{"id":8085,"date":"2000-06-28T09:29:00","date_gmt":"2000-06-28T09:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/?p=8085"},"modified":"2021-10-25T01:08:45","modified_gmt":"2021-10-25T01:08:45","slug":"the-values-of-the-slave-market-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/2000\/06\/28\/the-values-of-the-slave-market-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The values of the \u201cslave market\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 09:29:36 -0500<br>From: A.D. Powell<br>Subject: The values of the \u201cslave market\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In SOUL BY SOUL: LIFE INSIDE THE ANTEBELLUM SLAVE MARKET by Walter Johnson (an Assistant Professor of Hsitory at New York University), the author describes the stereotypes attributed to slaves for sale:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dark skinned men: The darkest skin preferred for heavy field work; assumed to be healthier and stronger (more \u201cmasculine\u201d) than \u201clight-skinned\u201d or \u201cwhite\u201d males. The blacker the better as far as field work was concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dark-skinned women: Assumed to be similar to men in ability to endure hard work; very fertile; not \u201cdelicate\u201d or \u201cfeminine\u201d like \u201cwhite\u201d or \u201clight-skinned\u201d women (except for the fertility part).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Light-skinned men: Assumed to be intelligent and suited for skilled labor or personal service; not as strong or healthy as dark-skinned men. Fear that they may be too rebellious or literate often made them hard to sell, especially if the males were \u201ctoo white\u201d and therefore deemed more likely to run away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Light-skinned women: Highly prized for domestic and other \u201cpersonal\u201d (sexual) services. Very expensive, especially when young and attractive. Often described as delicate, fragile, feminine. Some concern when she is \u201ctoo white\u201d (blond and blue-eyed, for example), but not nearly as much of a disadvantage from the slave dealer\u2019s point of view as \u201ctoo white\u201d males.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">_______<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aren\u2019t these stereotypes still alive? The Seattle Times posted letters in response to the article \u201cWhite Girl\u201d (in which a black-identified mulatto denounced her cousin for identifying as \u201cwhite\u201d; she had been reared as \u201cwhite\u201d by her \u201cwhite\u201d mother with the unmarried mulatto father frequently absent) that were dominated by \u201cwhite mulatto\u201d women boasting that they only wanted to mate with the blackest men they could find. There was also one black woman (who appeared on \u201cNightline\u201d) who boasted that she had bullied her niece (another \u201cwhite\u201d woman\u2019s daughter) into the same self-hatred. Aren\u2019t these people still dominated by \u201cslave market\u201d values? The most \u201cmasculine\u201d slave desires the \u201cmost feminine\u201d slave. However, this time the \u201cfeminine\u201d slave considers her \u201cowners\u201d to be \u201cblack\u201d rather than \u201cwhite.\u201d How many \u201cblack\u201d oriented media, TV shows, movies, etc. seek to sexually unite the mulatto female with the black male? Why? Because the \u201cslave market\u201d values are still in their minds. I have to also back the previous letter suggesting that black males are responsible for a disproportionate amount of sexual harassment. It\u2019s true! Perhaps those males see themselves as the super-masculine beasts and studs that their great-grandparents\u2019 slave traders saw. Think also of the current controversy about supposed \u201cblack superiority\u201d in sports \u2013 the old slave market values back again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Look at the stereotype for black women slaves and think \u201cwelfare queen.\u201d Only this time, the babies are not valuable property and the fertility that used to increase her value now lessens it. Consider the black women who are always raving about \u201cwhite\u201d women \u201cstealing\u201d their men. Why don\u2019t THEY seek out non-black mates? They aren\u2019t \u201cfeminine\u201d enough \u2013 at least they don\u2019t have the confidence to believe they are. If black men aren\u2019t forced to marry them, who will? The old slave market stereotype at work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMulatto\u201d males are, on the average, far more upwardly mobile than \u201cblack\u201d males in terms of \u201cclass,\u201d professional jobs, etc. That\u2019s why 80% of the \u201cfirst\u201d or famous \u201cblacks\u201d of the 19th century are not \u201cblack\u201d at all. They are also more upwardly mobile than \u201cmulatto\u201d females in terms of \u201ccaste\u201d or \u201cracial\u201d identity. Just as in the 19th century, they are more likely to \u201crun away\u201d and blend into the \u201cwhite\u201d population. In SALLY HEMINGS &amp; THOMAS JEFFERSON: HISTORY, MEMORY, AND CIVIC CULTURE (edited by Jan Ellen Lewis &amp; Peter Onuf), we are told that the black-identfied but very mulatto Hemings family has always been forced to deal, in every generation, with \u201crunaway brothers\u201d or male family members who reject the family\u2019s \u201cblack elite\u201d pretense for a \u201cwhite\u201d identity. The recent \u201cFrontline\u201d propaganda called \u201cJefferson\u2019s Blood\u201d devoted most of the program to denouncing a Hemings-descended male for \u201cpassing\u201d and not giving the \u201cblack\u201d stigma to his children. Sociologist Edward Reuter also noted this in his THE MULATTO IN THE UNITED STATES. I\u2019m not surprised, since it is easier for a male to move alone in society and find a job to support himself (in both the 19th and 20th centuries). It is also easier, in general, for males to find desirable mates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Why is it then that movies, novels, plays, television, etc. usually portray the condemned \u201cpassing\u201d mixed-white as female rather than male? In many schools of racist thought, \u201csuperior races\u201d are portrayed as masculine, active, penetrating. \u201cInferior races\u201d are supposed to be feminine, passive, waiting to be violated. The female fits the stereotype that many \u201cblack\u201d and \u201cwhite\u201d people want to present. Remember Susan Kohner (half-Mexican in real life) being beaten up by her Nordic \u201cboyfriend\u201d Troy Donahue (in an uncredited role; he SHOULD be ashamed) in the 1950s version of \u201cImitation of Life\u201d? She is meant to represent ALL \u201cuppity\u201d mulattoes being beaten down. This wouldn\u2019t have worked with a male. They can\u2019t have a \u201cNordic\u201d woman beating HIM up, since sex roles are far older and stronger than \u201cracial\u201d roles. Even if he is attacked by another male, his sex demands that he fight back. This is not the passive image of poor \u201cSarah Jane\u201d beaten, helpless and crying in the mud. The ultra feminine image of the \u201cwhite mulatta\u201d is also used as a guilt-free \u201cmiscegenation\u201d fantasy that is not \u201creally\u201d miscegnation since she is sexually available for violation by the black male (supposedly the ultimate horror for a \u201cwhite\u201d female) as well as the \u201cwhite\u201d male. \u201cSarah Jane\u201d is a more sexually charged figure than the \u201cpure\u201d Nordic Sandra Dee or Lana Turner precisely because the ultimate violation is unthinkable for their \u201cAryan\u201d highnesses. The audience gets to indulge in \u201cmiscegenation\u201d fantasies that can be denied by denying \u201cSarah Jane\u2019s\u201d whiteness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 09:29:36 -0500From: A.D. PowellSubject: The values of the \u201cslave market\u201d In SOUL BY SOUL: LIFE INSIDE THE ANTEBELLUM SLAVE MARKET by Walter Johnson (an Assistant Professor of Hsitory at&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[63],"tags":[136,140],"class_list":["post-8085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-d-powells-view","tag-popular-culture-and-literature","tag-slavery-and-reparations"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p89tuq-26p","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/AD-Powell.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8085"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8086,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8085\/revisions\/8086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}