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Early American Studies
Laboring Women: Reproduction and Gender in New World Slavery
When black women were brought from Africa to the New World as slave laborers, their value was determined by their ability to work as well as their potential to bear children, who by law would become the enslaved property of the mother's master. In Laboring Reproduction and Gender in New World Slavery , Jennifer L. Morgan examines for the first time how African women's labor in both senses became intertwined in the English colonies. Beginning with the ideological foundations of racial slavery in early modern Europe, Laboring Women traverses the Atlantic, exploring the social and cultural lives of women in West Africa, slaveowners' expectations for reproductive labor, and women's lives as workers and mothers under colonial slavery.
Challenging conventional wisdom, Morgan reveals how expectations regarding gender and reproduction were central to racial ideologies, the organization of slave labor, and the nature of slave community and resistance. Taking into consideration the heritage of Africans prior to enslavement and the cultural logic of values and practices recreated under the duress of slavery, she examines how women's gender identity was defined by their shared experiences as agricultural laborers and mothers, and shows how, given these distinctions, their situation differed considerably from that of enslaved men. Telling her story through the arc of African women's actual lives—from West Africa, to the experience of the Middle Passage, to life on the plantations—she offers a thoughtful look at the ways women's reproductive experience shaped their roles in communities and helped them resist some of the more egregious effects of slave life.
Presenting a highly original, theoretically grounded view of reproduction and labor as the twin pillars of female exploitation in slavery, Laboring Women is a distinctive contribution to the literature of slavery and the history of women.
Challenging conventional wisdom, Morgan reveals how expectations regarding gender and reproduction were central to racial ideologies, the organization of slave labor, and the nature of slave community and resistance. Taking into consideration the heritage of Africans prior to enslavement and the cultural logic of values and practices recreated under the duress of slavery, she examines how women's gender identity was defined by their shared experiences as agricultural laborers and mothers, and shows how, given these distinctions, their situation differed considerably from that of enslaved men. Telling her story through the arc of African women's actual lives—from West Africa, to the experience of the Middle Passage, to life on the plantations—she offers a thoughtful look at the ways women's reproductive experience shaped their roles in communities and helped them resist some of the more egregious effects of slave life.
Presenting a highly original, theoretically grounded view of reproduction and labor as the twin pillars of female exploitation in slavery, Laboring Women is a distinctive contribution to the literature of slavery and the history of women.
296 pages, Paperback
First published February 25, 2004
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February 10, 2021
Black women continue to have the highest maternal mortality rates in the US. Data from the CDC’s Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System indicate that from 2007 to 2017, Black mothers died at a rate of 3.2 times that of their white peers. Black feminist historian Dr. Jennifer Morgan’s research on the experiences of enslaved Black women shows how since the 15th century there has been an ongoing colonial project of imagining Black women as possessing super human strength: incapable of experiencing pain, especially during childbirth.
From the 15th century as European explorers visited communities across Africa, they began a sustained process of homogenizing millions of Indigenous African people into newly minted racial categories. Their agenda was to “prove” that there were immutable differences between Europeans and Africans in order to justify chattel slavery. As part of this process, European writers and artists would create literary and visual depictions of African people for their audiences back home. Their renditions became prioritized over the reality of African people.
Even before Africans became defined by skin color, European colonists began to construct racial difference by emphasizing (presumed) differences of gender, sexuality, and reproduction. In 1502 Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci wrote that Africans were different because they were “without shame” and practiced non-monogamous kinship. He argued that African women were “fruitful” and did not experience pain during childbirth because they were able to work immediately after giving birth.
In 155 when British explorer William Towrson went to Guinea he wrote that Indigenous men and women were indistinguishable except for women’s long breasts. Dr. Morgan notes that descriptions of African women “almost always highlighted their fecundity along with their capacity for manual labor” (36). These “erroneous observations” of African women’s “mechanical and meaningless childbearing” (40) allowed Europeans to imagine African people as ideal for slavery because of their supposed intrinsic and infinite fertility and ability to work.
