their family we know , we know information or who they were or who their family was have one sentence and a plantation journal that says something about that personality. We might have a runaway because we have to read all of these sources read between the lines there and try to understand a way to tell this history and that’s more balanced and considers multiple perspectives and so I think with Jim Downs essay he was trying to push us forward and making those kinds of connections when we’re talking about sexuality when we’re looking for spaces of sexuality and slavery, how we need to think about it in a much more imaginative and we’re making stuff it’s just a matter of thinking outside the box and being creative about the way we an , the documents that we do have, and I also would say that I think history is becoming a little bit more interdisciplinary I know for myself looking at archaeological reports and understand the physical landscape helps me understand the spaces people were occupying source. Poetry was part of culture look at the local newspapers, and seeing where people show up other things Rich and I think that’s really Dr. was trying to encourage readers to do and thinking about this topic as we move forward , another element encourage understanding of the literary arts in the 70s numerical historical because she rooted in history. She did research a history and interpreting historians doesn’t mean that one is right or wrong that’s true but it also means that we’re bringing different interpretations and different understandings perhaps one of the stories is another group of sources that shines particular Conversations simply imagination project was really important for us. There’s sometimes a lot of people in the talking. What do you think? This means? What is this look like Caribbean? We should be aware that people in the US were connected to the Caribbean with both of you for the rest of the day, but we have almost 100 questions so I’m gonna handed over to correct and she’s gonna start giving you some of the Q&A questions. Thank you so much really great questions here and I’m gonna go ahead and Start Sue from Washington DC she asked can you comment on the context of the story if I’m not mistaken, Reed argued that the family still believe that it was a love that, but increasingly I hear people say she was right which I suppose is technically true, but how should we teachers address this question from students I’ll let you go Complicated in marriage sexual relationship is very different. I think in the 18th century we’re talking about a different a young woman at the moment there was a discussion about the nature of her relationship between Jefferson, and the relationship was literally a choice or a relationship that involves a lot of possibilities in Paris far away from her family away from his family. He’s going back if she chose to go if she chose to stay in Paris with her look like she never see her family again she come back she having negotiated freedom how we approach marriage together consent there’s a way to Consent of ideas for me to see this as a match and particularly go to Monticello and see the place where her children live. She was living in so much love each other. They are both handed society that will not allow them in a loving relationship and certainly comfortable relationship than definitively , going back to the primary sources talking about defining these terms of students essay printed about concubine relationship interactions I think that provides a context to understand so there are other women and other women that were in situations like this, and sometimes they chose to provide a way out of slavery for themselves and their children, so they literally went Relationships that I don’t like to have different benefits during the institutional savings relationship others had no choice they were made the best of them and other times they rejected, and they had partners that were on the plantation that were not the flavors they were legislation and some of the challenges White had in terms of having marriages marriage in the 19th century, also provide some context to understanding these types of experiences we have Janice, Richard, high school teacher, Atlanta high school in Atlanta, Georgia and I’m interested to find out more about how slaves engage in sexual activity with your slave and wives or slaveholders engage in sexual slaves about these activities, diaries journals and other primary sources readily available in digital format to find out digital Primary in my classroom to explore relationships between slavers and the enslaved and I use Valerie Martin’s property and Dan Parker Valdez as winch. These are two different stories and Dolan Valdez book. She looks at based on a true story, but I’ve got slave women who were forced into relationships with their slavers, they would go to space in Ohio, and they were there for the summer and some of the multiple perspectives About these relationships and then some of them were not happy to be thinking about their children and thinking about their future so you have all these different evidence is written, white woman who discussed getting arouse by inflame the opening scene, and also by a relationship that she thought he had an enslaved woman and I had my class half of the class read one book and the other half read the other and we talked about relationships and that way that was the only way we can get to it and then we would look at like Sally Hemmings, and a few other women that were considered in these sort of relationships and we had a conversation, so that’s one suggestion to go look at archives to see which digitize specific related to. I think that’s a bigger challenge for me. I can’t ask off the top of my head, but I might go to find something. I don’t know if you can think of sour digitized, southern and white riders in particular, there is several , this one is of course fully available. Civil War diary of slave women, incredible resource century primary source muted, thank you the next question I have for you is from Bradley Craig from Austin. How did you go about the termination what falls on the sexuality, especially considering how we view it today as something that’s very individuals object and interior waste that we always past for example of work on early America like Greta‘s work natural environment is part of the history of sexuality was that was the conversations we had at the conference really flushed out this question, and there were a number of other are not in the volume that were at the conference as well and that was the conference we talked about. We talked about some some people to express their sexuality, and not in a very public manner is very private about gender, conventions,

[Sarah Schulman]

I learned a lot.

[Eva · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a vital text that focuses on Black women's history in the context of transatlantic slavery and deals with the subset of sexuality, both how it was weaponized against Black women as well as how it played out in different situations, where the images of the jezebel caricature originated, and more.

[Maggie]

Read Professor Downs' article-about the difficulties of doing this history with the scarcity of archival records. He argues that works of fiction have filled in the gap left by objective and profession historians. Argues for narrative based history.

[emily anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a wonderfully written collection of essays. the history of sexuality (in many different contexts) is one of my special interests in the field and this provided great insight on its connection to slavery.

definitely a heavy read but super important and i’m glad i read it