Slave breeding : sex, violence, and memory in African American history /
Smithers, Gregory D., 1974-
Slave breeding : sex, violence, and memory in African American history / Gregory D. Smithers. - Gainesville : University Press of Florida, (c)2012. - 1 online resource (xii, 257 pages) : illustrations
Includes bibliographies and index.
Introduction -- American abolitionism and slave-breeding discourse -- Slavery, the lost cause, and African American history -- Black history and slave breeding in the early twentieth century -- The theater of memory -- The WPA narratives and slave breeding -- Sex, violence, and the quest for civil rights -- Slave breeding in literature, film, and new media -- Epilogue.
This book is an exploration of the idea of selective and forced slave breeding in the U.S. based on the collective memory and folktales of the descendants of enslaved people. For over two centuries, the topic of slave breeding has occupied a controversial place in the master narrative of American history. From nineteenth-century abolitionists to twentieth-century filmmakers and artists, Americans have debated whether slave owners deliberately and coercively manipulated the sexual practices and marital status of enslaved African Americans to reproduce new generations of slaves for profit. In this bold and provocative book, a historian investigates how African Americans have narrated, remembered, and represented slave-breeding practices. He argues that while social and economic historians have downplayed the significance of slave breeding, African Americans have never been able to forget the trauma of violence and sexual coercion associated with the plantation South. By placing African American histories and memories of slave breeding within the larger context of America's history of racial and gender discrimination, the author reveals how sexual exploitation was both experienced and remembered by African Americans to inform how Black Americans understand the political, social, and cultural nature of life in the United States. This fascinating, provocative work sheds much-needed light on African American cultural memories, the perceptions of fragile Black families, and the long history of racially motivated violence against men, women, and children of color.
9780813042602 9780813059150
Enslaved persons--Social conditions.--United States
Enslaved persons--Sexual behavior--History.--United States
Slavery--History.--United States
African Americans--History.--Southern States
Electronic Books.
E443 / .S538 2012
Slave breeding : sex, violence, and memory in African American history / Gregory D. Smithers. - Gainesville : University Press of Florida, (c)2012. - 1 online resource (xii, 257 pages) : illustrations
Includes bibliographies and index.
Introduction -- American abolitionism and slave-breeding discourse -- Slavery, the lost cause, and African American history -- Black history and slave breeding in the early twentieth century -- The theater of memory -- The WPA narratives and slave breeding -- Sex, violence, and the quest for civil rights -- Slave breeding in literature, film, and new media -- Epilogue.
This book is an exploration of the idea of selective and forced slave breeding in the U.S. based on the collective memory and folktales of the descendants of enslaved people. For over two centuries, the topic of slave breeding has occupied a controversial place in the master narrative of American history. From nineteenth-century abolitionists to twentieth-century filmmakers and artists, Americans have debated whether slave owners deliberately and coercively manipulated the sexual practices and marital status of enslaved African Americans to reproduce new generations of slaves for profit. In this bold and provocative book, a historian investigates how African Americans have narrated, remembered, and represented slave-breeding practices. He argues that while social and economic historians have downplayed the significance of slave breeding, African Americans have never been able to forget the trauma of violence and sexual coercion associated with the plantation South. By placing African American histories and memories of slave breeding within the larger context of America's history of racial and gender discrimination, the author reveals how sexual exploitation was both experienced and remembered by African Americans to inform how Black Americans understand the political, social, and cultural nature of life in the United States. This fascinating, provocative work sheds much-needed light on African American cultural memories, the perceptions of fragile Black families, and the long history of racially motivated violence against men, women, and children of color.
9780813042602 9780813059150
Enslaved persons--Social conditions.--United States
Enslaved persons--Sexual behavior--History.--United States
Slavery--History.--United States
African Americans--History.--Southern States
Electronic Books.
E443 / .S538 2012