What Is The Role Of Motherhood In Slavery

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Slavery & Abolition This week, we are revisiting our brothers and sisters in the South. It’s been quite a while since we submerged ourselves in the south and took a look around. What has changed? What’s going on down there? Certainly it’s safe to assume that the notions of Republican Motherhood and the Cult of True Womanhood were not developing in the South. In fact, the Industrial Revolution itself did not develop in the South! Why not??? As with virtually every reason for a lack of progress in the region, we find slavery at the heart of why nothing has changed in the South. So entrenched in a system of forced/free labor, the South resists the changes occurring in other parts of the country, even at its own detriment! What does…show more content…
Motherhood had very few advantages for slave women. In fact, it was generally regarded as unpleasant for them. In rare, extreme cases, women even killed their infants in order to prevent the children from growing up in the institution of slavery (can you imagine?). The thought of watching their children grow under the confines of this oppression brought heartache to every mother, every day. While motherhood presented no advantages to slave women, there were several advantages for slave owners for their female slaves to procreate. The advantages were three-fold for slave owners. First, it produced more free laborers. This was a great deal for slave owners because they could purchase two slaves and end up with several more. Secondly, motherhood was the perfect tool of discipline for slaves. Just as it states in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, “You can do anything with a woman when you’ve got her children.” Having a hold of a woman’s child is constant leverage with her to behave, stay in line, and submit. What are your limits of power when you own a woman’s child? What is she NOT willing to do? The third advantage for slave owners in regards to reproduction is that it could be forced upon a female. Property of her owner, slave women were offered no protection from sexual violence from their masters. Seeing as slave babies posed so many advantages for masters, it is easy to guess that rape was a standard practice in the institution of
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