The racist mythologies colonists wrote about African women continued to be prioritized over the actual experiences of African women, especially during childbirth. Dr. Morgan argues that from the 16th century on, the image of the “long-breasted” Black mother became the symbol that Europeans used to define African peoples as savage and inferior. Europeans turned to Black women as “evidence of a cultural inferiority that ultimately became encoded as racial difference” (49). African women’s bodies became used as evidence of “tangible barbarism,” and her “unwomanly” behavior “evoked an immutable distance between Europe and Africa on which the development of racial slavery depended” (49).
In centering enslaved Black women’s experiences, Dr. Morgan shows ow gender has always been foundational to the construction of racism. In other words, racism is a gendered project. She also challenges the whiteness of women’s history for erasing the reality of slavery, arguing that unlike white women, Black women were never permitted access to domesticity and were never understood as weak or frail. Instead, they were forced to reproduce and conduct constant manual labor. The system of racial slavery made all Africans, regardless of reproductive capacity, “work in ways the English could not conceive of working themselves” (145)
Some Initiatives Working Against Black Birth Mortality:
Ancient Song Doula Services
Black Mamas Matter Alliance (@blackmamasmatter)
Black Women Birthing Justice (@birthingjustice)
Groundswell Fund Birth Justice Fund
Growing & Glowing (growing_glowing_moms)
National Birth Equity Collective (birthequity.org)
Sista Midwife Directory (@sistamidwife)
SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective (@sistersong_woc)
Spark Reproductive Justice (@sparkrjnow)
The Black Maternal Health Caucus
From the 15th century as European explorers visited communities across Africa, they began a sustained process of homogenizing millions of Indigenous African people into newly minted racial categories. Their agenda was to “prove” that there were immutable differences between Europeans and Africans in order to justify chattel slavery. As part of this process, European writers and artists would create literary and visual depictions of African people for their audiences back home. Their renditions became prioritized over the reality of African people.
Even before Africans became defined by skin color, European colonists began to construct racial difference by emphasizing (presumed) differences of gender, sexuality, and reproduction. In 1502 Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci wrote that Africans were different because they were “without shame” and practiced non-monogamous kinship. He argued that African women were “fruitful” and did not experience pain during childbirth because they were able to work immediately after giving birth.
In 155 when British explorer William Towrson went to Guinea he wrote that Indigenous men and women were indistinguishable except for women’s long breasts. Dr. Morgan notes that descriptions of African women “almost always highlighted their fecundity along with their capacity for manual labor” (36). These “erroneous observations” of African women’s “mechanical and meaningless childbearing” (40) allowed Europeans to imagine African people as ideal for slavery because of their supposed intrinsic and infinite fertility and ability to work.
The racist mythologies colonists wrote about African women continued to be prioritized over the actual experiences of African women, especially during childbirth. Dr. Morgan argues that from the 16th century on, the image of the “long-breasted” Black mother became the symbol that Europeans used to define African peoples as savage and inferior. Europeans turned to Black women as “evidence of a cultural inferiority that ultimately became encoded as racial difference” (49). African women’s bodies became used as evidence of “tangible barbarism,” and her “unwomanly” behavior “evoked an immutable distance between Europe and Africa on which the development of racial slavery depended” (49).
In centering enslaved Black women’s experiences, Dr. Morgan shows ow gender has always been foundational to the construction of racism. In other words, racism is a gendered project. She also challenges the whiteness of women’s history for erasing the reality of slavery, arguing that unlike white women, Black women were never permitted access to domesticity and were never understood as weak or frail. Instead, they were forced to reproduce and conduct constant manual labor. The system of racial slavery made all Africans, regardless of reproductive capacity, “work in ways the English could not conceive of working themselves” (145)
Some Initiatives Working Against Black Birth Mortality:
Ancient Song Doula Services
Black Mamas Matter Alliance (@blackmamasmatter)
Black Women Birthing Justice (@birthingjustice)
Groundswell Fund Birth Justice Fund
Growing & Glowing (growing_glowing_moms)
National Birth Equity Collective (birthequity.org)
Sista Midwife Directory (@sistamidwife)
SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective (@sistersong_woc)
Spark Reproductive Justice (@sparkrjnow)
The Black Maternal Health Caucus
March 23, 2024
I have been reading some of Jennifer Morgan’s writings recently and this book is a tremendously interesting one. It delves into first, how the Europeans’ perception of Native-American and African women was shaped by European travel writers, philosophers, anthropologists, and naval officers, in order to construct a fundamentally different species whose labor (both on the field, and by giving birth to children) would subsequently provide prosperity in the New World. What makes her job difficult is women’s notable absence from archives, acts of sale, or voyage records.
