Celia Mclaurin Summary

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The primary argument presented by the author is that sex discrimination coupled with racial oppression are specific factors, which contribute to the powerlessness of women when they are sexually harassed. The author, Melton A. McLaurin believes that by highlighting the isolated case of Celia and her fight back through underserved and disadvantaged hardships of injustice and sexual harassment to show today’s naïve society the tribulations of slavery. McLaurin states and believes that during Celia's time, Men had more power than women, and the white people had control over the black people. Celia's situation is, therefore, worse since she's both black and a woman. She is a subject to the white men, white women, and the black men. Her gender and race make her a lesser being in the society. McLaurin argues that Celia's struggle is as a result of her position in power at that particular time when Blacks could not report the Whites, and the rights of women were not taken seriously. Her perpetrator, Newsom is a white individual, therefore, has the power to make …show more content…

However, Melton's piece describes the life of a woman that existed in real life. Several books that discuss slavery, sexual harassment, oppression and racial discrimination use fictional characters to portray what happened in the new society. A good example is a book known as "The Native Son" which tells a story about a slave known as Bigger, who is a fictional character. Similar to Celia’s action, Bigger also killed his master due to sexual harassment. Another perfect example is "Kindred" a book about a slave called Dana, a fictional character who killed her master because of rape. Celia the Slave Book, on the other hand, is a story about a real woman owned by Robert Newsom in the state of Missouri in the 1850s (McLaurin, 1991). The murder of Newsom took place in the year 1855, which resulted in Celia’s trial in court and

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