Celia, A Slave

by Melton A. McLaurin

"Compelling. . . a shocking tale. . . a remarkable account. . . . McLaurin succeeds admirably in using Celia's story to raise larger issues about the meaning of American slavery for both blacks and whites, for both women and men." —  New York Times Book Review In 1850, fourteen-year-old Celia became the property of Robert Newsom, a prosperous and respected Missouri farmer. For the next five years, she was cruelly and repeatedly molested by her abusive master—and bore him two children in the process. But in 1855, driven to the limits of her endurance, Celia fought back. And at the tender age of eighteen, the desperate and frightened young black woman found herself on trial for Newsom's murder—the defendant in a landmark courtroom battle that threatened to undermine the very foundations of the South's most cherished institution.  Based on court records, correspondences and newspaper accounts past and present,  Celia, A Slave  is a powerful masterwork of passion and scholarship—a stunning literary achievement that brilliantly illuminates one of the most extraordinary events in the long, dark history of slavery in America.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, American History, African American, School, Read For School

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1991

About the author

Melton Alonza McLaurin received his Ph.D. in American history from the University of South Carolina in 1967 and taught at the University of South Alabama prior to joining the UNCW department of history as chairperson in 1977. From 1996 until 2003 he served as Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, retiring in 2004. He is the author or co-author of nine books and numerous articles on various aspects of the history of the American South and race relations.

Reviews

[Kathryn · Rating 1 out of 5]

An otherwise intriguing story alternately infused with unimaginably boring historical information. McLaurin takes absolutely no liberties in speculating anything--emotions, actions, words, nothing. One line went something like, "Although we can never know how Celia reacted to her rape, we can speculate that she was scared and upset." Really? You think so? A very historically accurate read with little emotional appeal.

[Dusty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found both this book's premise and presentation fascinating. The author, Melton McLaurin, writes in his introduction that too often "history" is no more than the cobbled stories of men at the head of their society; while Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon, etc., certainly merit study, shifting our focus toward less exceptional figures reveals a more accurate and relatable history. In the chapters that follow, he pieces together what may have been the life and story of the Missouri slave Celia, tried in 1855 for the murder of her master, Robert Newsom.

What would it have been like to live in the United States in the decades just before the Civil War? How could I have reconciled myself to the institution of slavery? This rendition of Celia's crime and trial doesn't exhaustively answer either of these questions, but I think it is enough that it raises them.

For McLaurin, living in a time and place where slavery is legally and socially acceptable means confronting moral conundrums on a daily basis. Your widowed father, who provides food and shelter for you and your three children, brings home a fourteen-year-old black child one afternoon, and although he says he has hired her as a cook, you know she rarely leaves his bedroom. You disapprove, but what action do you take? What different actions are available to you if you are a man or if you are a woman? What do you do a few months later, when the girl is noticeably pregnant? What do you do when she pleads with you to intervene on her behalf? Celia is certainly the central character in the book, but McLaurin wisely notes that her story illuminates an entire society in that it forces many people in many different parts of that society to face moral quandaries -- and to reveal their mettle in the hard decisions they must make.

Of course, because Celia lived so long ago and was a slave, her life is not well documented. Unlike Harriet Jacobs and Sojourner Truth, Celia does not share her story in her own words. Rather, McLaurin pieces together the census and legal details the archive retains and speculates about the rest, even drawing into the conversation comparatively recent scholarship about, say, the psychic consequences of rape. The book's hybrid nature -- it's not quite a history, and it's not quite a novel -- apparently has divided Goodreads reviewers, many of whom find it either too scholarly or too unsubstantiated to take seriously. Personally, I appreciate the text's ambiguity. McLaurin writes in the tradition of Theodore Dresier (An American Tragedy) and Truman Capote (In Cold Blood): It is the writer's job to tell our society's stories, and telling stories has to do with more than slapping footnotes on every paragraph.

