Conceived in violence: enslaved mothers and children born of rape in nineteenth-century Louisiana

Livesey, A (2017) Conceived in violence: enslaved mothers and children born of rape in nineteenth-century Louisiana. Slavery & Abolition, 38 (2). pp. 373-391. ISSN 0144-039X

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Abstract

Through the examination of testimony from formerly enslaved people who had been fathered by white men under slavery, this paper considers how enslaved women negotiated motherhood when their child had been conceived through rape. Evidence reveals that the relationship between enslaved mothers and their children remained strong, despite sexual violence and interference into childrearing by slaveholding families. Informants had close knowledge of the non-consensual nature of their conception, and their willingness to discuss sexual violence reflects the lack of stigma attached to rape victims in the slave community, and hints at the way that enslaved communities coped with sexual violence on an institutional level.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Slavery & Abolition on 21/04/17, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/0144039X.2017.1317033
Uncontrolled Keywords:	2103 Historical Studies
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
Divisions:	Humanities and Social Science
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Date of acceptance:	28 February 2017
Date of first compliant Open Access:	18 December 2018
Date Deposited:	18 Dec 2018 11:56
Last Modified:	04 Sep 2021 02:07
DOI or ID number:	10.1080/0144039X.2017.1317033
URI:	https://ljmu-9.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/9836

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