SLAVERY

Women & Slavery

Slavery in North America

  • Historical Context and Statistics

    • Between 1525 and 1866, over 12.5 million Africans were shipped to the Americas.

    • Of these, 10.7 million survived the Middle Passage.

    • From Africa, 388,000 were shipped to North America.

    • During the 18th century, enslaved individuals largely worked on:

    • Tobacco plantations

    • Rice plantations

    • By 1860, nearly 4 million enslaved Black people were in the U.S., comprising 13% of the population.

Number of African Slaves Brought to British North America and the U.S.

  • Graphical Representation:

    • The following data indicates the evolution of the number of African slaves brought to British North America and later the U.S.:

    • 1620-1700: 300,000

    • 1701-1760: 250,000

    • 1761-1810: 200,000

Note: Source is from the American Abolitionists.

Key Dates in American Slavery Timeline

  • 1619:

    • Approximately twenty odd Africans arrived in Virginia, having been taken from a Portuguese slave ship. They were initially classified as indentured servants.

  • 1640:

    • John Punch, a runaway indentured servant, was sentenced to servitude for life, marking the first instance of life enslavement of an African in Virginia.

  • 1641:

    • The Massachusetts colony recognized slavery as a legal institution.

  • 1661:

    • Maryland enacted the first anti-miscegenation statute prohibiting marriage between races.

    • Notably, Alabama was the last state to repeal its ban on interracial marriage, doing so in 2000.

  • 1662:

    • Virginia law established the partus sequitur ventrem doctrine, meaning that the status of a child would follow that of the mother, ensuring that children born to enslaved women were also enslaved.

Virginia Slave Codes and Legislative Context

  • 1705 Virginia Slave Code:

    • This event marked the culmination of increasingly restrictive and punitive limits on slavery.

    • It codified the status of slaves and allowed slave owners to punish enslaved individuals without fearing legal repercussions.

  • Slow Abolition Post-Independence:

    • In the U.S., all states north of Maryland abolished slavery between 1777-1804.

  • 1787:

    • U.S. Constitution was passed with a Slave Trade clause that prohibited the banning of the slave trade until 1808.

  • 1807:

    • Britain enacted a ban on the transatlantic slave trade, making it illegal for British ships to transport enslaved individuals.

  • 1808:

    • U.S. Congress banned the importation of enslaved people, a law frequently violated until the Civil War's blockades.

  • 1833:

    • Britain outlawed slavery, leading the British navy to begin preventing slave trade.

Unique Characteristics of North American Slavery

  • North American slavery was distinct due to:

    • A near balance of the sexes and relatively high birth rates among enslaved populations.

    • In contrast, in Caribbean and South American regions, the death rates were high and birth rates low, preventing their slave populations from being sustained without continued imports from Africa.

  • Demographic Statistics:

    • By 1861, 50% of all slaves in the Western Hemisphere were located in the U.S., despite it being the destination for less than 4% of slaves who survived the Middle Passage.

    • The birth rate of enslaved individuals in the U.S. was approximately 80% higher than in Jamaica, leading to a huge domestic slave trade and an increase in the number of people living under slavery even after the slave trade was outlawed.

Forced Reproductive Labor of Enslaved Women

  • Systematic rape of enslaved women was perpetrated by both white overseers and fellow enslaved men.

  • Children born to enslaved women were automatically enslaved, independent of the legal status of their father.

  • Wet Nursing:

    • Pregnant women and new mothers were still expected to perform the same workload as before, leading to severe mental and physical health impacts…

    • Example: Development of fistulas due to childbirth and overwork.

Gynecology & Slavery

  • During the late 18th to early 19th centuries, pregnancy and childbirth became increasingly medicalized.

  • Many advances in gynecology were derived from experiments conducted on enslaved women including:

    • Francois Marie Prevost:

    • His work led to the pioneering of caesarean sections.

    • James Marion Sims:

    • Notable for surgical innovations used for repairing fistulas as well as developing the speculum and positions for childbirth/exams still in use today.

Sources References

  • Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia. (n.d.). Slavery in America [Timeline]. Ferris State University. Retrieved August 28, 2025, from https://jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/timeline/slavery.htm

  • Paquette, R. L., & Smith, M. M. (Eds.). (2010). The Oxford handbook of slavery in the Americas. Oxford University Press.

  • Hacker, J. D. (2020). From ‘20. and odd’ to 10 million: The growth of the slave population in the United States. Slavery & Abolition, 41(4), 840–855.

  • Cooper Owens, D. B. (2017). Medical bondage: Race, gender, and the origins of American gynecology. University of Georgia Press.

  • Jones-Rogers, S. E. (2019). They were her property: White women as slave owners in the American South. Yale University Press.

  • White, D. G. (1985). Ar’n’t I a woman? Female slaves in the plantation South. W. W. Norton & Company.