Cree Dueker

WS/HST
Womens Slavery Experience

Slavery was an institution within a patriarchal society which had undergone changes that
largely devalued the work of women within their domestic sphere as well as dividing the social
value of others depending upon their assumed race and gender. Dubois describes this plantation
patriarchy as, a gender and family system, but one organized around racial difference and
inequality (Dubois, 207). This system was organized around an institution in which black men
and women were not considered to be people but instead were viewed as property and it is within
this system that white men and women had to determine whether they stood on the side of
slavery or freedom. Throughout Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Jacobs uses her lived
experiences to draw attention to the largely ignored plight of enslaved women and looks to the
white women in the North and South to make changes by telling her story and illustrating what
black women and girls faced while living in bondage. Black men and women felt the oppressive
force of slavery; faced violence, degradation, loss of freedom and safety, as well as the collapse
of their family units. Slavery was a practice that affected both the lives of white and black people
but none were more vulnerable than the black women and girls enslaved within the antebellum
South.

Although white male slaveholders enacted countless crimes against their female slaves
they were not the only threat these women faced in their daily lives. As illustrated in Jacobs
book white slaveholders often utilized their dominance and lawful owning of his slaves to

translate into ways to express his emotions onto their physical bodies. This was done using cruel
and unjust punishments, sexual assault, and at its worst murder. All of this was seen as
permissible and common in the South and in most cases inescapable. Female slaves were often
times vulnerable to any whim of their master and this would inspire jealousy, harshness, and
degradation from her mistress. Southern slaveholders were not held accountable for the adultery
they committed with their slaves; instead the young slave girl would bear the anger and
punishments of their mistresses in a situation in which she was given no rights and no choices.
Young girls of all races were vulnerable in both their status and youth, regarded by many men as
prey. Young white girls were married off to Southern slaveholders and in return their new
husband gained new riches and power whereas they were not the owners of their own land or
riches, trapped with a husband who might have a habit of adultery which they were unable to
control or deter. Thus perpetuating the cycle of abuse all accumulating on the slave girl for
situations in which she cannot control.

As Jacobs story heart wrenchingly illustrates slavery was horrible for men but it was
even worse for women. In addition to being victims of the same violence and brutal treatment
experienced by enslaved men, women lived through other anguishing experiences. Women were
separated from their children and oftentimes their ability to create life was used against them,
either through being raped by their masters or by being sold as breeders to increase their
potential masters stock. When these women or girls were impregnated by their master the
resulting children were often sold off to protect the honor and dignity of the slaveholders wife.
While male slaves were generally valued for their physical strength and labor they could provide
female slaves were generally valued for their ability to bear children. Although Jacobs children
were never forcefully wrenched from her side she still understood the anguish uncertainty of who

she could trust and whether or not she or her children would ever truly be free. Enslaved men
and women had no legal rights to protect them or their children from the treatment of their
owners and thus had very few options when it came to improving their lives. Jacobs used all of
the skills she had gained in her life to her advantage in order to create a better life for herself and
her children. She used her gender to subvert and reject the advances of her master resulting in her
beloved children as well as using her skills to read and write to further throw him off of her path
as she was making plans for freedom.

Through securing her freedom Jacob ensures that she is able to speak out against slavery
as well as seeking to gain white female allies who can help enact change on a larger level.
Female abolitionists of the time came to the, realization that free women, white as well as black,
experienced barriers to full personhood like those faces by slaves (DuBois, 271). Although
white women were viewed as people and not property like their black counterparts they were still
lacking when it came to being able to vote, own property, land rights, and what would happen to
their children should they get divorced. Books like Jacobs seek to evoke empathy and rage
within Northern and Southern women and help them see that neither have the same rights as men
but that the lives of female slaves are extremely vulnerable to the wills of their owners. Jacobs
sought to build a connection with the women reading her book by establishing a sense of
familiarity and building off of the idea that women were being treated unjustly regardless of race.
She created a voice for the black women and girls still held in bondage by shedding light and
politicizing their lived experiences.