The Mark of Slavery: Disability, Race, and Gender in Antebellum America

244 Pages·2021·1.31 MB·English

by  Jenifer L. Barclay

The Mark of Slavery
Disability Histories
Series editors: Kim E. Nielsen and Michael Rembis
Disability Histories explores the lived experiences of individuals and
groups from a broad range of societies, cultures, time periods, and
geographic locations who either identified as disabled or were considered
by the dominant culture to be disabled. Conceiving of disability and
disabled experiences broadly, and spanning a range of embodiments, the
series highlights innovative approaches to disability history that deepen
our understanding of the past.
A list of books in the series appears at the end of this book.
Jenifer L. Barclay
The Mark of Slavery
disability, race, and gender
in antebellum america
© 2021 by the Board of Trustees
of the University of Illinois
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Barclay, Jenifer L., author.
Title: The mark of slavery: disability, race, and gender in antebellum America /
Jenifer L. Barclay.
Other titles: Disability, race, and gender in antebellum America
Description: Urbana: University of Illinois Press, [2020] | Series: Disability histories
| Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: lccn 2020038245 | isbn 9780252043727 (cloth) | isbn 9780252085703
(paperback)
Subjects: lcsh: Slaves—Abuse of—United States—History—19th century. | African
Americans with disabilities—History—19th century. | People with disabilities—
Abuse of—United States—History—19th century. | People with disabilities—
United States—Social conditions—History—19th century. | Slaves—United
States—Social conditions—19th century. | United States—Race relations—
History—19th century.
Classification: lcc e443 .b245 2020 | ddc 306.3/62097309034—dc23
lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020038245
For my parents
Leon and Barbara McElhaney
In memory of
Professor Michael Matambanadzo

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1 Disability, Embodiment, and Slavery in the Old South 13
2 Reimagined Communities: Disability and the Making of
Slave Families, Communities, and Culture 36
3 A Dose of Law: The Dialogics of Race and Disability in
Southern Slave Law and Medicine 64
4 “Cannibals All!” The Politics of Slavery, Ableism, and
White Supremacy 95
5 “One Hell of a Metaphor”: Disability and Race on the
Antebellum Stage 126
Conclusion 149
Notes 155
Bibliography 189
Index 209

List of Illustrations
Figure 1. “Moses D. Wells’ Seed Sower” (ca. 1850s) 15
Figure 2. “Effects of Punishment by Burning, Richmond, Virginia”
(1866) 29
Figure 3. The Hunter Plantation, Dallas County, Alabama (ca. 1900) 45
Figure 4. “Ellen Thomas, Age 89” (ca. 1936–38) 50
Figure 5. Title page, Autobiography of Henry Parker (1859) 122
Figure 6. P. T. Barnum advertisement for Joice Heth (1835) 131
Figure 7. Millie and Christine McKoy (n.d.) 136
Figure 8. Thomas “Japanese Tommy” Dilward (ca. 1860) 146
Figure 9. Thomas Waterman Wood, “A Bit of War History:
The Contraband, The Recruit, and The Veteran” (1866) 150
Table 1. Equitable distribution of bondpeople to the heirs
of Edward Cunningham Sr. 57