Proceedings of the 19th International Academic Conference, Florence

SEX AND ENSLAVED MANHOOD

THOMAS FOSTER

Abstract:

This paper focuses on the sexual abuse and exploitation of enslaved men in America. I am in the process of expanding into a book my published article, "Sexual Abuse of Black Men Under American Slavery," (Journal of the History of Sexuality). This paper will specifically focus on the issues of ideals of consent and choice as well as examples of force and coercion with regard to cross-status relationships (primarily between white women and enslaved men) as well as interactions between men. The primary sources for this paper include the WPA slave narratives as well as court records, and manuscript and published sources and accounts. Studying the sexual exploitation of enslaved men, contributes to the scholarship on gender and sexuality in early America, to our understanding of slavery and slave life, to literature on black masculinity, and also to literature examining historicisation of rape.

Keywords: slavery, sexuality, sex, masculinity, gender, U.S history

DOI: 10.20472/IAC.2015.019.048

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