Was it possible for a slave women and a powerful older free man who claimed ownership of her to form a truly consensual relationship in the early 1800s? How could you frame an argument either way?
Answers
Answer:
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Explanation:
A replica of a an enslaved person's room at the new 'Life of Sally Hemings' exhibits at Monticello. Hemings, believed to live in these quarters, was Thomas Jefferson's concubine and bore him several children. By initially refusing to return from Paris with him to Virginia, she was able to negotiate for the future freedom of her unborn children.
Eze Amos/The Washington Post via Getty Images
In the power relationship between America’s enslaved people and their enslavers, it’s widely assumed that the planter class held all the cards. After all, they were the dominant group who frequently enforced their will with whips, chains, dogs—and worse. Most enslaved people were considered little more than legal property, business investments whose human needs and family relationships were relevant only as far as they affected productivity and the bottom line of the people they served.
So when faced with the question of whether enslaved people could negotiate any aspect of their lives with their enslavers, the prospect seems hard to imagine. With power stacked so overwhelmingly against them, what could the enslaved negotiate for—and with what leverage? How could an enslaver concede even small favor to one, while maintaining fear and order among the broader ranks? The reality was complicated: In navigating lives of privation and brutality, enslaved people haggled, often daily, for liberties small and large, from rare personal time to less harsh treatment for themselves or family members, even to being set free.