The Peculiar Institution: Slavery In The Antebellum South

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Chained Love

The sexual abuse and exploitation of slaves and degradation of the slave family in antebellum America was not uncommon. Slave owners had a totalitarian authority over their slaves and subsequently over their children.

The laws of both the state and federal governments strengthened the belief that slaves were chattel, lacking any civil rights. In The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Antebellum South, the author states: “Nor could a chattel be a party to a suit, except indirectly when a free person represented him in a suit for freedom. In court he was not a competent witness, except in a case involving another slave. He had no civil rights, no political rights, no claim to his time, no freedom of movement.” (Stampp, 1989). …show more content…

The children of white fathers and enslave mothers were mixed-race slaves whose physical appearance was commonly classified as mulatto. By 1860, just over 10% of the slave population was mulatto. (Boundless U.S. History, 2015). This caused strain and hatred of the female slave by the mistress of the house, and subsequently led to the further mistreatment of the child born of these rapes as the mistress took out her aggressions on the child, while essentially ignoring the glaringly obvious misdeeds of her …show more content…

History, 2015). These were the only class of enslaved females who sold for greater prices than skilled male slaves.

Popular writings in the South perpetuated the myth that female slaves were lustful, promiscuous, hypersexualized black Jezebels who brazenly tempted white owners into sexual relations. Enslaved men were forced by the slave owners into sex, often as a form of punishment for misconduct. Enslaved men’s mistresses also manipulated them into having sex. If an enslaved man attempted to refuse or threatened to tell, the mistresses would unjustly accuse them of rape. On occasion, enslaved men and women were forced to breed and after doing so the enslaved men were sold by the slave owner and forced to leave their families.

Through the sexual exploitation of slaves and degradation of the families of the enslaved, the slave owners were able to gain even more control over them. The constant threat of the loss of loved ones reinforced the tyrannical authority slave owners had over the enslaved. As we see with Alice, often times the only escape seemed to be to take one’s own life to bring an end to the

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