Read the following excerpt from Lucy A. Delaney’s 1891 memoir, *From the Darkness Cometh the Light*, describing her mother’s efforts in St. Louis, Missouri:
'My mother, Polly... was always planning how to escape... At last, she was sold to a man named Magee... and she finally succeeded in bringing suit for her freedom, under the laws of Missouri... Having at last established her own right to freedom, she immediately commenced another suit for mine, determined that her children should not remain in bond.'
Which of the following historical developments or concepts is best illustrated by the mother’s actions described in the passage?
- AThe implementation of grand maroonage to establish self-governing communities outside state jurisdiction.
- BThe reliance on covert everyday resistance rather than formal legal challenges due to systemic exclusion.
- The strategic use of freedom suits by enslaved women to challenge the maternal transmission of chattel status.Answer
- DThe immediate, uniform implementation of colonial slave codes that barred all legal petitions by Black women.
Answer
The strategic use of freedom suits by enslaved women to challenge the maternal transmission of chattel status.
The correct answer is correct because Polly Crocket's actions show how enslaved women actively petitioned the court system for their freedom, thereby challenging the hereditary nature of chattel slavery which legally bound their children through maternal descent under the doctrine of *partus sequitur ventrem*.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Enslaved women's legal resistance and the subversion of partus sequitur ventrem through freedom suits.