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Gmahogany · (#106 (**permalink**))

liberiangirl wrote:

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Gmahogany wrote:

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I mentioned doing research on Slave Resistance, and contrary to popular belief, slaves resisted in many ways, and not just by running away,comparitively few, did that, especially in the Deep South; odds of succeeding were slim. Most resisted in smaller, more individual everyday ways:resisting sexual advances, maintaing cultural/religous practices, maintaining linguistic patterns, poisoning their master's food, grinding up glass in their master's food, some went straight up toe to toe with their master. I talked about how even in oppresive situations, the human spirit varies from individual to individual. There were Black male slaves who because of their temperament and known "bad-assness", propensity for violence, were given wide swath by slaveowner and overseer alike, even in the midst of slavery, who inspired FEAR in the owner, in spite of the power inequity. There were Black women, who REFUSED the sexual advances of their owners. There were Black women whocut the throats of their own children, rather than have them be slaves,(like in Toni Morrison's Beloved which is based on a real story). In other words, individual responses varied, greatly.

A perfect example of the domination vs choice, dichotomy that I mentioned was the story of Harriet Jacobs, who provided the most well read/known slave narrative, 'Incident in the Life of Slave Girl', is the title I think. Anyway, she talks about how her master who was a doctor, and many years older than she, made constant sexual advances towards her from the time she was a teen. He tried to intimdate her with threatsat times, other times tried to sway her with promises, gifts, preferred treatment. She kept turning him down, eventually getting involved with a Black male slave. Her master refused to let her get married, and kept pursuing her. At one point, he asks her is she in love with the young Black slave. She says yes. He says he thought she was beyond the "puppy love" stage. She says, she thinks she and the male slave should be together because they are both of the Negro race. Her master slaps her, and responds like a jealous boyfriend. She talks in the narrative about how she knew that to make her life easier she could have given in, but it was against her personal beliefs/code, etc. She continues to reject his advances, and eventually runs away with her boyfriend to the North.

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I have read the Harriet Jacobs story about twice and i wanted to correct a few things here because not all of the information you gave was true. Yes, she did fall in love with a black male but he was a free man, not a slave. Her master threatened to beat her if she ever saw him again and since it was impossible for them to marry and for her to be free of the sexual advances of her master she decided to let him go. He moved up north somewhere. She met another white male, began having relations with himand this is the man who she had two children by. She did this in order to escape the constant sexual advances of her master. One of the reasons asto why she did not give in wasnt necessarily becasue it was against her personal beliefs (even thoughthis was part of it )but because she saw what happened to all the other women who had sexual relations with her master: once they became pregnant they were all sold along with their babies. So she knew that even if she did give into having sex with her master, that it wouldnt last because he would soon tire of her. Another reason was because her mistress was already jealous with rage and she feared for her life.

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I stand corrected on the points u mentioned. I was relying on memory and probably got details of other narratives I've read, confused with Harriet's story. I'm glad you mentioned the Doctor's wife, and her jealousy and rage towards Harriet, I neglected to.

Her owner's pursuit of her went on for years. Now it is possible, maybe even probable that he would have enventually forced her into sex, or eventually sold her, had she not run away, but the fact that he spent so much time trying to get her tacit "consent", when as her "owner", he didn't need it, to have sex with her, is part and parcel of the very contradictory/complex dynamic,(you're not human you're my property, I'll threaten and intimidate u into sex, but at the same time, you are human and a woman and I think I can woo you into consenual sexwith gifts, promises of preferential treatment),that existed in some master/slave interactions.

Well i wouldnt say that that was exactly the reason as to why he didnt just rape her. Harriet Jacobs talks about this in the book and she says that her master was a man who had to constantly "keep up appearances" and this was especially true since they lived in a small town where everyone knew what everyone else was doing. From what i got, it was all about power play. The doctor knew he could have easily raped her, but he wanted to bring her to the point where she would submit, he didnt just want sex from her, he wanted to humilate her, bring her to the point where she would discard all pride and dignity that she had.

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I'm sure there was a combination of reasons that he didin't just force her, including the ones you mentioned, but his response to her having feelings for the Black man, or even asking about her feelings for the Black man, indicate on some level,that he was enraged that she didn't "want/desire" him.