[Eliza · Rating 1 out of 5]

It sounds more interesting than it is. I had to read this for a history class in college. I did not enjoy it. I much preferred Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs.

[Tia · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The ninth winner of the Yale Drama Series is a searing and powerful drama of slave litigation, injustice, institutional racism and the rule of law."

I would definitely agree with that quote. Oh, this was a difficult read. It's written as a play about nineteen year old Celia who was a slave being convicted in 1855 Missouri of killing her awful, vile and wretched Massa, Mr. Robert Newsom. This book was a hard read. The white women in the story were just as evil thinking as their fathers and husbands. There's no empathy or compassion. They just look the other way and encourage the white men to "find comfort" RAPE the slave women. The brutalization of slaves; babies, children, edelrly -no one was exempt.

I read about slavery. It's my jam. It's rare to find literature that tells an honest story. Usually, the slave narrative that's written by whites gives the ideology of the betterment of the slave by slavery. That Africans were the better for being "civilized". HA!

**A slave could not claim RAPE against a slave owner. His property to do as he wished. However, rape of women was punishable by law. Just not for slaves.

***Black men who looked at white women would be castrated and or killed.

*Unedited raw review


Thank you to Yale University Press and Netgalley for the eGalley.

[Karin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dry as dust, this book addresses an extremely important topic (which is why it's not only 1 star). One of the problems is that while the author is addressing an atrocity, he appears to have NO clue as to what a woman in Celia's situation would have felt or suffered. It's not just that he is a white man, although that is part of it, but he appears not to understand how much rape affects any woman, even ones who aren't slaves. Compound the two--lack of basic human rights and the complete exploitation of slavery with rape and I am emotionally devastated just thinking about it.

On the one hand, he doesn't want to take liberties with the facts. Well and good, that's not bad. But on the other his writing really shows no empathy whatsoever. It can't be that difficult to imagine the terror Celia would have felt at the age of 14 when she was bought as a sex slave for a 60 year old widower, even though he can mentally assent to the fact that financially dependent daughters would have a hard time speaking up to their father (but even that lacks the fear that can strike the hearts of daughters--who knows what kind of emotional manipulation he used and how he treated his late wives, because clearly he was a cruel man--how much of that he spread to his family is hard to say since they wouldn't have spoken of it back then).

What he does provide in abundance--in fact nearly overshadowing Celia and her fatal attempt to stop being raped by Robert Newsom after 5 years of repeated rape, two children and now pregnant with a third--are facts. Facts about Newsom, facts about her lawyer, the political situation in the US as far as slavery vs abolition is concerned. They are delivered in an unbelievably boring fashion.

The books shows the horrors of slave laws as well--no one, and I mean no one of any race or status as free or slave, could be convicted of raping a slave woman in Missouri because that was not recognized as a crime. Her defence attorney attempted to get her down to second degree murder (she didn't intend to kill him) but stating that all women, slave or free, had the right do defend their honour, but that didn't go down well since the reproductive rights of slaves--men and women--were considered the rights of the slave men who owned them. But the author does no justice to this.

[Hana · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's hard to write good history books, and Celia, A Slave was, in my opinion, a perfect example of what NOT to do when writing a book about historical events. It was dry, overly detailed, and didn't catch my attention at all. (except the bit where the author went into meticulous detail about the disposal of the body. It was so gruesome.) It's too bad, because Celia's story is actually quite interesting, and I would have been enthusiastic about reading this if it had been told in a more captivating way.

[Gaia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm very surprised by the low star ratings for this book because it was well-researched and very well-written.

In sum: "A courtroom is a deadly place. People die in courtrooms, killed by words" pg. 140 Brainwashed by Franklin Vipperman


The historical ramifications of what was done to Celia are profound and continue to impact contemporary legal and political decisions in the 21st century U.S.A.

It is very important to note that the word "woman" was debated. This foreshadows the Dred Scott decision, in which those with African ancestry were denied American citizenship, and Plessy, which used blood quotas to segregate and discriminate based on the "one drop" policy.

