American Husbandry: Legal Norms Impacting the Production of (Re)Productivity

During the last quarter of the 17th century, African slaves were “imported” into the Americas in unprecedented numbers. This enlargement of the slave population represented a deep commitment to, and investment in, slavery. Slavery was to become commonplace and thus demanded moral, religious, and legal justification. Systematic colonization utilized European legal systems, which rationalized the existence of slavery by providing normative legitimization. Throughout the duration of slavery, jurisprudence functioned as a sword employed against enslaved Africans, and not as a shield, as it is traditionally envisioned. This contradiction in legal imperative operated not only along racial lines, but also along sexual and gendered lines. Female slaves were impacted differently and disparately. They were exploited, not only because of their race, but also because their sex could be used as a means of both wealth and property accumulation, thereby rendering them particularly vulnerable to external manipulation and cooptation of their sexual and reproductive agency. This article explores the manner in