9781422274248

Sojourner Truth was a former slave who became a popular speaker in the 1840s. She sought the end of slavery and greater freedom for women in America.

and households, slaves of either sex often did the same sort of work. On larger plantations, slaves could specialize more, so there was more of a gendered division of labor , with women often doing household chores and men doing farm labor. WOMEN’S WORK AND WORTH In addition to their reproductive ability, female slaves were workers. Female slaves worked long hours and hard jobs, just like male slaves. As slavery grew and the number of slaves increased there was more gender-based division of labor. Female slaves worked the in the fields, in the trades, and in the home of their master. They cared for children—their own and their owner’s— cooked and cleaned, sewed clothing for the family, and maintained fires in the home. Women’s role in society at the time of slavery helps to understand the role of women in slavery. Free women could not vote, own property, or train for most trades. Unlike slave women, however, free women were often viewed as delicate creatures to be protected. Slave women, were property, and were subject to all sorts of abuses. Masters physically beat or whipped their female slaves for failing to perform their duties. And they often raped

9

Women and Children in Slavery