Female slavery in the United States

Enslaved women of African descent had complex experiences because they were both Black and female. Historian Deborah Gray White notes that they were affected by two powerful ideas in American society: racism and sexism. From the moment they were taken on the Middle Passage, they were treated differently because of their gender. Like enslaved men, they did hard physical labor, but they also faced sexual abuse from enslavers, who often used harmful stereotypes about Black women to justify it.[1][2]: 27 

Stereotypes and mythology

Enslavers often used the Jezebel and Mammy stereotypes to justify how they treated enslaved women. The Jezebel stereotype described Black women as having extreme sexual desire. This idea started when Englishmen traveled to Africa to buy slaves. They misinterpreted African clothing (needed for the hot climate) and cultural practices like polygamy as signs of uncontrolled lust. By making Jezebel the opposite of the ideal Victorian woman, enslavers used this stereotype to dismiss claims of sexual abuse against Black women.

The Mammy stereotype came from writings after the Civil War. It portrayed Black women as skilled, loyal house servants who supposedly loved their enslavers’ white children more than their own. This image made slavery seem less cruel, suggesting enslaved women lived happy, domestic lives. In reality, house servants had little privacy and were constantly under watch, often more so than field workers, and faced the harsh moods of the white families they served.[3]

References

  1. ↑ White, Deborah Gray (1999). "The Nature of Female Slavery". Ar'n't I a Woman? Female Slaves in the Plantation South (Revised ed.). W.W. Norton & Company.
  2. ↑ White, Deborah Gray (1999). Ar'n't I a Woman?: female slaves in the plantation South (Revised ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0393314812. Archived from the original on August 18, 2020. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
  3. ↑ White, Deborah Gray (1999). "Jezebel and Mammy: The Mythology of Female Slavery". Ar'n't I a Woman? Female Slaves in the Plantation South (Revised ed.).
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