Sexual relationships and working lives of free Afro-Caribbean women

Abstract

The article explores how the sexual relationships and working lives of free Afro-Caribbean women in the town of Christiansted, St. Croix, the Danish-Norwegian West Indies, were affected by discourses of race and gender during the period c. 1780–1820. To further the understanding of the conditions of the free Afro-Caribbean women in Christiansted, the article relates to the situation in other Caribbean colonies, especially the British West Indies, based on the assumption that it was the same discourses of race and gender that swept through all the Caribbean slave societies. I n its approach, the article is inspired by concepts of race and gender in postcolonial studies.

The investigation shows the prevalence in the Danish-Norwegian West Indies of discourses of Afro-Caribbean women as, on the one hand, unwomanly and physically strong and, on the other hand, promiscuous and of easy virtue. On this basis, the article argues that the interplay between these gendered racial discourses and the social practices of the free Afro-Caribbean women were in fact far more complex than previous international research has suggested. In the sexual and work relations of daily life, discourses were interpreted more fluently, and a number of competing conditions and ideas challenged or worked against the idea of Afro-Caribbean racial inferiority. Among these were, for instance, the women’s social position and European ideas of work appropriate for women.

Keywords:

• free Afro-Caribbean women
• sexual relations
• work
• gender
• race

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. See, e.g., Higman, Slave Populations, 383; Gaspar and Hine, More than Chattel, 259–77, 305–6; Gaspar, ‘Manumissions of Female Slaves’, 64; Burnard, ‘Scenes from an Interracial Marriage’, 100 (Note 10).

2. Calculations are based on data from Lawaetz, Free Coloured in St. Croix, 44–5, and data provided by the St. Croix African Roots Project (SCARP), http://stx.visharoots.org/. I thank George Tyson for providing me with these datasets. The data originate in: DNA, WIGC/GSC, 678: 3.81.343; and in: DNA, WIGC/GSC, 678:3.81.564.

3. Heuman, ‘The Social Structure’, 144.

4. See, e.g., Bush, Slave Women; Beckles, Centering Woman; Morgan, Laboring Women.

5. For an introduction to postcolonial studies, see, e.g., Stoler, Carnal Knowledge; 1–21; Loomba, Colonialism/Postcolonialism.

6. In 1814, Norway became independent from Denmark, but to ease the reading, the term the Danish-Norwegian West Indies will be used throughout the article, even though the correct term after 1814 is the Danish West Indies.

7. Green-Pedersen, ‘Teologi og negerslaveriet’, 71–87.

8. Carstens, En almindelig Beskrivelse, 82. The text was previously attributed to plantation owner Johan Lorentz Carstens, but this has been shown to be unlikely (Sebro, ‘Kreoliseringen af eurocaribierne’, 100–1 (Note 13).

9. Garde, ‘Samboinden’, 212.

10. Carstens, ‘A General Description’, 77.

11. Carstens, ‘A General Description’, 65.

12. Bush, Slave Women, 14–15.

13. See, e.g., Carstens, En almindelig Beskrivelse, 77–8.

14. Loomba, Colonialism/Postcolonialism, 100; Smedley, ‘Race’.

15. Citation from Hall, Slave Society, 158.

16. See example of the administration’s concern in Hall, Slave Society, 149–53.

17. Hall, Slave Society, 158.

18. Highfield, Hans West’s Accounts, 27.

19. Knap, ‘Danskerne og slaveriet’, 153–74; Paton and Scully, ‘Introduction: Gender and Slavery’, 1–34; Beckles, ‘Freeing Slavery’, 219–26.

20. See, e.g., Highfield, Hans West’s Accounts; Hall, Slave Society, 157–61.

21. Olwig, ‘Ret og lov’, 387–90.

22. I thank Poul Erik Olsen (DNA) for providing me with a transcription of the letter. The letter originates in: DNA, BESEM, 236: F4-8-20 – 21, Received cases 1754-1791, 1784-1791.Torkild Lund to August Kreydahl, 13 December 1788: ‘Man veed at næsten alle Blanke, som ey ere gifte, har deres Vif (gemeenlig Mulatinde) og naar hand bliver gift, lader han Viven fare, og tillader hende at opsøge sig en anden mand’.

