Understanding history comprises of analyzing various aspects, events, and occurrences that shaped the past. The analysis of history entails evaluating not only the positives but also the negative aspects that have occurred in the course of time. To understand a number of contemporary issues and occurrences, an individual has to be able to critically view history and its myriad events.
One of the most notable occurrences and events in history has been slavery. It has elicited attention and criticism for decades since its ending. The focus of this paper, however, is to analyze the experiences of slaves in relation to their genders. It will attempt to create a vivid analysis of the experiences that black men and women went through based on the text Louisa Picquet, The Octoroon.
The institution of slavery was instigated with the goal of having black slaves work for their masters in various roles. The men were used largely for hard and manual labor while women were used as housemaids and caretakers. The owner of a slave had total control over their lives and would buy, sell and treat them in whatsoever way they deemed right. For the slaves, experiences varied from one owner or master to another.
However, from a general perspective, experiences for the slaves could be looked at through the gender scope. For male slaves, the experiences varied and were based on the nature of their work on the farm. From a female perspective, one has to consider the nature of their work in the slavery institution.
Women were largely used in the completion of house chores and management of house jobs. Some masters, however, did use them even on the farms. The experience of women was further complicated by their physiology. Slave masters would strip and whip women to their satisfaction. Some went ahead to subject them sexual exploits. From Louisa Piquet’s narration, a reader is introduced to the very aspects of slavery and the experiences of women.
She narrates her story through the institution of slavery. According to Louisa, a woman had to persevere through masters who had voyeuristic tendencies while others wanted to subject the bodies of the women to overt sexual acts. She also narrates of other masters who would want to rape their slaves.
Women were not spared of the beatings and whippings of their masters. Considering the very first question that Picquet is asked: “Did your master ever whip you?” the idea of the interviewer was to highlight the brutality of the institution of slavery; it, however, went further to highlight her experience in regards to her status as a woman. From the description she gives in regards to her whipping, a reader begins to get the picture of why she was being whipped. She says, "Then he order me, in a sort of commanding way (I don't want to tell what he said), and told me to shut the door. At the same time he was kind a raising up out of the bed; then I began to cry.” That is just one of the many challenges that the slaves went through during their time in slavery.
This quote highlights the plight of a woman who has from time to time to contend with the sexual desires of her master. Another crucial tenet in regards to the experience of women is that they were forced to give birth to children for their masters. Some masters bought them primarily for use as child bearers. In Picquet’s case, she was bought by Mr. Williams. She says, "Well, when Mr. Williams bought me he told me where I was goin', to New Orleans, and what he bought me for. Then I thought of what Mrs. Cook told me; and I thought, now I shall be committin' adultery” In some cases, the children could respect their slave mothers because that is how they were taught to be.
Another issue that did arise for women was in regard to their families and children. Having given birth to children from their owners, these women would still be sold to other slave owners. This would mostly if the children would resemble the master. For these women, however, they had to face the issue of separation from their families time and again. Familial ties and bonds would be severed at the will of the master. The separation often came at the cost of the emotional drain for both the mothers and their children. Picquet gives an example of this when she says, “He bought Eley, Lucy's sister, first, and lived with her till she died. He had her learn to read and write, and taught her music, and done first rate by her. Then, when Eley died, he bought her sister, Judy, and is livin' with her yet.”
Women also had the trouble of slave pregnancy, which was primarily to allow for the increase of slave workers. A slave owner would instigate pregnancies within his slave numbers, and it was a means of ensuring that the population had been increased to their advantage. From then, a woman became a birth machine that would provide the master with more children.
Men faced the wrath of the whip more often than women. Merciless beatings on failed attainment of targets were a frequent occurrence for the men. Arbitrary separation from family members was also an experience that men had to go through. Slavery meant merciless torture, hard labor, and endless suffering. A slave only had one duty, which was to accomplish the duties that he or she had been assigned. By virtue of being black, slaves were supposed to put on specific clothing, attend specific activities and avoid specified areas.
The analysis provided in this essay sums up the experiences that slaves had to go through during the slavery era. Endless suffering, rape, whipping, hard labor and low wages characterized the life of a slave. In relation to gender-specific experiences of black slaves, one could go ahead and assert that women held a larger burden in the institution of slavery. For men, whipping, arbitrary separation and hard labor formed a significant part of their experience. For the women, however, their experiences had a greater emotional and physical toll. Women had to bear kids that they would likely watch as they were sold. Louisa Picquet in her narration of The Octoroon provides a vivid depiction of the life and experience of a woman in the slavery institution. Women had first to fulfill their chores and duties whether on the farms or within the household. They also had to meet and sexual demands of their masters. Then there was the issue of slave pregnancy where they were used to increase the population of slaves that were owned by a master. This does not, however, express the idea that women suffered more than men in the slavery institution. It is a point used to highlight the plight and suffering of slavers in entirety.
The end to slavery was a huge reprieve to the blacks, but it began a long-term struggle of racism and discrimination. For black men and women, their history in America depicts an age-old struggle for emancipation.
Bibliography
Louisa Picquet, The Octoroon: or Inside Views of Southern Domestic Life (New York: self-published, 1861).
“A Red Record,” in Jacqueline Jones Royster, ed. Southern Horrors and Other Writings: The Anti-Lynching Campaign of Ida B. Wells (Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 1997)
