Assignment 03
In chapter one of Jennifer Morgan’s Laboring Women: Reproduction and Gender in New World Slavery, Morgan describes the development of white supremacy and the connection that is made by Europeans between the female anatomy and racism. A reoccurring image is portrayed throughout the chapter; colored women were depicted as abnormal beings, possessing grotesque qualities such as plummeting breasts and unusual strength. As demonstrated by Pieter de Marees who wrote about his own personal encounters in Guinea, a black woman’s femininity was consistently targeted and used to belittle her. It was through these physical perceptions that female blackness became equated with monstrosity. A constant comparison was made between women of different races, and the more a black woman’s appearance strayed from that of a white woman, the more revolting she was found to be. Despite how off-putting the Europeans found certain elements of black culture, it did not prevent them from recognizing the physical prowess that they embodied. Europeans observed the impressive endurance of black female workers and black mothers as they delivered their children. Black women were quick to return to normal function after labor, and were often accompanied by their young as they worked. White women were quite the opposite, and experienced great pain during and after pregnancy. Although they heavily criticized the way in which black mothers tended to their children, it was part of what lead them to believe that they were well suited for hard labor.
This combination of slumping breasts, experience in manual labor, and quick ability to recuperate almost immediately following labor closed the distinction between black females and domesticated animals in the minds of Europeans. Black women were not regarded as creations of God, which in the minds of Europeans justified their harsh treatment and reputation and made them subject to European domination. The black image became twisted by these same men, who insisted that a black woman’s worth was dependent on the amount of physical labor she could produce and her reproductive function. More European travelers would hear of these beliefs towards indigenous cultures and arrive with plans to exploit the people who were wrongfully oppressed because their unique customs and appearances.
Discussion question: Europeans did not consider black women descendants of Eve and therefore were not related to them because they did not experience the same labor pain as white women. Do you think, had black women exhibited signs of labor pain, that to Europeans would view them more equally, or would they find another element to target to separate their races?
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