Posted by:
anybody
(
)
Date: July 31, 2023 01:34PM
People cringe in horror when they hear news stories about Fritzl-esque basement sex slaves, people abused in cults and controlled without chains, etc.
But somehow, slavery had "benefits."
You can't defend the indefensible. Just Stop.
"Oh, they were just jungle savages, we gave them the Word of God and taught them to be civilized! They're ungrateful! They should thank us!"
(Watch this cringeworthy John Wayne interview from 1974
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6ppVTzjwgchttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ftJ9Q6vsLU)
Here's a famous court case from Missouri. A slave was executed for killing her rapist -- even though state law allowed a woman to defend herself against rape -- because her rapist was her "owner."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Missouri_v._Celia,_a_SlaveSometime around 1819, Robert Newsom left his home state of Virginia and traveled west and eventually settled in Callaway County, Missouri, with his wife and children.[4] By 1850, Newsom had established himself as a prosperous man in his new home, where he owned eight hundred acres of land, a successful farm, and five male slaves.[5] Newsom's wife died sometime in 1849,[6] and, less than a year later in 1850, Newsom travelled to Audrain County to purchase Celia, his first female slave.[7] It is likely that Newsom raped the 14-year-old Celia for the first time on the journey from Audrain County back to Callaway County.[8]
Back on Newsom's property in Callaway County, Celia was given her own cabin, about fifty feet away from the main house, where she lived separately from Newsom's male slaves. Between 1850 and 1855, Newsom repeatedly raped Celia, and she bore two children over the course of those five years, at least one of whom was fathered by Newsom.[9]
At some point before 1855, Celia began a romantic relationship with George, one of Newsom's other slaves. In 1855, Celia was pregnant for a third time with a child that was likely fathered by either George or Newsom.[10] At some point, George gave Celia an ultimatum and told her "he would have nothing more to do with her if she did not quit the old man."[8] Celia attempted to plead with Newsom's family members and with Newsom himself. Sometime on or around June 23, 1855, Celia begged Newsom to leave her alone because she was sick and pregnant. Newsom refused and told her that "he was coming down to her cabin that night."[8]
Celia threatened Newsom and told him that she would hurt him if he tried to rape her again. After her conversation with Newsom, Celia went and found a large stick, which she placed in the corner of her cabin.[8]
On the night of June 23, 1855, after the rest of his family had gone to bed, Robert Newsom came to Celia's cabin, as he had told her that he would.[8] Celia made an attempt to reject his predatory advances, and when he refused to back down, she clubbed him over the head with the stick that she had brought into her cabin earlier that day. After she had hit him the first time, he reached out his arms as if he was trying to grab her. She clubbed him a second time, which killed him.[11] She then moved his body into her fireplace and spent the rest of the night burning his remains. She crushed some of Newsom's smaller bones with a rock, and hid the bones that were too big to crush "under the hearth, and under the floor between a sleeper and the fire-place."[8] The next morning, Celia enlisted the help of Newsom's grandson, twelve-year-old Coffee Wainscott, in scattering the ashes of Robert Newsom. According to Coffee's testimony, Celia told him "she would give [him] two dozen walnuts if [he] would carry the ashes out."[12]
Celia's trial took place at a time when slavery was an extremely contentious issue in America, and the verdict had important implications for the legal status of enslaved persons, particularly black women. At that time, slaveowners were allowed to rape, when the legal status of slaves as property offered few protections or privileges of law. Legally, Celia was only seen as a human subject when she was being punished. As Saidiya Hartman states, "As Missouri v. Celia demonstrated, the enslaved could neither give nor refuse consent, nor offer reasonable resistance, yet they were criminally responsible and liable. The slave was recognized as a reasoning subject, who possessed intent and rationality, solely in the context of criminal liability."[46]
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/2023 01:46PM by anybody.