Celia, a fourteen-year-old slave was denied dignity and humanity. She was raped by her master, Robert Newsome, who I speculate may have also sexually assaulted his daughter Mary, a widow, whose son was born after her husband's death, and during a time when she appears to have lived with her father.

Celia was not considered a woman in the legal sense, she was property: a slave. Even if she had been a woman, women lacked political power and other rights during that time in history.

In self-defense, she murdered her master. She tried to appeal her conviction but she was denied and it resulted in her punishment: death.

It was very important to read this book because I advocate on behalf of victims of sexual assault. It is shockingly, in some places within this country, considered an "occupational hazard". Sexual assault is morally indefensible and always will be. There has yet to be justice for Celia and other victims.

I commend the author for writing what I thought was an unbiased and accurate historical account of a slave girl but it is always important to note that a slave could not consent or contract to anything done to them by their oppressor(s).

[Samer Masterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Living as a female slave was truly scary. It's hard to believe that people were actually treated this way only 150 years ago.

[Kayleigh Cloutier]

not going to rate this due to the nature of the story, it just feels wrong putting a rating on this.

[Elizabeth Higginbotham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Celia, A Slave by Melton A. McLaurin describes a moment in history. It is 1850s Missouri, a territory settled by many people who moved from sections of the south and brought their own slaves. Rather than huge plantations, most of the enslaved people worked on small farms that are far from the few towns and communities that developed. There are many ways to think about slavery, and McLaurin incorporates much scholarship to look at the moral anxiety induced by owning other human being. There are also in Missouri there are free state people as well as those who are committed to slavery. This is a tense time, as these opponents are facing each other armed as well as in political fights. They are fighting over the shape of the law.

In this case, we see how laws do not protect enslaved people, includes Celia who was is purchased as a teenager by Robert Newsom. A widower, he purchased Celia to be his concubine, raping her on the trip to his farm. Celia is sexually exploited for years, she has children by her owner. Newsom’s daughters, financially dependent up him, lived in the same house, but closed their eyes to how their own father slept in the cabin he had built for Celia.

As she is pregnant again and sick, Celia wants to end his advances, but he persists. She hits him and kills him and then burns him in the fireplace in her cabin. There is a search for his body, the tale of his demise comes out and the community has to deal with it. Yet, Celia cannot testify. White people do not want to explore her motive, the need to end the sexual exploitation, but many are troubled by his actions. Yet, protecting the family name and no upsetting the daughters, are higher priorities than justice. This history looks at the case, with all the documents in newspapers and court records is revealing, since there are many views of this case. Looking at this old case, we can see how some of the problems of owing people and not granting them full humanity remain with us. We also see how gender is problematic for both Black and White women who are property and limited, but some have racial privilege.

[Tori · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some bits seemed unsubstantiated by hard evidence (like the fact that Celia was raped immediately upon being purchased by Newsom, which is referenced early on and only much later explained as a piece of evidence which arose in the trial). And there were moments in which the details presented (or rather, the lack of details)--such as the mysterious purchase of the five year old boy, the weirdness of a sick and pregnant woman burning a grown man's corpse in her cabin hearth overnight with her children sleeping there, and the implicit weirdness of her trial lawyers trying so hard to defend her on unprecedented moral grounds of a black woman having the right to protect herself from rape--seemed to be suggesting something ominous but refusing to actually speculate. I would've preferred speculation, really. Particularly given the novelistic, dramatic rendering of the grandson breathing in his father's ashes, it doesn't seem like McLaurin was opposed to editorializing.
The coverblurb said the story would be "enough to give you the sort of anger that never goes away." I was more puzzled than angry, and felt vaguely like the text was trying to manipulate me by presenting a case about which it admitted to have few hard facts. The introduction and conclusion were quite good, though. And I was a bit angry with George. Newsom was too much of a monster to get angry at, and Celia was a strange enigma with whom I felt weird empathizing anyway...

