Genovese's Sons Of Benevolence: Chapter Analysis

protection, instead the wives turned to their fathers, brothers, or friends. Slaveholders showed concern for black women who suffered from husband abuse, but did not get involved with those who went back to their husbands protection as involvement could lead to marital drama. Women that were involved in physical abuse from their husbands would never report the encounter and some would even lie for their men. Brave black men took whippings and other punishments for their women and daughters anyways. One of the first few acts of free blacks in Georgia was organize a “Sons of Benevolence” to protect female virtue. One of the slaves allies, was the dog. The dog helped hunt for opossum and raccoon. The slaves took great pride in their dogs. The …show more content…
He begins by comparing the work of the slave men to the work of the slave women. Slave women worked long days, in and out of the home, waking up the men and feeding the men too. This immediately shows how the women played big parts in the work on plantations, working in the field and also helping prepare the men for work also, reinforcing his original argument. He possibly hints that women had harder work than the men in the plantations. Later in the chapter Genovese writes about slave women giving birth to kids. The idea of raising children that would become slaves and probably get sold. was morally toxic for the motherly figures of the slave women. Genovese supports this by explaining instances in which slave women would abort their kids to save their children from the demoralization of slavery. Those women who did keep their kids, sometimes had humane masters that let the mothers leave work for a month after birth, or let the women leave early to tend to their kids. Genovese kills two birds with one stone in this chapter, strengthening his argument with examples of women’s roles affecting slaves lives and slaveholders