Gender Differences In Slavery In The 18th Century

When first colonized by Europeans, the North American continent was vast, the work was harsh, and there was a shortage of labor. In the early seventeenth century, slavery introduced a solution and new problem for the New World. Brought to North American by a Dutch ship, the White Lion, to the colony of Jamestown, Virginia in 1619, slaves began to aid in the production of profitable crops, such as tobacco. These first captured Africans would reform the slavery system that evolved into a nightmare of abuse and cruelty that would ultimately divide the nation. In 1640, slavery was legalized, and Africans became chattel; personal property that can be owned for life. Throughout the American colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries, slavery was practiced
and slaves, otherwise known as black gold, helped build the economic foundations of the new nation (History, 2009). Many slave owners sought to make their slaves completely dependent on them; a system of restrictive codes governed life among slaves. Slave owners prohibited Africans from learning to read, write, or learn, and their behavior and movement was restricted. Masters argued that “black people, like children, were incapable of caring for themselves and that slavery was a benevolent institution that kept them fed, occupied, and clothed” (Slavery in US, 2014).
With slavery being defined as the submission of a person to a dominating influence, the statement fails to portray the truth of the inhumane treatment that Africans were subjected to in the United States in 1863. Narratives such as Harriet Jacobs “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl”, and Fredrick Douglass’s “Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass”, deal with all aspects of the lives of slaves and their relationships with a white man, and the important issue of gender.
…When he told me that I was made for his use, made to obey his command in everything; that I was nothing but a slave, whose will must and should surrender to his, never before had my puny arm felt half so strong…(Jacobs, 1862) Many gender differences in slavery began as early as the middle passage.
Women slaves, generally didn’t travel in the holds below the deck, but were allowed to walk about the quarterdeck without shackles (History, 2009). This allowed for more opportunities of being easily accessible of the sexual desires of seamen and there were very few attempts to stop the sailors from molesting the women. They were often raped by white men, subject to backbreaking labor, harsh punishments, and sometimes suffered physical abuse by their masters and/or their wives out of jealousy. The women started to be judged and closely examined by purchasers when put up for sale based on their “child-bearing age” (Gender, 2009). African women started to be judged, based on the amount of children they could have without complications. This started to form a sexist understanding of African women; being judged for their child bearing bodies wasn’t an ideal way of being looked upon.
“Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women. Superadded to the burden common to all, they have wrongs, and sufferings, and mortifications peculiarly their own” (Harriet Jacobs, pg.
86)
Harriet Jacobs demonstrates her life and the situations she had to face as an African women and slave. She portrayed to intense hopelessness mother might feel by understanding the lack of security in such a family, and powerlessness to decide where her children will live. She helps us feel the helplessness as a mother as she is unable to stop a master from striking them, and incapable of protecting her children in anyway. This vulnerability led to increased resentment towards masters, and ultimately put a fostered hatred towards white men in general. Harriet Jacob’s narrative spoke for an entire gender involved in the “peculiar institution” of slavery. The male African’s journey through the middle passage took on a different form than that of a women.
The slave owners were afraid of the men and therefore were more cautious, because of the typical male stamina. There were many hardships that male slaves had to face during this time, such as being bound in steel and kept below the deck weeks at a time (History, 2009). Unlike women, the men were not judged nor prized based on fertility, but rather their health and ability to perform hard labor.
“I prayed for freedom for twenty years, but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.” (Douglass, 1845) The traditional role of dominance and control for a female, was much different for male Africans. Their control was based on male ownership, and since men could not distribute property or control of certain culturally valued subsistence goods, women were not subject to male dominance. Humiliation was perhaps the most difficult role as a male African slave as it consistently dealt with the decision to defend their loved ones against the beatings, whipping, and raping of their wives. This embarrassment led to some African men avoiding marriage and a family of their own.
“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”(Douglass,
1845)
Fredrick Douglass wrote his narrative with the intentions of setting an example for others slaves, and persuaded his audience of his own humanity. Refusing to romanticize the idea of slavery, Douglass gives his audience a first-hand experience to the pain, humiliation and brutality of the south and their slave trading traditions (Courage, 2007). Slavery was an equally devastating experience for black men and women. Though common factors occurred, the circumstances of enslavement were different for both genders. As expressed through the works of Harriet Jacobs, and Fredrick Douglass, each were forced to preform grueling labor, beaten mercilessly and denied basic rights. Being treated as property in the eyes of the law, made it difficult to live a normal life as an African women or male. Jacobs and Douglass, created two informative and personal narratives that expressed their roles in society as a black male or female, and helped audiences to better understand the struggle they had overcome in order to live life freely.