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, and the story it tells, kind of lurks behind a lot of my life. The story is set in the town where I go to work everyday, and the book itself was taught at my school for a lot of years, including the first couple years I taught there, but I'm just reading it now. Reading it is an instance of confronting a kind of founding myth of a place that you thought you knew.

The book itself is dry, a byproduct of its sorts of scrupulous showing-its-work historiography, where McLaurin keeps telling us what we don't know (not just people's thoughts, but also that some records are just missing and others, like the court records and interrogations, are summaries and not transcripts, and even those are partial). There's a serious attempt, too, to put the events in context, so we get a lot on the Kansas-Missouri border conflict, and some serious examinations of gender-based violence and how that parallels and sometimes overlaps with the experience of enslaved people. It's very academically astute, sometimes at the expense of readability.

Still, it's a fascinating story, and a lot of this side material does open up Celia's story in illuminating ways. There's a lot of work in these approx 125pps, even if sometimes the information wants a better presentation.

[JayCee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am writing this review quickly on my iPad before my class begins in less than five minutes, so I apologize in advance if I am not clear on many points or this review lacks any depth.

Anyways, If you want a quick reference to how women (both black and white surprisingly), and slaves were oppressed by law then this really is a must read. The story focuses on a particular case with Celia who, in 1855, was indicted of killing her master (slaveholder) after being continuously raped by him. The people of Callaway County then faced a huge dilemma; do slaves, though under law were given some rights as humans, such as being able to defend themselves when being exploited by their master, truly have this right? If so, then this challenged the culture and institution of slavery and the power of slaveholders, too. An institution, as many may know was crucial to restrain. The author does a great job in explaining the events of the case, since there is hardly any records left to indicate the case in its entire nature. All in all, the book brings forth many great points about how slave women and white women were dependent on the master of the home.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book as Celia's story sounded interesting and I wanted to learn more about the everyday life of a slave. Although the text was short, McLaurin has given readers much more than a history about this one very unfortunate southern slave woman. Instead, he has also provided a great insight into the mechanisms of that most curious and shameful of institutions - slavery. Celia, A Slave not only delves into the relationships between black and white peoples of the mid-nineteenth century, but also informs the reader about the at times complex relations between black women and black men, black women and white men, black men and white men, black women and white women; and so on. As McLaurin's writing is straightforward and engaging, I would recommend anyone with a passing interest in history or race relations to read his book.

[gnarlyhiker · Rating 1 out of 5]

In all probability Celia did not kill her rapist. Probable evidence suggests the Robert’s daughters did the dirty deed. The probable and logical fact was because Celia was pregnant and sick, and the fact that she could not shovel ashes in a bucket and dispose of said ashes is probable evidence that she could not have clobbered the sicko and rolled its body into the fire pit. Fact is Celia was framed.

Epilogue: Read online documents and skip all the probabilities.

good luck

[Abram Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great narrative of the legal process in the antebellum south and the experiences of black women under the rule of slavery.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heart breaking story. The author did a great job of describing the context and what is known about Celia and her case. I wish their would have been more evidence, but I am actually surprised that there was as much as there was. That all said, the writing style was repetitive and could have shortened the book by about 20 pages if it was more concise.

[Andrea Borg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was more a very descriptive tale of what happened at the time. The story jumps from person's background to another, so sometimes you get lost because there are too many people in the story to keep up with. I found it extremely boring although the history and actual crime are fairly fascinating. If you like/enjoy history then this is definitely a book you should read.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a quick read and an interesting account of a trial of a slave accused of murdering her owner. Celia is a slave on a small farm, so this book provides (besides the interesting legal case) a glimpse of slavery somewhere other than the plantation.

[Tessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The biography of what happens when an abused slave woman finally takes matters into her own hands. This book is good at illustrating how much life not only sucked for slaves, but REALLY sucked for female slaves.