To make this case, Morgan draws on an extensive array of sources, from atlas and encyclopedias, to historical sources such as wills, deeds, letters. I do have to admit though, that at times it is very repetitive and it feels like some issues could be elaborated differently rather than resorting to arguments previously made.
I will be reading another book by Morgan very soon as she continues to engage with women’s labor value in Colonial America and the Caribbeans.
To make this case, Morgan draws on an extensive array of sources, from atlas and encyclopedias, to historical sources such as wills, deeds, letters. I do have to admit though, that at times it is very repetitive and it feels like some issues could be elaborated differently rather than resorting to arguments previously made.
I will be reading another book by Morgan very soon as she continues to engage with women’s labor value in Colonial America and the Caribbeans.
August 11, 2022
I like the historiographic, feminist, multivalenced-and-constructed-identities elements of the text. But it was so frequently bogged down with statistics and dry charts that I had a tendency to skim. (I guess they were convincing bits of evidence for Morgan's points on the exploitation of women for hegemonic, race-defining, labor-providing ends...but only if you actually read them.)
Overall, it's an interesting and convincing read. I'm not keen on the amount of technical evidence, especially since it gets depressing to read for pages and pages about the objectification of women (e.g. being equated to cows, paired off in presumable breeding couples, set aside in wills with implicit hopes that they will accrue a sort of interest by reproducing). That said, some of the statistical information was revealing (such as the surprising amount of female slaves brought to the Americas, and the contrary-to-presumptions-of-domestic-work tendency for women to work in the fields). There were several other little nuggets of information for which I'm thankful to have read this little book. It certainly reinforced my liberal artsy appreciation of historical complexity, constructed identities and a pervasive hegemonic force against which our enlightened understanding of these complex issues has had to struggle.
I'm sure there's a more succinct way of addressing my response to this book. I guess I just found it really repetitive and its arguments somewhat obvious, so I'm having a hard time pinpointing what makes it a valuable read. The analysis of iconography of African woman was revealing. And such detailed accounts of intellectual hypocrisy used to rationalize the institution of slavery is always comforting to read in that whole look-how-far-we've-come, we-can-fix-things kind of way. Plus, the historical nature of this text makes this sentiment more valid and less pandering/self-congratulatory than feelgood fiction addressing the oppression of black women might (*cough* The Help *cough*)...
Recommended For historians, stodgy old white men who don't think racism/sexism are problems
Overall, it's an interesting and convincing read. I'm not keen on the amount of technical evidence, especially since it gets depressing to read for pages and pages about the objectification of women (e.g. being equated to cows, paired off in presumable breeding couples, set aside in wills with implicit hopes that they will accrue a sort of interest by reproducing). That said, some of the statistical information was revealing (such as the surprising amount of female slaves brought to the Americas, and the contrary-to-presumptions-of-domestic-work tendency for women to work in the fields). There were several other little nuggets of information for which I'm thankful to have read this little book. It certainly reinforced my liberal artsy appreciation of historical complexity, constructed identities and a pervasive hegemonic force against which our enlightened understanding of these complex issues has had to struggle.
I'm sure there's a more succinct way of addressing my response to this book. I guess I just found it really repetitive and its arguments somewhat obvious, so I'm having a hard time pinpointing what makes it a valuable read. The analysis of iconography of African woman was revealing. And such detailed accounts of intellectual hypocrisy used to rationalize the institution of slavery is always comforting to read in that whole look-how-far-we've-come, we-can-fix-things kind of way. Plus, the historical nature of this text makes this sentiment more valid and less pandering/self-congratulatory than feelgood fiction addressing the oppression of black women might (*cough* The Help *cough*)...
