In 1855, Celia, an enslaved teenage woman in Missouri, was tried for the murder of her master, Robert Newsom, whom she killed while resisting his repeated sexual assaults. Her defense attorneys argued that a Missouri statute protecting 'any woman' from sexual violence gave Celia the legal right to use force in self-defense. However, the trial court rejected this defense, instructing the jury that as property, an enslaved woman possessed no legal right to resist her master's physical or sexual domination.
Based on this historical account, the trial of Celia demonstrates which of the following aspects of the gendered dimensions of chattel slavery?
- AEnslaved women relied primarily on grand maroonage and long-distance flight to escape physical violence.
- BColonial legislatures immediately codified gender-specific protections for enslaved women following the initial arrival of Africans in 1619.
- Enslaved women faced distinct forms of exploitation and were legally denied the protections of womanhood that were extended to free women.Answer
- DEnslaved women's resistance was restricted entirely to covert and cultural forms, rather than overt confrontations.
Answer
The correct answer states that enslaved women faced distinct forms of exploitation and were legally denied the protections of womanhood that were extended to free women.
The correct answer is correct because the trial of Celia demonstrates how the legal definition of enslaved people as chattel property intersected with gender, resulting in the institutionalized vulnerability of enslaved women to sexual exploitation and the formal denial of the legal protections of womanhood that free women possessed.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Gendered exploitation and lack of legal protection for enslaved women under chattel slavery
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