legislation protected white masters who fathered children with their slaves. Under British Common Law, the child of the master took on the master’s status (free), which meant that the master was obligated to that child in the same way he was to a “fully white” child. In America, the child took on the mother’s status (slave), leaving a father free from owning any responsibility toward his offspring. Once slavery was abolished, this stigma did not immediately disappear.