Recommended For historians, stodgy old white men who don't think racism/sexism are problems
Read
February 24, 2016A good historiographic depiction of the middle passage and Slavery in Imperial Britain. A refreshing argument on women's doubled labour power; one of reproductive labour and the other physical enslaved labour. A good introductory text for those interested in learning more about enslaved women's role in imperial expansionist efforts.
November 25, 2024
Jennifer Morgan's work is thick and dense. It is the study of African women enslaved in the early english colonies and the impact of slavery on their lives and their (women's) impact on the development of slavery. Morgan explores the ways that enslaved women lived their lives on the side of slaveowner's visions of themselves as successful White men and shouldered burdens connected but distinct by enslaved men.
This book was tough to get through. Each chapter required a lot of work to read. One of the points I liked from the book is the idea that ravel narratives were used to create race and racial slavery. These porno-tropical writings were used exploit Black women into culturally inferior beings.
Labouring Women rejects isolated categories of identity in an effort to inch to an unstable vision of the past and of the present. She is building on older ideas that demand scholars pay attention to space and time in US Slavery. This book is older; it shows. Morgan does great work but it's a heavy read.
This book was tough to get through. Each chapter required a lot of work to read. One of the points I liked from the book is the idea that ravel narratives were used to create race and racial slavery. These porno-tropical writings were used exploit Black women into culturally inferior beings.
Labouring Women rejects isolated categories of identity in an effort to inch to an unstable vision of the past and of the present. She is building on older ideas that demand scholars pay attention to space and time in US Slavery. This book is older; it shows. Morgan does great work but it's a heavy read.
May 1, 2016
This is a really short book because, as Morgan points out, a lot of what she says should be fairly obvious. Sometimes this comes off as redundancy. As she explains, if anything, the biggest point of her book is that "African women were there." She definitely accomplished this goal. I've read several books that claim to be specifically about the experience of African women, or that hope to emphasize their experience, but they fail whereas Morgan actually pulls this off.
April 30, 2017
Overall, I thought this was well-written, well-researched, and well-presented. I think Morgan could have focused more on sexual assault by slaveowners, as unfortunately that was pretty central to many enslaved women's repro experiences, but overall great book that makes a much-needed contribution to the field.
February 3, 2025
I had to read Morgan’s second novel for a college class, but I think it was a little too theory heavy for me to get, so would be interesting to revisit that. That said, I thought this book was amazing. It was interesting to learn that gender hasn’t been a significant factor in the study of slavery until pretty recent. I thought Morgan does a great job at handling her source material, and does a great job at reading against the grain as to interpret the lived experiences of enslaved women. The writing was phenomenal as well.
June 22, 2022
"Women's lives under slavery in the Americas always included the possibilities of their wombs." (Morgan 3)
This book is amazing. It tells truths fearlessly and thinks so thoughtfully about its subjects and their lived experiences, about its archives. The links Jennifer L. Morgan draws out between race, reproduction, labour, and enslavement are necessary to the history of the Americas. I would highly recommend this one!
This book is amazing. It tells truths fearlessly and thinks so thoughtfully about its subjects and their lived experiences, about its archives. The links Jennifer L. Morgan draws out between race, reproduction, labour, and enslavement are necessary to the history of the Americas. I would highly recommend this one!
February 10, 2017
An excellent example of how racism and sexism combine against Black women enslaved and used in the US South economy.
January 14, 2022
Essential reading for anyone interested in the construction of the two gender system
Want to read
August 21, 2023306.3 Mor
September 30, 2024
for class
June 4, 2025
A phenomenal piece of scholarship. If you want to hear the rest of my thoughts you can come to my graduate seminar
August 28, 2025
Favorite academic book of all time. I will talk about this book for the rest of ever.
Want to read
December 23, 2016* Understanding Oppression: African American Rights (Then and Now)
January 6, 2013
I read this as a textbook for one of my history classes. It presented a different perspective I had never considered and I was always eager to read sections from it.
April 8, 2013
A horrifying but relevant survey of the ways in which the West normalized slavery and colonization, through their burgeoning ideas of gender and race.
September 22, 2014
Really liked her take on resistance within communities of laboring women of color. Also on temporality and the idea that the master's future is vested in her womb.
October 13, 2012
Interesting but don't agree with her choice of putting enslaved women fron and center
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews