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Summary Of Celia A Slave

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Celia, A Slave by Melton A. McLaurin is based on true historical events. It is a book about the many challenges slave women had to endure and the effects proslavery had on the conscience and people of the time. Their possible feelings of helplessness, being treated poorly, unfairly and having no rights as a human being. These events took place in the south during a time when slavery was at its peak and was in the process of expanding slavery to neighboring states who in contrast were against slavery. McLaurin discussed a few key issues of the way of life in southern America was, the good and the bad. Main ones being that of slave women's rights were nonexistent, they were simply helpless in being able to defend themselves without deadly repercussions, …show more content…

Celia was repeatedly raped by her master and resulted in her giving birth twice furthermore resulting in her current pregnancy in which resulted in a stillbirth. When the murder on June 23rd, 1855 happened, Celia was caught, confessed and indicted. Her defense attorney tried with all his power to get her a fair trial but the odds were against her, being Missouri was a proslavery state and her being a slave. The judge presiding the case would not cooperate and rejected every instruction in her defense. Her defense attorney exhausted every attempt in his power but it held no weight in court. Celia was executed at the age of 19 on December 21st at 2:30 …show more content…

That was the typical lifestyle of Southerners, most lived on plantations and owned several slaves. Women slaves were bought mostly working in the house, taking care of the kids and men were for hard labor and tending the farm. Celia was a slave girl who was sold and bought at the age of fourteen by a farmer named Robert Newsome, who lived in Callaway County, Missouri in 1850. Little to no information is known about Celia before she was purchased by Newsome, there are no records. On their travel, back to the plantation Newson, raped Celia and in that was how he established his relationship with her. She was a slave and had to obey her owner or risk getting killed on the spot for resisting or fighting back. After the years of rape from her owner currently pregnant, Celia accidentally killed her him as result of pressure from her boyfriend George who was also a slave of Newsome's as well. Fear of being caught she burned his body to ashes, people got suspicious of his disappearance, neighbors questioned her and she

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Whenever a man acquired more slaves, the amount of his wealth increased, and so did his social status. This led to Newsom, having slaves to add value to his social status. Most of his slaves worked on his farm and around the household. Among his slaves was Celia, who he made a sex slave, but to avoid a scandal, she also cooked and cleaned for him (McLaurin, 1991). Making her fulfill his sexual pleasures denied Celia control over her life.

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