Consent in the Presence of Force: Sexual Violence and Black Women's Survival in Antebellum New Orleans

245 Pages·2023·22.162 MB·English

by  Emily A. Owens

Consent in the Presence of Force
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Consent in the Presence of Force
Sexual Vio lence and Black W omen’s
Survival in Antebellum New Orleans
Emily A. Owens
The University of North Carolina Press c hapel hill
© 2023 Emily A. Owens
All rights reserved
Set in Merope Basic by Westchester Publishing Services
Manufactured in the United States of Amer i ca
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Owens, Emily A., author.
Title: Consent in the presence of force : sexual violence and Black women’s survival in
antebellum New Orleans / Emily A. Owens.
Description: Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, [2023] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: lccN 2022033431 | iSBN 9781469670515 (cloth ; alk. paper) |
iSBN 9781469672137 (paperback ; alk. paper) | iSBN 9781469670522 (ebook)
Subjects: lcSh: Women slaves—Abuse of—Louisiana—New Orleans—History—19th
century. | Women slaves—Sexual behavior—Louisiana—New Orleans—History—19th
century. | Women slaves—Louisiana—New Orleans—Social conditions—19th century. |
African American women—Abuse of—Louisiana—New Orleans—History—19th century. |
African American women—Sexual behavior—Louisiana—New Orleans—History—19th
century. | African American women—Louisiana—New Orleans—Social conditions—19th
century. | Sexual abuse victims—Louisiana—New Orleans—History—19th century. |
Rape—Louisiana—New Orleans—History—19th century. | Sex workers—Louisiana—
New Orleans—History—19th century. Classification: lcc e445.l8 O94 2023 | DDc
306.3/620820976335—dc23/eng/20220727
lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022033431
Cover illustration: Detail from John Melish, Map of New Orleans and Adjacent Country (1815).
Courtesy of David Rumsey Map Collection, David Rumsey Map Center, Stanford Libraries.
Chapter 3 was published previously in a different form as “Promises: Sexual Labor in the Space
between Slavery and Freedom,” Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical
Association 58, no. 2 (2017): 179–216.
for my parents
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Contents
List of Illustrations  ix
Acknowl edgments  xi
Preface  1
On Lies (or, after Archival Failure)
Introduction  9
Eliza’s Last Child
chapter ONe
Ordinary Vio lence  29
chapter twO
Any White Woman or Girl  56
chapter three
Contracts  85
chapter fOur
Of Mistresses and Concubines  104
Ann Maria Barclay’s Critique of Marriage
chapter five
Seeing New Orleans Again 119
Afterword 150
Believe Women
Notes 159
Bibliography 199
Index 221
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Illustrations
figureS
 i.1a  “Seperation [sic] of Eliza and Her Last Child”  12
 i.1B  Collection box of Rhode Island State Anti- Slavery Society 12
 i.2  “The ‘Peculiar’ Institution” 13
1.1  Burning of Le Cap  33
1.2a Lake Borgne  34
 1.2B Lake Pontchartrain  34
 1.3  Delphine’s family tree  41
 1.4  Delphine’s bill of sale  45
 1.5  Louisa Picquet  47
 2.1  Minute book, Orleans Parish First District Court 5 7
 5.1  Philina advertisement  129
 5.2  Map of Carrollton, annotated  135
MapS
 i.1  The Antebellum Atlantic  10
 1.1  Delphine’s journey into New Orleans  28
 3.1  Carmélite’s New Orleans  84
 5.1  Alexina’s New Orleans  120