[LT001]

The work offers a good analysis of Celia's trial, including the historical backdrop, and the author's personal interpretations of trial proceedings and outcomes. The writing was dry and I often found myself struggling to stay engaged.

[Barb Innes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy reading about Kansas /Missouri history! I bought this book in Fulton, Missouri where Celia lived. A tragic true story of a slave who killed her abusive master and the landmark trial that followed. NOT a time of history nor the ending I wanted for this brave Celia! A sad time in our history!

[Karen Hogan · Rating 1 out of 5]

A slave girl is held for the murder of her master, who had repeatedly raped her. Interesting, but not something I really got into.

[Valorie Dalton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rejecting the big man and big event approach many historians adopt when defining any era, Melton A. McLaurin uses the story of a young slave girl accused of murdering her white master in Celia, a Slave to illustrate what he calls the “major issues” of the pre-Civil War period. Melton admits from the start that Celia’s story, in fact, reveals little about slavery as a broad institution. Instead, what he presents is a case study in the “fundamental moral anxiety” produced by slavery, which he feels has been ignored by historians who focus on social or economic aspects of slavery, and therefore need not confront the more intimate moral issues blacks and whites faced daily when participating in an institution that dehumanized one group for the sake of the other. Melton’s task is made all the more difficult by the fact that evidence and sources are scant, and discloses from the start that a lot of his story will be based on assumptions or inferences. Milton states that he will do this with the sensitivity of a storyteller, giving readers a flowing and engaging narrative that avoids what he calls the “dry and dull” history others fall into the trap of (vii, ix-x). That is not to say that McLaurin’s narrative is void any detail of politics and economy.

Since the book itself, taking place in 1855 Missouri, centers on the continual rape of the slave Celia, then the murder of her master Robert Newsome, and finally Celia’s trial, McLaurin cannot avoid including political facets of slave life and slave status. To inform the reader, McLaurin scatters his book with interesting facts of slave legality such as that slaves were considered property, and as a result masters could not be guilty of rape since a man could hardly “trespass” on his own property (93). In addition, McLaurin very nicely frames the intimate events that make up the focus on the book within a larger national context. Featured very heavily throughout Celia is the tumultuous Nebraska-Kansas Act, which threatened the institution of slavery in bordering Missouri where Celia lived. The political climate of the time, especially one so important to Missouri, demonstrates to the reader just why the murder of a white man by a slave, no matter for what reason, was so intolerable. McLaurin then proceeds to describe ramifications of the Celia case more important to Missouri and the power dynamic of slavery than the more famous Dred Scott case (95).

McLaurin also finds it essential to illuminate relevant details of the economics of slavery, more specifically the economic value of a slave woman’s reproductive ability, since a judgment in Celia’s favor would have called into question a white master’s sexual control over his slaves (100). It seems McLaurin, despite his intentions, was unable to avoid entirely big names and big events, or politics and economy, but the book is better and more deeply illustrated because he did not avoid including them. McLaurin’s greatest problem is the one he identified in the introduction: the availability of sources. While his sources include a variety of newspapers, census data records, and even Celia’s court case file, what he does not have is the personal documentation that would direct his formulation of some of the more personal thoughts and motivations. Since the intent is to provide an engaging narrative, McLaurin sets for himself the difficult task of providing the emotional depth that his sources cannot provide to him. McLaurin must address questions like: what was Celia thinking, how did she truly feel about her status as concubine, and what really happened the night of the murder? All McLaurin can do to answer these questions is make inferences based on the facts of Celia’s testimony and the cultural setting. In some cases, McLaurin is very successful in providing logical rationales out of minds he has no access to. For example, when the questioning began after the death of Celia’s master, the first person approached was Celia’s secret lover, George. McLaurin supposes that this was so because the inquisiting party already had some knowledge about the secret affair and suspected that George may have been involved.


