Narratives of Enslaved Women in Baton Rouge

By Juliette Fields

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The stories of enslaved women are frequently forgotten or overlooked in public history and education, especially in Louisiana, leaving much to remain unknown to the public about what life was like for them. They were not only subjected to extreme harm and discrimination because of their race, but also because they were women. Black women and white women experience several cultural and experiential differences today because of differences that existed during slavery. A particular experiential difference is the oversexualization of Black women and girls in modern America. Black girls are not typically viewed as innocent when they are children – a concept that dates back to times of slavery, when young girls and women were routinely sexually assaulted. This history still influences power dynamics in modern society, continuing to make Black women one of the most marginalized groups in America today. This article will hopefully bring awareness to the hardships that enslaved women endured, so their stories are no longer ignored.

Enslaved Women and Girls’ Labor

The interviews indicated that Black women and girls were expected to perform a wide range of physically and psychologically taxing jobs. In Louisiana, formerly enslaved women usually reported that their mothers worked in sugarcane fields. However, some of their mothers were allowed to do various tasks to earn money in addition to plantation labor. For example, Elizabeth Ross Hite explained that her mother planted corn in her own garden that their master bought from her. Hite explained that her mother used this money to make sure that her children had clothing made from quality materials.

The girls on plantations in Louisiana experienced vastly different childhoods in terms of their labor. Some girls, like Elizabeth Ross Hite, did not work at all during slavery. Hite explains that her master claimed that he did not want the children to get hurt and that there were plenty of older enslaved people to do the work. Other girls were made to do other tasks around the plantation. Julia Woodrich explained that her daily jobs on her plantation were to pick up the shovel when it fell and to give water to the chickens. The majority of women who were interviewed mentioned their work as girls was primarily working inside the plantation house. Mary Harris was expected to make the fires in the house and pull the fan above the dining table to keep the flies off the slaveholding family while they ate. Additionally, many girls worked directly for the mistress of the house. Henrietta Butler had to wash and rub the feet of her mistress before she was allowed to go home and sleep. Butler expressed contempt for her mistress because of the degrading tasks she made her perform. For some girls, the work continued throughout all hours of the night. Woodrich explained that the woman of the house forced her to sleep on a palette at the foot of her bed just in case the mistress needed anything during the night. The narratives demonstrate the slaveholder’s belief that overworking the girls at a young age could limit the work in the sugarcane fields or the ability to give birth to many children.

Pregnancy and Childbirth

The women in these slave narratives gave in-depth insight into the gruesome realities of pregnancy and childbirth on the plantation. Although several of these women did not have children until after emancipation, they talked about their mothers’ experiences or their appreciation for not having to birth children as adolescents. One of the pressures of being an enslaved adolescent girl during this time was the expectation to have between five and fifteen children. Ellen Broomfield, an interviewee, was one of nineteen of her mother and father’s children. More often than not, girls were not allowed the freedom of choosing with the father of their children. Mary Ann John remembered her mother telling her that she should be happy that she was freed before she went through puberty. She explained that on her plantation there was a man, picked by the master, that all the girls were forced to have babies with to be sold for profit. If the girls did not get pregnant the first time, they had to keep going back until they successfully conceived. Additionally, sexual assault by plantation slaveholders often resulted in many unwanted pregnancies and even more babies being born or sold into slavery.

Black women’s bodies were viewed as vessels for slaveholders to make more money. Many women reported never knowing what happened to their children after they were sold. Henrietta Butler reported that her mother was allowed to keep all of her female babies, but the boys were sold to other slaveholders because they were seen as more valuable. Not only were women forced to become pregnant with the knowledge that they likely would not  be able to keep their children, but they were not spared any cruel treatment despite their pregnancy. Many women reported the same kind of punishment for pregnant women at the time. Carlyle Stewart, Frances Doby, and Rebecca Fletcher explained that if an overseer wanted to punish a pregnant woman, they would dig a hole in the ground and make the pregnant women lie across it, with her abdomen in the hole. They would then beat her or whip her with the thought that they were still protecting the baby. It is likely that this was one of the contributing factors to the high miscarriage and infant mortality rate in Black women at the time. The slaveholding class and its contributors did not allow Black women to have the safer and healthier pregnancies that white women were in the position to have.

In addition to cruel punishment during the pregnancy, the child birthing process was equally as strenuous and dangerous for enslaved women. While some enslaved women might have had a more comfortable place of birth or even perhaps a midwife, other enslaved women had to give birth in high-risk areas, such as the sugarcane fields. Mary Ann John revealed that her mother became very sick after she gave birth to her siblings. John explained that when her mother gave birth in the fields, they dug a hole for her to sit in to give birth and another hole for the baby to roll into. She continued by saying the plantation master would send someone to take the baby to the big house and that the mother was expected to resume working in the fields. John was still in disbelief after nearly 80 years. She said it was something that she would “never forget.”

The months following childbirth were a difficult time physically and emotionally for new mothers. If they were lucky enough to have a child live past the newborn stage, they might have had a chance to raise their babies. Historical demographers estimate that around the year 1850, over one-third of enslaved infants died before age one. Enslaved women had to undergo the grief of losing a child while still having to work all day and face poor treatment from slaveholders. Henrietta Butler lamented that after one of her newborns died, the mistress of the house – who had also just had a baby – forced Henrietta to nurse the white baby from her own body. Butler was still enraged at the thought of the cruel treatment she received from her mistress 75 years later. Unfortunately, for many women, even if their babies did survive, several were sold into slavery, and they never got the chance to raise them. Enslaved women, including the ones interviewed, stated that they had several children whom they never saw again and did not even know if they were dead or alive.

