More Than Chattel: Black Women and Slavery in the Americas(Blacks in the Diaspora)

... a much-needed volume on a neglected topic that is of great interest to scholars of women, slavery, and African American history." -Drew Faust Gender was a decisive force in shaping slave society. Slave men's experiences differed from those of slave women, who were exploited both in reproductive as well as productive capacities. The women did not figure prominently in revolts, because they engaged in less confrontational resistance, emphasizing creative struggle to survive dehumanization and abuse. The contributors are Hilary Beckles, Barbara Bush, Cheryl Ann Cody, David Barry Gaspar, David P. Geggus, Virginia Meacham Gould, Mary Karasch, Wilma King, Bernard Moitt, Celia E. Naylor-Ojurongbe, Robert A. Olwell, Claire Robertson, Robert W. Slenes, Susan M. Socolow, Richard H. Steckel, and Brenda E. Stevenson.

Table of Contents:
Preface Africa and the Americas 1. Africa in to the Americas? Slavery and Women, the Family and the Sexual Division of Labor—Claire Robertson Life and Labor 2. Women, Work, and Health under Plantation Slavery in the Untied States—Richard H. Steckel 3. Cycles of Work and of Childbearing: Seasonality in Women's Lives on Low Country Plantations—Cheryll Ann Cody 4. Slave Women on the Brazilian Frontier in the Nineteenth Century—Mary Karasch 5. "Loose, idle and Disorderly": Slave Women int he Eighteenth-Century Charleston Marketplace—Robert A. Olwell 6. Black Female Slaves and White Households in Barbados—Hilary Beckles 7. Black Homes, White Homilies: Perceptions of the Slave Family and of Slave Women in Nineteenth-Century Brazil—Robert W. Slenes 8. "Suffer with Them Till Death": Slave Women and Their Children in Nineteenth-Century America—Wilma King 9. Gender Convention, Ideals, and Identity Among Antebellum Virginia Slave Women—Brenda E. Stevenson Slavery, REsistance, and Freedom 10. Hard Labor: Women, Childbirth and Resistance in British Caribbean Slave Societies—Barbara Bush 11. From "the Sense of their Slavery": Slave Women and Resistance in Antigua, 1632–1763—David Barry Gaspar 12. Slave Women and Resistance in the French Caribbean—Bernard Moitt 13. Slave and Free Colored Women in Saint Domingue—David P. Geggus 14. Economic Roles of the Free Women of Color of Cap Francais—Susan M. Socolow 15. Urban Slavery, Urban Freedom: The Manumission of Jacqueline Lemelle—L. Virginia Gould Selected Bibliography Celia E. Naylor-Ojurongbe Notes on Contributors Index

About the Author :
DAVID BARRY GASPAR, Professor of History at Duke University, is the author of Bondmen and Rebels. DARLENE CLARK HINE, John A. Hannah Professor of American History at Michigan State University, is the author of several books, including Black Women in White. She is co-editor of Black Women in America.

Review :
"... enriching reading on the complexity and diversity of women's lives under slavery... its subject is essential to the study of slavery, it offers some excellent remedies for the gaps that undoubtedly plague many reading lists on the topic." - Journal of Economic History "This valuable collection will be read with interest by all students of women's history." - Plantation Society in the Americas "This book makes an important contribution to our understanding of slave women in the Americas while offering ideas for new research directions." - New West Indian Guide/Nieuwe West-Indische Gids "This superb collection makes an important contribution to our understanding of slavery." - Times Literary Supplement "This exciting collection demonstrates that 'gendered relations and expectations' means that 'slave women experienced slavery quite differently from slave men.' ... The volume provides an excellent overview of the growing integration of the history of slavery and women's history, and is admirably suited for course work in those fields." - Choice " ... a much-needed volume on a neglected topic that is of great interest to scholars of women, slavery, and African American history." - Drew Faust "This provocative text is yet another example of the valuable contributions to scholarship that have been made by Dr. Gaspar and Dr. Hine." - The Journal of American History "... this volume is a first-rate introduction to students ..." - Labor History