Thread by @CitingSlavery

For Women’s History Month, consider the ways in which enslaved women & girls were disproportionately harmed by their enslavers and the U.S. legal system, and how this legacy continues in our legal system today. 1/11 Thread:

⚠️: slavery and physical & sexual abuse.

Slavery disproportionately harmed enslaved women and girls by subjecting them to higher rates of excessive physical and sexual abuse. The U.S. court system directly participated in upholding slavery by carrying out auctions 2/11

and enforcing contracts for the sale of enslaved people. The enslavement of individuals, and the disproportionate violence towards enslaved women & girls was upheld and supported by the U.S. legal system. 3/11

Today, judges and lawyers CONTINUE to cite to slave cases for basic legal principles. To address this, the Citing Slavery Project provides a database of slave cases and the modern cases that continue to cite them as precedent. 4/11

Two cases documented by the Citing Slavery Project in our legal database provide useful examples to consider for Women’s History Month:

Baldwin v. Baldwin, 21 Tenn. 473 (1841), and Bartlett v. Bartlett, 33 Ga. Supp. 172 (1864). 5/11

In Baldwin, a white woman owned “30 or 40 negro slaves” to be held in a trust until after she married. After marriage, she would maintain total control, separate from her husband. Steps toward protecting white women’s property were often at the cost of black women’s freedom. 6/11

In Bartlett, a father gave his wife, children, and grandchildren a total of 31 enslaved persons, 14 of which were women/girls. The father also gave his heirs all the future children of these women and girls. 7/11

The names of the black women and girls are as follows: Sopha, Mary,
Polly, Harriet, Betty, Martha, little Martha, Clarey, Elizabeth, Eliza, Lucy, Jenny, Permela, Clara, and Becky. 8/11

Enslaved women and girls were treated as the means to an end, which was the economic growth of
white enslavers through the expansion of their enslaved populations. 9/ 11

Many cases concerning slavery are used by judges and lawyers today for legal precedent. The legacy of exploitation and abuse of enslaved persons, especially directed towards Black women/girls, is deeply rooted in the U.S. legal system. 10/11

To learn more, visit citingslavery.org and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

Also check out:
nypl.org/blog/2015/03/2…. 11/11

#WomensHistoryMonth #msucollegeoflaw #WomensHistoryMonth2023