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Synthesis Essay On Gender And Slavery

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Gender and Slavery
During the years of slavery, duties and responsibilities were based on the gender of the slaves. If men slaves were mostly used to work on plantation, women were viewed as valuable sources of labor, and also as sexual objects available for the slaveholder’s preferences. Having a woman as a possession encouraged the slaveholders to dishonor the slight nature of women and take advantage of them in whichever way they pleased. The women slaves were expected to completely put aside all their own feelings and values to perform all the physical labor of a man, the housework of a woman, and the pleasure of a mistress. Also the consent of marriage and love was viewed by slaveholders as worthless to the slaves. Every so often the …show more content…

In slavery they were expected to put the needs of the master and his family before their own. For the love of their children, slave mothers often chose to stay in bondage, while their male counterparts attempted escape. As an example a letter from a wife-slave to her husband who ran to New York and became free. “Where I am i am now in Safety in the 14th Regiment of Brooklyn this Day i can Address you thank god as a free man” (Document 2). The slave women used their any circumstances in the struggle for their personal dignity as well as their families. “I have had nothing but trouble since you left. You recollect what I told you how they would do after you was gone. they abuse me because you went& say they will not take care of our children & do nothing but quarrel with me all the time and beat me scandalously the day before yesterday– Oh I never thought you would give me so much trouble as I have got to bear now” (Document 3). Women were working in the household and the plantation which put more pressure on women than men. Female slaves had a lot of responsibilities such as work on the plantation, produce children and raise them, work in the household: cook, clean and take care of owner’s

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Although some of the masters mistress were well taken cared of, there were times were the African American women was forced into having sexual relations with the master or his children and were still forced to work outside with the others. The role of an African American women compared to the role of a white women were very different. In antebellum because of their sex most women were assumed to be weaker, and believed to be intellectually and physically suited for only domestic work.

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Backed by religion slave owners thought it justified to own slaves because it was their God-given duty so they raised negro children “in the fear of God” Document 3 states that they were allowed to have slaves because God permitted them to they were given sufficient food, drinks, and clothing. Not only was their institution justified their forced conversion to Christianity in the eyes of God was necessary. For example, slave-born babies were not granted the right to freedom but they were granted the right to be baptized for the progression of Christianity according to Virginia General Assembly of 1667. (Document 4) Although they were not viewed as people plantation owners enforced religion onto slaves in hopes of a larger

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Women were to take care of the house hold duties while the men worked. White women were unable to remarry after divorce, while slaves were not given an option to marry at all. No matter your race, there were no voting rights for women. As African American women they were to raise the children and often did it alone, cook, clean as well as working and laboring hard in the fields. African American women were sexually assaulted by their white masters and often beat by the white women of the house for “allowing” them to do such.

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