What Led Up To Slavery's Attack Upon The Family Analysis

Through this image of a mother in distress, Jacobs makes us attentive to slavery’s attack upon the family. The absence of fathers serves as a further evidence of this practice. Marriage is reduced to husbandry; like breeding it is permitted only for the purpose of producing more slaves. For slave-owners, family connections would provide slaves with the chance to accumulate power for revolt. In addition to this concern, slaves, regarded merely as working machines, were not supposed to feel any emotion other than cheerful compliance. Black women were denied the right to choose their mates, and even to protect their children.