Enslaved women's resistance in the United States and Caribbean facts for kids
Enslaved women faced incredible challenges. They were often expected to have children, which would increase the number of enslaved people for their enslavers. Because of this, some women found ways to resist. They tried to protect their children from being born into slavery or from returning to it.
The Law of Slavery and Motherhood
During the time of slavery, a very important rule existed called Partus sequitur ventrem. This Latin phrase means "the child follows the condition of the mother." If a mother was enslaved, her child would also be born enslaved. This meant the child became the property of the enslaver.
This rule put enslaved mothers in a terrible situation. They loved their children but knew their children would face a life of hardship and no freedom.
Stories of Resistance
Many enslaved mothers tried to protect their children. One famous story is about a woman named Margaret Garner. She fled north with her husband and four children to escape slavery. They were hiding in a house when marshals found them. Margaret Garner was so desperate to prevent her children from being enslaved again that she tried to take their lives. She managed to kill one of her daughters and injured the others before she was stopped.
Margaret Garner was put on trial. She was charged with damaging property, because enslaved people were seen as property, not as human beings. She, her husband, and her remaining children were forced back into slavery in Louisiana.
Harriet Jacobs was another formerly enslaved woman who wrote about her life. She also shared her difficult experiences as a mother under slavery. Her story shows how hard it was for enslaved women to raise children when they were not free.
The author Toni Morrison wrote a book called Beloved. In it, she described how one enslaved woman felt her child was the only part of herself that had not been touched or controlled by slavery. This shows the deep bond and pain mothers felt.
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