Glossary
Am I Not a Woman and a Sister? from The Liberator, 1849
An iconic abolitionist image and slogan that highlighted the shared humanity and suffering of enslaved Black women, appealing for empathy and moral outrage.
Example:
The powerful image of 'Am I Not a Woman and a Sister?' aimed to challenge the dehumanization of enslaved Black women and galvanize support for the abolitionist cause.
Commodification of Reproduction
The practice of treating enslaved women's ability to bear children as an economic asset, valued for increasing the enslaver's 'property' and wealth.
Example:
The brutal reality of the commodification of reproduction meant that enslaved women were often forced to have children, their bodies exploited for profit.
Hereditary Slavery
A system in which the status of enslavement is passed down from parent to child, ensuring that generations are born into bondage.
Example:
The codification of hereditary slavery meant that families could be enslaved for centuries, perpetuating a self-sustaining system of forced labor.
Hypodescent
A social and legal rule that assigns a child of mixed parentage to the racial group of the parent with the lower social status.
Example:
In the United States, hypodescent often meant that a child with one white parent and one Black parent was classified as Black, regardless of their appearance.
Laws of Virginia, Act XII, General Assembly, 1662
A pivotal 17th-century Virginia statute that legally codified *partus sequitur ventrem*, making slavery a hereditary condition based on the mother's status.
Example:
The Laws of Virginia, Act XII, General Assembly, 1662 fundamentally altered the legal landscape, ensuring that children born to enslaved women were automatically enslaved.
One-Drop Rule
A legal and social principle in the United States that classified any person with even a single ancestor of African descent as Black, regardless of their appearance.
Example:
The one-drop rule was a powerful tool for maintaining strict racial boundaries and ensuring that even individuals who appeared white were legally considered Black if they had any known African heritage.
Partus Sequitur Ventrem
A 17th-century legal principle that determined a child's legal status (free or enslaved) based solely on the mother's status, rather than the father's.
Example:
Under Partus Sequitur Ventrem, if an enslaved woman gave birth, her child was automatically born into slavery, regardless of the father's status.
Phenotype
The observable physical characteristics of an individual, such as skin color, hair texture, and facial features, which are often used to assign racial identity.
Example:
Despite a wide range of phenotypes within the African diaspora, the one-drop rule often grouped individuals with any African ancestry into a single racial category.
Social Construct
A concept or idea that exists because society as a whole agrees that it exists, rather than being based on objective reality or biological fact.
Example:
The idea of race is a social construct, meaning that racial categories and their meanings are created and maintained by human societies, not by inherent biological differences.