Pedestal, Loom, and Block

The diary of South Carolina slave mistress, Mary Boykin Chestnut, tells a lot about the antebellum era, when slavery in America was at its heights, triggered by the demand for cotton at the time. At this time, women’s views were not regarded as quite meaningful. Gender and racial discrimination is quite evident from this diary and the document section where Chesnut refers to slavery as a curse, since women were not respected by the men, especially those who sought sexual pressures from the enslaved women. The women were aware of the issue, but from the diary, no action from women is told; rather, she says that this is her observations. The enslaved women went through hard experiences from the slave holding men, who would whip them and harass them sexually. From this source, with the document section, one can tell the life of enslaved women during this error was characterized by a lot of humiliating experiences.

From the diary of Chesnut, one can realize that the enslaved women were sexually misused by the slave holding men. She refers to them as prostitutes because of their sexual activities with their men, which is evidenced by children of the Mullattos who resembled white men, and more so, a person would tell the father of each of the children. This was among the experiences enslaved women went through, while from the document section, it is evident they did not call for it; rather, it was the harsh nature of women. From the diary, the era was quite bad and full of immorality it says that they lived surrounded by prostitutes, and one can conclude it the era was characterized by a terrible system, where slaveholding men did not mind or respect their women as they are described as unfaithful.

The document section tells about the whipping of slaves, which the women went through, in a despicable way, where they would be whipped without clothes on after they were lifted up to their head. This is quite humiliating for any woman, and it lowers her self-esteem. From this, one can conclude that that pain was part of their daily life in their work, where the slaveholding men would use them as they pleased, and had no rights of their own, since even after being mistreated and harassed, nothing was done about it by the law enforcers. The document also asserts that the slave were considered as machine of production since all that was required of them was to work in the fields, and when they did not follow orders, though the document does not say, it is evident that punishment to make them work was considered the treatment.

In addition, their product, children, were considered as property of the slaveholder upon birth, suggesting that the slaves were owned as property, and had no voice of their own, and this can be regarded as a deprivation of sense of possession. Moreover, enslaved women faced threats of being sold in case they did not do as required of them, which meant they would be separated from the people they knew including their children, further asserting that they were a property of their slaveholders, and faced dehumanization all the time. The document section again tells that the women had to raise their children on their own, since conjugal right or marriages were not allowed if they could mean compromising work of the master in the fields of factories.

The source also tells that the gender roles were not much considered for slaves, since even, where they worked in the fields, and in their master’s houses. Men too, could be used to work in the houses as maids for the maser’s young sons. The source talks about men taking specialized labor as blacksmiths and carpentry. The source does not talk about factory operatives, except for specialized labor where men could work as blacksmith and carpenters.

The source however, provides evidence that women tried to resist the race and gender discrimination or ideology that women can be exploited. This has been evidenced by the woman who was beaten up by her master for refusing all the master demanded of her. This is an illustration of an effort made, but to no avail, since the woman suffered more. From this source, the women were not able to resist the discrimination, since it meant more suffering to them. From this source, women went through a whole lot of humiliation from their masters, including physical pain and dehumanizing where they were considered property to their masters, meant for production at the plantations.