"Even though slavery apologists argued that the master’s role during slavery was more often than not paternalistic, there were several instances where the master – slave dynamic involved unequal sexual relationships. More specifically, female slaves were frequently forced into sexual relationships not of their choosing. In fact, the idea of the master forcing one slave to marry another without their consent and slave breeding are perhaps two of the most contentious subjects in slave historiography.
Robert William Fogel and John Boles vehemently argued that there was no such thing as slave breeding in any form, choosing instead to focus on natural reproduction and the overactive imagination of nineteenth century abolitionists.
However, some historians disagreed and argued that the practice of breeding humans as one would breed animals (to produce a desired offspring) did exist and the practice had the most detrimental effect upon the slave population. For example, Paul Escott found that breeding was often used as a mechanism to control not only the slave population, but also as a way of creating a new breed of slave. Furthermore, Lerone Bennett acknowledged that many slave “apologists” deny the existence of breeding, but they ignore the evidence from the slave owners themselves. Bennett refers to the numerous anti-bellum advertisements that, for example, listed black females for sale as “stock and breeding Negroes.”
In Texas former slaves recalled the numerous examples of breedings and forced marriages during slavery. Former slave Josephine Howard remembered that her master put her parents together which produced six children. Likewise, former slave Silvia King indicated that she was abducted from Africa, processed through New Orleans and found herself the property of a man she called “Marse Jones.” In regards to forced marriages, King said, “After ‘while, Marse Jones say to me, ‘Silvia, am you married?’ I tells him I got a man and three chilluns back in the old country, but he don’t understand my talk and I has a man give to me. I don’t bother with dat nigger’s name much, he jes’ Bob to me.”
Former slave Sam Jones Washington also commented that his mother and father were placed into a forced union much like the parents of Josephine Howard. In fact, Washington said he did not even know who his father was. “I don’t know my pappy. Him am what dey calls de travelin’ nigger. Dey have him come for service and when dey gits what dey wants, he go back to his massa. De women on Massa Young place not married.”
Lastly, former slave Sarah Ford commented that her mother told her that some slaveholders would not allow some slaves to marry because it might reduce their productivity. She said, “She (her mother) say de white folks don’t let de slaves what works in de field marry none, dey jus’ puts a man and breedin’ woman together like mules. Iffeb the women don’t like the man it don’t make no difference, she better go or dey gives her a hidin’.”
While there is no historical consensus regarding slave breedings and forced marriages, evidence exists suggesting the slaveholder played an unwelcome role in the sexual behaviors of slaves. The depression era oral records of former slaves definitely indicate that female slaves were often forced into sexual relationships not of their choosing.
Sources:
Boles, John, 1984. Black Southerners, 1619-1869, Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.
Escott, Paul.1979. Slavery Remembered. Chapel Hill, NC: the University of North Carolina Press.
Fogel, Robert William. 1992. Without Consent or Contract, New York and London: W.W. Norton and Company.
Slave Narratives, Box 4H359, University of Texas, Center for American History. Oral interviews of Josephine Howard, Silvia King, Sam Jones Washington, and Sarah Ford.
Read more: Slave Breeding in the Antebellum South: Fact or Fiction? - http://us-civil-war.suite101.com/article.cfm/slave_breeding_in_the_antebellum_south#ixzz0C5mtrh fx"
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