The middle passage refers to the slave ships in the nineteenth century. Servants during the middle passage endured many different emotions such as pain, suffering and confusion. Many did not know what was going on, why they were there, and what was going to happen to them? Through out time many have questioned slave women, since they have not endured the same complications as slave man, many discredit their work towards abolishment. In Robin Miskolcze article, “The Middle Passages of Nancy Prince and Harriet Jacobs”, she argues that though men did have it rough during the slave trade, women also had a “passage" of their own. Women have had it just as worse if not more worse, and no one should be allowed to discredit anyone based on sex. Though these women did not take part in the actual passage, I agree, and I believe that their pain, suffering and confusion counts just as much as any other slave man.
Most women who were slaves usually did not do the manual labor and did house work. Though that may be true they’re experience as slaves are not necessarily weaker. In Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, she explains her hardships growing up. Though she doesn’t learn about the cold truth of slavery until she turns six, the passion of making slavery diminish is always in her heart throughout the entire story. The thought of being owned lingers though her mind constantly, and the pain is only worsened when she has no choice but to give into her master and have sex with him. She is a strong women and sticks up for herself, but ultimately she cannot fight back. She hates her master Flint, so she chooses to have sex and have children with their fellow neighbor Mr. Sands. Though her love to the man is questionable; her love to her two children isn’t. Her torment has just begun and her “passage” continues with her life spent in an attic.
Jacobs now has a life changing decision to make. To every passage there is a realization to a given dilemma. Jacobs had to choose from either running away or staying forbidden as a slave. She chooses to stay but not as a slave. She is determined to be free, but she is not in favor of leaving her children. She stays in an attic, stuck for years in till Dr. Flint sells her children. When he does Jacobs finally gets the courage to let lose into the north even though she knows Flint is out there looking for her. As women she endured different situations as a slave. She has her own individual needs that she realizes on her own. Slavery was something she could and would not tolerate. Domesticity on the other hand was not as clear. To be free she had to pay close attention to her needs, but she was also paying close attention to her children’s needs as well. The close nit family she once dreamed of never forms. The “middle passage” does exist in Jacobs, and it guided her to realize her own individual freedoms and needs. A woman's passage none the less helped the abolishment of slavery.
work cited: Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in The Life of a Slave Girl. Dover Publications, 2001.
Miskolcze, Robin "The Middle Passages of Nancy Prince and Harriet Jacobs." Nineteenth-Century Contexts 29.2/3 (2007): 283-293. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 2 Nov. 2009.
I agree that women did have a hard time as slaves. Male and female slaves alike experienced hardships. However, I believe that women experienced both physical and psychological hardships, agreeing with your point that they had it worse of than men. Women were physically abused and emotionally distraught due to sexual encounters and separation from their children.
I agree with FireWater, but male slaves were also emotionally abused as well. Even though they were not as bad as women, but still to the extent that it had affects on them. They too had to go though physical abusement and emotion distraught due to sexual encounters not by men, but their master's mistress and also were seperated from their families with they had any.
It's interesting how slavery is similiar yet the different for black slave men and women and I agree that there are differences. But I wouldn't say that men did not have it as bad as women in the emotional abuse because of the ups and downs they have to suffer. At a young age they have to be seperated from their mothers, then at an older age from their wives and possibly from their children. Because Douglass never mentioned much about other people in his life, we can't tell for sure whether or not women suffered more emotional abuse than men. But Douglass did mention the feelings of utter hopelessness, so it's a window to just how much emotional abuse he had undergone.
The primary difference is how women were used as "breeding stock" and as sexual objects for the masters. This also gets complex, however, as we're pretty sure that one of the means of social control against male slaves was also sexual violence. I'll be talking about this a bit more detail (although not much) toward the end of the semester in lecture. But if you think about how sexual violence works and put it into the context of the social institution of slavery, you will see that male slaves were almost certainly also raped.
I agree that women did have a hard time as slaves. Male and female slaves alike experienced hardships. However, I believe that women experienced both physical and psychological hardships, agreeing with your point that they had it worse of than men. Women were physically abused and emotionally distraught due to sexual encounters and separation from their children.
ReplyDeleteI agree with FireWater, but male slaves were also emotionally abused as well. Even though they were not as bad as women, but still to the extent that it had affects on them. They too had to go though physical abusement and emotion distraught due to sexual encounters not by men, but their master's mistress and also were seperated from their families with they had any.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how slavery is similiar yet the different for black slave men and women and I agree that there are differences. But I wouldn't say that men did not have it as bad as women in the emotional abuse because of the ups and downs they have to suffer. At a young age they have to be seperated from their mothers, then at an older age from their wives and possibly from their children. Because Douglass never mentioned much about other people in his life, we can't tell for sure whether or not women suffered more emotional abuse than men. But Douglass did mention the feelings of utter hopelessness, so it's a window to just how much emotional abuse he had undergone.
ReplyDelete-shara
The primary difference is how women were used as "breeding stock" and as sexual objects for the masters. This also gets complex, however, as we're pretty sure that one of the means of social control against male slaves was also sexual violence. I'll be talking about this a bit more detail (although not much) toward the end of the semester in lecture. But if you think about how sexual violence works and put it into the context of the social institution of slavery, you will see that male slaves were almost certainly also raped.
ReplyDeleteProf. O