McLaurin also makes some unnecessary and weak conjecture. This comes about usually when he is trying to develop some of the deeper emotions involved in the crimes of rape and murder. For instance, McLaurin makes the statement that Celia’s adamant denial of any knowledge about her master’s disappearance points to a lack of remorse (36-38). There are also details missing that would flesh out the trial more. Powell, the man who interrogated Celia, willingly testified that he had to threaten Celia to get her to confess to her crime (84). Therefore, what laws were in place to protect people who confessed under duress? By extension, why were these laws not extended to someone like Celia? Was this too a matter of human rights much like Celia’s right to her own body? In the attempt to create an interesting and novel-like narrative, McLaurin includes many details that are ultimately unimportant to the story itself. An entire paragraph is dedicated to the many ways in which Robert Newsome may have possibly travelled from Virginia into Missouri where he settled his farm, and then later McLaurin discusses the vehicle in which Newsome perhaps travelled in to an adjourning county where he purchased Celia (2, 20).

The narrative is also broken by McLaurin’s habit of providing multiple guesses and inferences for one instance or action. The story may have flowed better if not for the lengthy paragraphs dotted with multiple usages of words like “maybe” and “perhaps.” It is reasonable that McLaurin must do a great deal of guessing in order to fill in information that he does not have the sources for, but there are times in the book when it is excessive. McLaurin also approaches his featured players from the perspective that each person at some point had to confront their own private “fundamental moral anxiety” over slavery, whether it was Newsome’s daughters turning the other cheek in regards to Celia’s repeated rapes, or the jury that chose to ignore certain parts of Celia’s testimony in order to protect the reputation of a white slave master and friend, and indeed the institution itself. According to McLaurin, as each individual made their choices, each had to face within himself larger questions about the humanity possessed by slaves and the morality of slavery. McLaurin even points out specifically the moment in which some individuals reached this moment of contemplation (28). Certainly not every person involved had a moment of moral questioning, and if they did, not at the moment that McLaurin feels that they did. Nevertheless, McLaurin is correct that the “fundamental moral anxiety” was essential to the institution itself, though perhaps not to every individual, since slavery and slave supporters did have to repeatedly justify themselves to the increasingly louder voice of abolition. Stressed repeatedly in sections on the case backdrop, trial, and verdict that at hand were moral issues of Celia’s basic human rights, and that is why she is an appropriate case study in the morality of slavery. In this way, McLaurin keeps to the purpose of his book.

[Madeleine Pelli · Rating 2 out of 5]

Felt like a bland historian was telling me about this case like it was a historical record. Yes, this story explains what happens, but do we need a precise number of how many slaves someone had in 1835, twenty years before the murder even happens? I could totally see this book as a great historical novel based on true events, but I felt like someone sat down and included every unimportant detail along with the interesting stuff. Disappointed :(

[Lily M ❀ · Rating 2 out of 5]

centring mostly on the white men who allowed Celia to die for self-defence, the book is needlessly detailed about all the wrong things. do i care about the property these random men owned? no. the story is supposed to be about Celia, not them. mediocre at best. not even well-written.

[Elizabeth Bolander · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's not that the story itself is bad. It's a story that's important to our history. It's just that the way it's written makes it hard to read and confusing to follow at times.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was mostly about the hard truth of slavery and Black slaves who had not rights even to resist the sexuality appetites of their masters. The book want to you to wonder how this man could have been a person of worth who on purchasing a young black female slave could not wait to get her home before raping her. Bull shit, he was the horse’s ass before I think but no one knows his history with other black women. The only way he became part of this story is because Celia, a 14 year old girl was purchased by him and his lust could not wait until he returned home before raping her which continued through the birth of two children (what happened to them – or perhaps stories) and now pregnant with another and wanting to get out of this forced relationship (the book said she mentioned it to his daughters – who had probably as much authority as Celia - none) no matter she didn’t have any power. The decision to live her life with one of the black slaves could have been the boiling point for her for many would say she was living in a cute little home close to the master’s home (for his convenience) and so should have welcomed his advances. No matter, she had said “no” and so when forced on this occasion took matters in her own hands and not only killed him but burned his body in her fire place having the remains was unknowingly disposed of by his young son. So now we have the trial which focused more on the power of the slave owners but though one act she was jailed and went to court – you knew she would be guilty but the history of the area needed to be made clear and little on the consciousness of the white males. On a side comment: I wonder if this isn’t why there is so much animosity between the two races and how one group felts were superior to another. This is an old book published in 1991 which I have read many times and wondered if history had been different would we have all the hatred that seem to be spreading in our country about the races. Somehow it seems to be forgotten that all of us came here some to enjoy life from whatever was ailing them and other than slaves even the indentured servants could free themselves in time. This book will definitely make you think what decision that is up to you.

