Black Women, Slavery, and Power

79 Pages·2015·0.47 MB·English

by  Katrina Songanett Smith

Florida State University Libraries
Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School
2007
In Search of Something Akin to Freedom:
Black Women, Slavery, and Power
Katrina Songanett Smith
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THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

In Search of Something Akin to Freedom:
Black Women, Slavery, and Power

By

Katrina Songanett Smith

A Thesis submitted to the
Department of English
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Master of Arts

Degree Awarded:
Summer Semester, 2007
The members of the Committee approve the Thesis of Katrina Songanett Smith defended
on June 8, 2007.

_________________________________Candace Ward
Professor Directing Thesis

_________________________________Jerrilyn McGregory
Committee Member

_________________________________Amit Rai
Committee Member

The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee
members.

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To the black and colored women in the Caribbean whose trials, tribulations, and
triumphs served as the inspiration for this project.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost I must thank my family. I thank my parents for instilling in
me the values and ethics that have made my life successful up to this point. I
extend thanks to my sisters for listening to me when I was complaining about
how much work I had to do and for telling me that I could do whatever I set my
mind to. Without the love and support of my family, none of this would have
been possible.

I must also thank the incredible friends who have gone through this long and
arduous process along with me. Lindsey, thanks for always knowing everything
about everything. Anytime I’ve had a question, you’ve always had the answer.
Thanks also for the many dinners and lunches we’ve shared throughout this
process. Sami, thanks for always telling me that I would get done. At times, I
wasn’t so sure. Also, thanks for always keeping a smile on my face. Tao, thanks
for the advice and the words of wisdom. Without you telling me what I had to
do, I’m sure I would have missed a step somewhere along the way. Danielle,
thanks for always being a breath of fresh air. Pete, thanks for always threatening
me with the fear of not being a serious scholar. I love you guys so much.

Last, and definitely not least, thanks to Dr. Ward for being a great major
professor. Even when the work that I turned in to you was sub-par, you always
showed me the positives. You never made me feel inadequate. Your constant
motivation and support have helped me tremendously in my journey towards
academic success. Not only have you been a great major professor, but you’ve
been a great role model as well, someone I can aspire to be like when I grow up.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract ......................................................................................................vi

Introduction …………………………………………………………………..1

Chapter One: Historical Accounts of Black Women’s Sexuality and Strategies
of Resistance: The Narratives of Mary Prince, Thomas Thistlewood, John
Stedman, Maria Nugent, and Janet Schaw...........................................................8

Chapter Two: The Revenge of the Shrew: Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko..................32

Chapter Three:
The Sacrifice of the Colored Woman in J.W. Orderson’s Creoleana .................44

Epilogue ……………………………………………………………….….66

Works Cited .……………………………………………………………….....70

Biographical Sketch ……………………………………………………….... 72

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ABSTRACT

This thesis examines both historical and fictional representations of interracial
relationships in the 18th century. My argument in this project is two-fold. First, I argue
that some black women used sexual relationships with white men to gain advantages
for themselves and their fellow slaves. Second, I argue that novelists of the time period
re-wrote history in an attempt to erase the positive aspects of miscegenation.

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INTRODUCTION
Oh the horrors of slavery! – How the thought of it pains my heart! But the
truth ought to be told of it; and what my eyes have seen I think it is my
duty to relate; for few people in England know what slavery is. I have
been a slave – I have felt what a slave feels, and I know what a slave
knows; and I would have all the good people in England to know it too,
that they may break our chains, and set us free.
-Mary Prince, The History of Mary Prince