Motherhood and Marriage

Whether mothers were able to take care of their children during the day varied from plantation to plantation. As mentioned previously, slaveholders tended to keep children away from the fields to preserve their vigor into adulthood. Some mothers had no other choice but to bring their babies and children along with them to work in the fields. Other mothers who had to work in the fields would send their children to older women on the plantation whose jobs were to take care of all of the enslaved children. Silas Spotfore recalled that her mother would wake all eleven children in the morning and cook them both breakfast and dinner, but they were taken care of by another woman for the rest of the day. Rebecca Fletcher remembered being taken care of by an older woman in a large kitchen, where she would cook and feed several children. These accounts show that because of enslaved women’s time-consuming labor, raising children became a collective effort on plantations.

Marriage and weddings for enslaved people were very different from what we think of today. Today, a “traditional” marriage would seek the permission of the bride’s parents. However, marriage for enslaved women may have required the “blessing” of their masters in order for it to be recognized by the plantation. Yet, many marriages of enslaved people were not recognized by the slaveholders. If permission was granted, there was usually a marital ceremony. Julia Woodrich explained that weddings on her plantation involved the mistress reading a random passage from a book – not necessarily from the Bible – and would put down a broom for the couple to jump over to officiate the marriage. “Jumping the broom” is a wedding tradition that still takes place in some Black couples’ wedding ceremonies today. Catherine Cornelius described that weddings were often modest celebrations where they would dance and eat cakes. She said that they were not allowed the day off for their weddings and the slaveholding family would not participate in their celebration. Although most of the interviewed women were not married at the time of slavery, the few that were told stories of domestic abuse and infidelity. Enslaved women were already subject to abuse from the slaveholding family and overseers on the plantation, but sometimes they were not even safe within their own families. In one account, a woman asked for advice on how to get her husband to stop hitting her, and in turn, she was told that if she were to listen to him then he would have no reason to hit her. For many enslaved women, there was no escape from the cruelty and harshness of everyday life on a plantation.

Life After Slavery

Life after slavery for formerly enslaved women provided several hardships because of their sex and status in society. Many women lost their husbands in the Civil War and had to navigate their freedom and their children’s freedom on their own. Others had to work to help support their families. Finding jobs that fit their skillset and provided them enough money to survive proved to be a difficult task. Some women, like Henrietta Butler, were able to get by through various jobs here and there. After she was freed, Butler recalled that she earned money by peeling shrimp, working in gardens, and washing and ironing laundry for white people. Others who did not work or money would live off of the land after they were free. Julia Woodrich recalled living in a shack where she sustained herself and her family off of berries, fish, and crawfish for several years. However, the situations of many women were very dire, and many struggled to survive it. Odel Jackson remembered that because her parents only made 45¢ a day collectively, she would eat out of people’s trash and slop cans to avoid starving to death. More fortunate women like Elizabeth Ross Hite made money working for their former mistresses and had husbands who made a decent living.

These women’s lives looked very different in their old ages – the time at which these interviews took place. A large number of women that were interviewed devoted their lives to their churches in their older age. Many of them reported not having any form of church on their plantations, so they flocked to them when they were given the opportunity after being free. These women found a sense of peace and consistency in religion. Julia Woodrich revealed that she was the Mother of her church at the time of the interviews. During their elderly years, the children of these women were responsible for caring for their mothers. Some children would physically take care of their mothers whereas others would send them money. In several of the interviews, women asked the interviewers for help to get money from the government. Because these interviews took place in the year 1940, it can be speculated that they were referring to the newly enacted social security payments. It is likely that these women never received any sort of compensation because the Social Security Act of 1935 deliberately excluded agricultural and domestic workers from receiving any benefits.

The stories that these women told about their own experiences or other women’s experiences help us see a clearer picture about what life was really like for enslaved women. Although some experiences were shared among many, each of these women had their own unique lives and were affected by these events in different ways. Reading about these women’s lives contributes to our understanding of the unimaginable hardships, traditions, family dynamics, and social issues of slavery that continue to echo in modern America. Hopefully as a result, people will feel less removed from the lives that these women lived and be reminded that these were real people who endured this horrific period in American history.

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Sources

• DeWitt, Larry. “The Decision to Exclude Agricultural and Domestic Workers from the 1935 Social Security Act.” Social Security Administration Research, Statistics, and Policy Analysis, November 1, 2010. 
• McElwee, Interviews, May 3, 1940-June 6, 1940, 11a, N1976-018, Slave Narratives, Louisiana State Archives
• McKinney, Interview, June 2, 1843, 11a, N1976-018, Slave Narratives, Louisiana State Archives
• Michinard, Interview, July 1940, 11a, N1976-018, Slave Narratives, Louisiana State Archives
• Owens, Deirdre Cooper, and Sharla M Fett. “Black Maternal and Infant Health: Historical Legacies of Slavery.” American journal of public health. American Public Health Association, October 2019. 
• Posey, Interview, October 23, 1940-January 8, 1941, 11a, N1976-018, Slave Narratives, Louisiana State Archives