slaveryto
freedom
A series of pages exploring
various aspects of enslavement in Pennsylvania
Race, Bondage, Women and Children
Enslavement, Inter-racial Relationships and Gender Roles in Pennsylvania
White Women with Children of Color
Enslavement within Pennsylvania and its neighboring colonies was made tenable only because of strict racial boundaries. The passage of Black Codes by colonial legislators prescribed different punishments for various activities and crimes according to race. Pennsylvania made it a crime for whites to marry or cohabitage with a person of color. Children of any such relationship were subject to enslavement. Despite the laws, it was common for male enslavers to force a sexual relationship with an enslaved woman. Although the law prohibited enslavers from murdering or severely mistreating enslaved people, how that mistreatment was defined was up to courts and judges.
White women involved in a romantic or casual relationship with a Black man, and who bore a child from that relationship, had no means of plausible denial. Such women found themselves caring for a child while being socially ostracized and legally punished. They also faced the danger of losing the child to a court decision or simply the whims of an employer or enslaver.
Each link below tells of a white woman penalized or punished because she gave birth to a child of color.
- March 1759: A Dutch Servant Woman and her Black Child Advertised for Sale
Bound for seven years. - April 1773: Henry Pratt Renounces His Wife Henrietta for Adultery
Henrietta has given birth to a mulatto child. - May 1782: Jane Plumb is Imprisoned with Her Mulatto Child
Imprisoned in the Work House as a Suspected Runaway.