By Cecilia McAlmont
Introduction
August is the month during which the descendants of enslaved Africans of the English speaking Caribbean celebrate the end of the dehumanizing system of chattel slavery that had smothered their fore parents for more than two centuries. Many millions died on the infamous Middle Passage and many millions more lost their lives on the cotton, coco and sugar plantations to enrich the mainly absentee white planter class. However, the images which chattel slavery still conjure up are mainly that of a man with a tortured visage shackled and manacled but seldom that of a woman. However, statistics researched by authors like Higman show that in the years immediately preceding emancipation, the majority of field slaves in many of the plantation colonies were in fact women who often had the dual role of not only producing the plantation staples but were also being coerced into reproducing another generation of servile labour which could no longer be replaced through purchase. Like male slaves if their productivity did not reach an acceptable level they were beaten and brutalized, pregnant or not. They faced the same psychological traumas of the denial of their personhood and humanity. However, their gender gave the slave master another formidable mechanism of control over them – brutal rape and other kinds of unspeakable sexual exploitation. The fact that these acts are usually the end result of the trafficking in women and girls is the reason why trafficking in persons for the purpose of sexual exploitation is defined as modern slavery. These two periods of enslavement of women will be the focus of the next two articles.
Women in slavery before 1833
This section will be examined under the heads of labour/work, resistance, sexual exploitation and the contradictions of abolition.
Labour/work
In the early decades of the trade in captive Africans and plantation slavery women were outnumbered by men. It is said that one African woman was transported to the New World plantations for every two men. European slave traders preferred to buy men because they fetched a far higher price than women. Hence women tended to be in the minority on arrival in the colonies. However, for reasons not yet fully understood they did not remain a minority and it has been found that, on Jamaican plantations for example, even during the period of the slave trade there were equal numbers of men and women. The buying frenzy which took place in the colonies in the decade or so preceding abolition in 1807 finally tipped the balance in the favour of women. This had implications for the conditions under which women continued to labour on the plantations.
In fact Marietta Morrissey posited that at the apex of New World slave societies women’s work, among other things, was influenced by the availability of slaves on the world market vis – a – vis the need for labour on the plantation. Towards the end of the slave trade when young males were scarce, women were used more as field labourers rather than household workers. In other words, when there was an inadequate supply of labour, Caribbean slave women were employed more often than men in field labour but when there was an adequate supply of labour they were employed in equal numbers to men, or less often, in field labour. Lucille Mathurin Mair made a similar point with respect to Jamaica but her conclusions could be extrapolated in the case of many Caribbean plantation economies. She stated that by the end of the slave trade job allocation had evolved to the point where “youth and physical fitness not gender was the criteria by which manual tasks were distributed.” Women used the same instruments as the men and like them worked from sunrise to sunset. It is rather ironic that it was during chattel slavery that there was gender equality at the work place. There was equal pay, that is to say no pay, for equal work and equal punishments also. But women produced in two ways. She contributed to the profits of her master through her physical labour and especially after abolition, she was expected even coerced into producing children – additional labour as children took the status of the mother.
Resistance
The enslaved, both men and women did not meekly accept their condition. Recent research has established that women, the so called “weaker sex” participated equally in both active and passive forms of protests against slavery. They adopted many of the same tactics as men. They also used ways peculiar to them as women. As field labourers, together with the men they were involved in malingering, arson (burning of canes and even factories) and other forms of sabotage. They committed suicide, prolonged their illness and ran away. Additionally, women used periods of child bearing as an excuse to do the minimum of work.
They took advantage of their menstrual cycle to stay away from work and also prolonged the period of lactation. Women sometimes deliberately aborted and sometimes committed infanticide. And as men never could, women used their saucy tongues, belligerent looks and indolent flounces to indicate their resistance.
Women also played significant roles in more active forms of resistance like marronage. Alvin Thompson demonstrated the important roles women played in the Maroon communities. Several settlements were named after women – Magdalena and Maria Angola in Colombia; Guarda Mujeres in Cuba; Nanny Town, Diana’s Town and Molly Town in Jamaica. In 1739 official records show that government allocated 500 acres to Grande Nanny of the Windward and the people residing with her. There were also female Maroon leaders, often religious leaders who claimed spiritual powers, like Haiti’s Romaine La Prophetess and Grande Nanny of Jamaica. They fought side by side with the men.
Women also played important roles in the planning of slave rebellions. For example, domestic slaves because of their relatively greater freedom of movement were able to pass on vital information. Women also used various movements in dances to communicate information to the other enslaved under the very eyes of white observers. However, women have also been the ones who, on several occasions, revealed plans for rebellions, often with tragic consequences.
Sexual exploitation
Most forms of sexual exploitation of enslaved women were the norm in slave societies. Indeed, according to one author, “sexual abuse of enslaved women by white men was as much, if not more, a means of control as the whip and hence female bondage was worse than male bondage.” The activities of the notorious Jamaican planter, Thomas Thistlewood, as recorded in his diaries amply illustrated the point. He bought Sally at 16 in 1762 and raped her 37 times before selling her in 1762. On several occasions after being raped she ran away. He raped her again as punishment when she returned or was caught. She was also raped as punishment for stealing. Between times he chose her sexual partners. In Suriname, an eighteen year old coloured girl was suspended by her hands and given 200 lashes for refusing the manager’s sexual advances. When a male visitor tied to intervene on her behalf she was given an additional 200 lashes.
Women were raped in front of their husbands to punish him for some transgression he had committed or just to keep him in line. Domestic/house slaves had little choice but to accept white men’s advances. Often they were offered to male house guests to keep them company during the night.
However, there was also consensual inter racial sex, not because the enslaved women, especially lighter skinned ones were promiscuous, but as a survival mechanism. It was often the means of providing them and their families with extra rations of food and clothing. It also sometimes led to freedom for themselves and their children. Moreover, some planters believed that consensual inter racial sex enhanced the stability of the estates by enlarging the divisions in the enslaved community. Gifts and hand – me- downs to slave concubines and sexual partners set them apart from the rest of the enslaved community. Many planters saw forced inter racial sex “was an efficient tool of female repression.”
Contradictions of Abolition
The abolition of the slave trade in 1807 had paradoxical consequences for enslaved women. The planters were no longer able to replenish their supply of slaves through purchase hence there arose a conflict “in the need to allow women to reproduce to replenish the slave population and the needs of the plantation productive profits…” Some planters adopted pro natalist policies – general improvements in health care and rights in respect of the family.
In some colonies cash payments and bonuses were given to mothers whose children survived more than a month. They were given a longer period off work before and after pregnancies. Women who had more than six children were given lighter work and time off to take care of sick children. However, these concessions proved to be a double edged sword. Planters now imposed greater surveillance over the enslaved women’s personal lives especially their sexuality and particularly how they treated their children.
Other planters resentful of their dependence on enslaved women both to replenish their labour force and ensure their estate’s profitability reacted with increased brutality. They refused to implement the proposals enacted after 1823 to cease the flogging of women. In fact many were flogged more brutally and put in the stocks more often. Holes were dug in the ground to accommodate the swollen bellies of pregnant women while they were being flogged.
In the next article the period immediately after 1833 will be examined and modern slavery discussed.