[Just Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Celia, A Slave, A true story by Melton A. McLaurin details the events of a 19 year old slave girl who killed her master while defending herself against his sexual advances. This book was well written and well researched but was a very dry read.

As quoted from the last chapter, Darlene Clark Hine observes that "one of the most remarked upon but least analyzed themes in Black women's history" is their "sexual vulnerability and powerlessness as victims of rape and domestic violence." Slave women resisted their masters in "all ways available to them." They could not depend upon others to defend them without risking their lives too. Celia's challenge to her master's power over her sexual integrity was personal, violent, extreme and unacceptable to a slave holding society.

Celia's experience highlights the issue of slave women versus white women. In the antebellum south, slavery, class and race were an affront to a patriarcial power structure by women in both classes. Married white women were the property of their husbands with no legal rights. Female daughters were economically dependent upon thier fathers, wives were dependent upon husbands and slave females were dependent upon their masters. The law at this time was structured to protect his rights while keeping the behavior of his property (wives, slaves, etc) in compliance to his demands.

During the trial, if Celia had been allowed to testify against her accusser, it would have meant that a slave had more rights over her life than a white women.

Furthermore, the case of Celia documents the powerlessness of a male slave to protect a loved one, a male slave's smoldering resentment toward his loved one when she was forced into a sexual relationship with her master, and the male slave's natural act of self-preserviation brought about by his equally natural and understanable jealousy. Tensions between black men and women was inevitable product of slavery.

In conclusion, slavery was an evil institution that kept everyone in bondage both morally and physically in order to keep control and power over one group by another.

[Susan Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a story pieced together from court records, correspondences, and contemporaneous newspaper articles about the trial and conviction of nineteen-year-old Celia, A Slave of the murder of her master, Robert Newsom in Missouri in 1855. Celia was purchased at the age of 14 and first raped by her white master on the way home from the place where she was purchased. In the following five years, Newsom continued to sexually abuse Celia and fathered two live children and possibly a third that she was carrying at the time she brutally murdered him and destroyed his body by burning him in her fireplace.
The unusual thing about this story was that her court-appointed defense attorneys were not swayed by the current very proslavery politics and attitudes of his neighbors and they actually put together a very convincing defense showing that the murder had been in self defense, that Celia had not intended to murder her master, and that even as a slave black woman she was entitled to the right to defend herself against rape even by her owner, against whom she could not testify in court. The trial judge's rulings and jury instructions essentially voided any defense effort made by Celia's attoryneys--no verdict other than "guilty" was possible given the facts allowed into evidence and the jury instructions made by the redneck judge.
The book describes the then current legal, cultural, social, and emotional issues of the time. The trial coincided with a ferocious battle over whether neighboring Kansas would be admitted to the Union as a free or slave state. The author attempts to corrolate Celia's case with all other historical data of the time, but had an annoying habit of conjecturing what probably was going on. I would have rather that he saved a few words and just stated his conclusions outright. I suspect many of his conclusions were accurate, while others seemed a little far fetched to me. It was an interesting story, marred by overly an scholarly presentation, in my opinion... Can't really recommend it.