During the time period the memoir Incidents in The Life of a Slave Girl, 1820’s-1850’s, slavery was a deeply entrenched and relied upon system within the Southern United States. With the then recent banning of the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade in 1808, slave holders turned towards already enslaved African American women for their next generation of slaves. The practice eventually created stereotypes about slave women, including that female slaves have a promiscuous reputation because they lacked the choice to refuse sex. Although both male and female slaves led rough and traumatizing lives, the life of a slave woman was filled with more psychologically traumatizing instances compared to men including the looming presence of rape, often working
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While undoubtable that male slaves also worked in the household, the majority of the roles needed in the household discussed in Incidents in The Life of a Slave Girl such as sewing, cooking, and nursing were done by women slaves. A prime example would include Jacobs’ great-aunt, Aunt Nancy. Although her masters, the Flints, “cherished” her enough to offer to have her buried by their family tomb, it did not stop them from putting her through harsh treatment during her life. One such degrading treatment was requiring Aunt Nancy to sleep on the floor in front of Mrs. Flint’s bed each night in the case she required a glass of water at night. Jacobs stated about Mrs. Flint, “It never occurred to Mrs. Flint that Slaves could have any feelings” (Jacobs 121). Whether if it was the night of her wedding, Aunt Nancy was always required to be on beck and call (Jacobs 119). Here lies the problem for household slaves, they have less opportunities to stop using their public transcript and switch to hidden transcript as their field counterparts do. Field laborers had the opportunity to express how they felt about their masters through songs song while working or stories. Yet Aunt Nancy was not the only slave to undergo experiences such as these. Harriet Jacobs, who Dr. Flint stated treated …show more content…
Superadded to the burden common to all, they have wrongs, and sufferings, and mortifications peculiarly their own” (Jacobs 66). Sufferings such as the presence of rape, working in close proximity with slaveholders, and the threat of separation from their children, were daily occurrences for female slaves not faced by their male counterparts. Though all types of slaves endured countless acts of inhumanity, female slaves faced more traumatic experiences than the males because of the threat of rape, working with the masters, and the possibility of losing their children. Yet Incidents in The Life of a Slave Girl is only one account of the atrocities committed. Other stories had to the somber chorus of the psychological treatment of female
While undoubtable that male slaves also worked in the household, the majority of the roles needed in the household discussed in Incidents in The Life of a Slave Girl such as sewing, cooking, and nursing were done by women slaves. A prime example would include Jacobs’ great-aunt, Aunt Nancy. Although her masters, the Flints, “cherished” her enough to offer to have her buried by their family tomb, it did not stop them from putting her through harsh treatment during her life. One such degrading treatment was requiring Aunt Nancy to sleep on the floor in front of Mrs. Flint’s bed each night in the case she required a glass of water at night. Jacobs stated about Mrs. Flint, “It never occurred to Mrs. Flint that Slaves could have any feelings” (Jacobs 121). Whether if it was the night of her wedding, Aunt Nancy was always required to be on beck and call (Jacobs 119). Here lies the problem for household slaves, they have less opportunities to stop using their public transcript and switch to hidden transcript as their field counterparts do. Field laborers had the opportunity to express how they felt about their masters through songs song while working or stories. Yet Aunt Nancy was not the only slave to undergo experiences such as these. Harriet Jacobs, who Dr. Flint stated treated …show more content…
Superadded to the burden common to all, they have wrongs, and sufferings, and mortifications peculiarly their own” (Jacobs 66). Sufferings such as the presence of rape, working in close proximity with slaveholders, and the threat of separation from their children, were daily occurrences for female slaves not faced by their male counterparts. Though all types of slaves endured countless acts of inhumanity, female slaves faced more traumatic experiences than the males because of the threat of rape, working with the masters, and the possibility of losing their children. Yet Incidents in The Life of a Slave Girl is only one account of the atrocities committed. Other stories had to the somber chorus of the psychological treatment of female