For much of her adult life, Mary Prince’s main objective was to gain her freedom.
She was willing to use any means necessary, from sleeping with a white man who she
thought would purchase her freedom to fleeing from her owner’s house in England, to
ensure that she would not spend her entire life in bondage. At a time when black
women, both in America and the Caribbean, had no tangible power, Prince used the one
commodity that she had, her body, to gain agency and thus guarantee her freedom.
This theme of using one’s body to gain freedom is one that was replayed over and over
both in real life and in fiction during the eighteenth century. Building off of Mary
Prince’s description of how she gained her freedom, this project looks at how enslaved
black women used their sexuality to gain agency. For the purpose of this project, agency
is used to describe the ability to empower oneself in whatever arena one so chooses.
Agency, then, is defined on a personal level and in relation to the goals one is trying to
achieve. Therefore, in this project, I use the word agency to describe the black woman’s
ability to negotiate within the dominant power structure and wrestle away some
measure of control over her situation.
During the period of slavery, enslaved women’s sexual relationships with their
masters often became a tool for their survival. By becoming a mistress, voluntarily or
otherwise, black women gained some measure of control over their circumstances. In
many cases, these black mistresses served as substitute wives, taking care of the
household, the children, and their “husbands.” Additionally, many of these women no

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longer had to work outside in the fields. Upon the death of their masters, many of these
mistresses were manumitted. This research project seeks to look at the ways that
enslaved women in the Caribbean used their sexuality to gain agency and to manipulate
the dominant culture’s expectations of them. In some cases their white lovers were in a
position to manumit them and in other cases white men were able to provide their black
mistresses with enough money to purchase their freedom. I argue that for many black
women in the Caribbean, relationships with white men provided them with benefits
they could not attain otherwise. A secondary goal of this project is to look at how many
novels of the long eighteenth century dealing with miscegenation depicted interracial
relationships differently than non-fictional narratives of the time period. Specifically, I
argue that the novelists make sure that none of the black mistresses survive events
depicted in the novel. In doing so, novelists effectively erased the agency that black
women gained through these relationships with their “masters.” This study, then, will
explore the reasoning behind this erasure, and the implications of the act.
The depictions of black women in the novels of the eighteenth century are quite
fascinating. Instead of being praised for her perseverance and endurance, the Afro-
Caribbean woman is continuously depicted in literature as a promiscuous tramp or
written about in recent scholarship as a sad victim of sexual abuse during slavery.
White accounts of black women in the Caribbean during the eighteenth century – for
example Edward Long in The History of Jamaica – often write of their lack of morals
and their sexual depravation. Few have argued for the strength, endurance, and ability
of the Afro-Caribbean woman to survive the abuses she suffered during slavery. This
project seeks to help re-coup some of the respect that Afro-Caribbean women have lost
at the hands of novelists, a project that’s especially important at this point in literary
history when a number of these works are being rescued. It is important to historicize
these novels so that they’re not taken as accurate historical representations of 18th and
19th century life in the Caribbean.

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When examining the sexual relationships between masters and their
black/coloured mistresses, it is tempting to limit our reading of black women to see
them as victims of white male patriarchal domination. No one can dispute that white
plantation owners used their slaves for sexual as well as economic purposes, yet
scholars often overlook one of the most obvious sources of power for enslaved women
in the Caribbean. It is important to note that in this project “power” is a relative term
that I use to imply having some measure of control over one’s life. Through the sexual
power that they wielded over their masters, many black mistresses became pseudo-
wives, fulfilling many of the productive as well as reproductive functions of the
household. Within these relationships, enslaved black women were able to acquire
money, in many cases enough to buy their freedom1. Unlike Oroonoko, Creoleana, or The
White Witch of Rose Hall, the non-fictional narratives of the time period portrayed the
relationships between white men and black women as committed and most often as
serious as legally recognized marriages. Many of the narratives illustrate positive
benefits of these relationships, including relief from working in the fields, not having to
worry about having one’s children sold to another plantation, and ultimately,
manumission.
To lay the foundation for this project, I will analyze one such nonfiction work to
demonstrate one woman’s use of her body to gain freedom. Like many other black
women, Mary Prince initially tried to use her sexuality to gain her freedom. She
engaged in a sexual relationship with a white man named Captain Abbot in the hopes
of earning enough money to buy her freedom. She also entered into a sexual
relationship with a free man who promised to purchase her freedom. When neither of
these relationships led to her emancipation, Prince decided to find another way to use
her body to gain her freedom. In England, she showed the scars on her back to the

1 See: Beckles, Hilary. “Property Rights in Pleasure: The Marketing of Enslaved Women’s Sexuality.” Caribbean
Slavery in the Atlantic World. Ed. Hilary Beckles and Verene Shepherd. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers

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