COVE

“After abusing me with every ill name he could think of, (too, too bad to speak in England,) and giving me several heavy blows with his hand, he said, "I shall come home to-morrow morning at twelve, on purpose to give you a round hundred."-The History of Mary Prince: a West Indie Slave

In 1831 Mary Prince published her piece recounting her life experiences called, “The History of Mary Prince: a West Indie Slave”. In this narrative Mary Prince told of the horrors she suffered at the hands of the many slave masters and mistresses she had been sold to and worked for. This narrative was unique because it not only was a first of its kind, but since it was from the perspective of a woman, there were many forms of abuse that were freshly explored in the piece. The overall concept that can be taken away from the narrative is the violence that she, as a woman, had endured. This is what my gallery will be focusing on. The sexual violence and explotitation that Black women suffered at the hands of others not only durning the times in which this narrative was written but the modern day connections to times after it. 

During this gallery you will be able to see just how much sexual violence and explotitation Black women went through not only during the time period in which this narrative was written and published, when slavery was still legal, but also the sexual injustices that Black women suffered through even after that time period into what would be considered modern day. This gallery will allow you to immerse in the cruelty that Black women were forced to deal with and adapt to during the times that followed slavery. By doing this gallery I would like to show not only the modern day connections with not only the theme within this specific narrative but also give a glimpse as to why it was so important to the Black Lives Matter movement. 

Works Cited:

Prince, Mary. The History of Mary Prince: a West Indie Slave. Accessed April 10, 2022 via COVE Studio.

Green, Susan. “Violence against Black Women – Many Types, Far-Reaching Effects.” IWPR, 20 Aug. 2020, iwpr.org/iwpr-issues/race-ethnicity-gender-and-economy/violence-against-black-women-many-types-far-reaching-effects/. 

Image 1: Surviving R. Kelly and other movements. 

Why Do We Silence Black Girls and Women Who Are Survivors of Sexual Violence? | Unpack That, The Root, 11 Jan. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDncSQPh0g4. 

For my first image I decided to start with a moment that I think we are all pretty familiar with right now. That is the surviving R. Kelly movement and events that happened that lead to this event. This is a movement that allowed light to be shed on the sexual abuse in not only the netertainment indrusty, but also allowed Black women and girls to finally be able to speak up and come clean about the sexual abuse they have encountered during their lives at the hands of people with more power than them. This is important to the specific text that I chose, “The History of Mary Prince” because, Mary herself suffered extreme sexual abuse at the hands of her “indecent” master. . However, because this was something many slaves encountered she was not able to speak on it the way she should have been able to. Which is the same thing these victims went through after years of sexual abuse and exploitation at the hands of R. Kelly.

Image two:A Black nurse and Black midwives

“The Racist History of Abortion and Midwifery Bans.” ACLU of Florida, 22 Sept. 2020, www.aclufl.org/en/news/racist-history-abortion-and-midwifery-bans. 

This is an image from between the beginning and mid 1900’s, there was no specific date. However, I felt that this image was important to the discussion of sexual tramua in regards to the chosen narrative because of how much trouble Black women went through when giving birth. In the reading Prince says that a fellow slave died after being beaten while pregnant. They were then expected to give their utmost attention to the children they helped birth, usually white women, even more so than their own children. This is important to the conversation at hand because, even in today's time Black mothers are THREE times more likely to die during childbirth than any other race. This reading could be an example as to why, many studies have shown that doctors tend to ignore, or overlook the complaints of Black women because they believe they can handle more pain than other women. Black women also tend to be a bit more overworked than others, which can cause them to either lose their child or their lives. When Hetty was beaten for one of the cows running away, even though she was pregnant is an example of the Black mortality that women faced. 

Image 3: 12 years a Slave

“Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Review – a True Account That Reads as a Novel.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 16 Jan. 2016, www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jan/16/incidents-life-slave-girl-harriet-...

This image in the series is one from a pretty recent movie that has come out in the last decade. The white man in the image is their master Edwin Epps, and the girl is Patsey. In the movie she is sexually assulated by Epps, which after watching the movie its safe to assume it has happened multiple times before. This is important to the discussion of my theme of sexual violence and explotitation because, the slave master obviously uses his status as master in order to get away with repeatedly sexually abusing her. It is something that has happened so often in the movie that an older slave woman tells Patsey that bearing the weight of his sexually abuse is better than being whipped everyday. This surrender is something that we see in the reading when Prince says, “Mr. D—— has often stripped me naked, hung me up by the wrists, and beat me with the cow-skin, with his own hand, till my body was raw with gashes. Yet there was nothing very remarkable in this; for it might serve as a sample of the common usage of the slaves on that horrible island.”.  In this quote Prince is not only down playing the abuse she went through, by saying it is something that happens often. But the reading of her being stripped naked to be beaten could be see as sexual abuse, because she had to unwilliginly show her body. This is something that happens in todays time, not in the form of whippings, but the ability to sexual abuse Black women with no repercussions.  

Image 4: Recy Taylor

Brown, DeNeen L. “How Recy Taylor's Brutal Rape Has Become a Symbol of #MeToo and #Timesup.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 28 Oct. 2021, www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/11/27/the-gang-rape-was-h...

This is a image from a newspaper about the sexual assualt of Recy Taylor. This is an event that happened in 1944, so while it may not be from our decade, it is still modern in relation to Mary Prince’s narrative. This image relates not only to the narrative but to the topic at hand because, it not only is an example of the sexual violence and explotation Black women faced even after slavery ended, it also shows how just like during slavery men, particulary White men, were able to do whatever they wanted with a Black woman’s body without the thought of repercussion. In the narrative Prince says, “for I was licked, and flogged, and pinched by her pitiless fingers in the neck and arms, exactly as they were. To strip me naked—to hang me up by the wrists and lay my flesh open with the cow-skin, was an ordinary punishment for even a slight offense.” This quote shows that Prince was well aware that her body was for the use of her master as he pleased for how he pleased. I also found the use of the word “lick” to be not entirely sexual, but it could be refrence as to how the had no control over what was done to them, be it hand or mouth.