Abstract
This paper considers how enslaved women negotiated motherhood when their child had been conceived through sexual violence by examining testimony from formerly enslaved people who had been fathered by white men. Evidence reveals that the relationship between enslaved mothers and their children remained strong, despite sexual trauma and interference into childrearing by slaveholding families. Informants had close knowledge of the non-consensual nature of their conception; and their willingness to discuss sexual violence reflects the lack of stigma attached to rape victims in the slave community, and hints at the way that enslaved communities coped with sexual violence on an institutional level.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 373-391 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | Slavery and Abolition |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 21 Apr 2017 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jun 2017 |
Access to Document
- Full-text PDF (accepted author manuscript)
This is the author accepted manuscript (AAM). The final published version (version of record) is available online via Taylor & Francis at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0144039X.2017.1317033. Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.