23. It should be noted that there were Euro-Caribbean women and men who entered into sexual relationships out of wedlock, and thereby not living up to this ideal. These Euro-Caribbean couples were prosecuted if it was discovered that the relation had resulted in offspring.

24. Koefoed, Besovede kvindfolk, 105–8, 156–8, 223. In the studied time period, these illicit sexual relations were only punished in connection with a pregnancy.

25. DNA, WIGC/GSC, 678: 3.81.342, Subject files 7: Accounting 1754-1917: Extracts of the accounts of the Sheriff of Christiansted 1797-1798. A few cases date back to 1777. These have not been included as they go beyond the studied period. Fourteen of the 89 cases lack information about skin colour. However, the Lutheran Parish Church book reveals that three of the women were Euro-Caribbean and three enslaved. See: DNA, EC/SC, EC-770: 1/770-4-4b, Church register for the Evangelical Church in St. Croix, 1740-1860, 1780-94.

26. DNA, WIGC/GSC, 678: 3.81.342, Subject files 7: Accounting 1754-1917: Extracts of the accounts of the Sheriff of Christiansted 1797-1798. Account book, 4^th quarter of the year 1782. ‘Enten nægte de Factum, i hvilket Tilfælde det er uoverstemmende mod Lovens Principia at paalægge den beskyldte Ed, da en frie-mulatindes eller frie-negerindes /: saasom disse gemenlig ere løse fruentimmere /: og endnu mindre en slavindes Angivelse synes at kunde virke saa stor en formodning, som lovens 6-13-5 udfordrere og som ene og allene er grundet paa fruentimmerets gode og ubesmittede rygte. Ellers de 2) er saa fattige at de næppe har det nødvendige til livets ophold, i hvilket fald fængsel paa vand og brød skulle have sted; men da fængslerne her ere meget slette: saa vilde en saadan straf paaføre disse Elændige syndere, ja døden selv. Det indstilles derfor til højlovlig Decision om ikke Leimermaals bøder, som upassende med de locale omstændigheder her, i de anførte Tilfælde maa udgaae af Regnskabet’.

27. Kong Christian den Femtis Danske Lov, 937 (paragraph 6-13-5); Koefoed, Besovede kvindfolk, 110–11, 143.

28. Simonsen, Slave Stories, 57–8.

29. Olsen, ‘Danske Lov’, 311–12.

30. Garde, ‘Samboinden’, 211.

31. Ibid., 214–18.

32. Ibid., 217–18; Garde, ‘Anna Heegaard’, 30–5.

33. Hall, Slave Society, 160.

34. Garde, ‘Anna Heegaard’, 31–2.

35. Dahlerup, Mit livs begivenheder, 46–7.

36. Ibid., 78.

37. Rezende, Cultural Identity, 126, 181.

38. Ibid., 182.

39. SCARP: DNA, WIGC/GSC, 678:3.81.564, Subject files 9: Social and cultural relations 1744-1911: Free coloured men, women and children in Christiansted 1816. These were eight ‘Mustee women’ married to ‘Mulatto men’, and one ‘Mulatto’ woman married to a ‘Negro’ man.

40. Ibid.

41. For discussions of the importance of the Afro-Caribbeans’ African descent see e.g., Simonsen, Slave Stories and Sebro, Mellem afrikaner og kreol.

42. Paton and Scully, ‘Introduction: Gender and Slavery’, 17.

43. See e.g. SCARP: DNA, WIGC/GSC, 678 :81.564. Free coloured men, women and children in Christiansted 1816; Rezende, Cultural Identity, 148–75.

44. Garde, ‘Samboinden’, 218–19.

45. Rezende, Cultural Identity, 127.

46. DNA, OPL, 06087: 4: I E 5-9, Cases concerning the Danish West Indies 1755-1817: Letters, Personal papers, Diary, etc.1792-1880: List of Negroes in Christiansted and Frederiksted 1797.

47. SCARP: DNA, WIGC/GSC, 678:81.564. Free coloured men, women and children in Christiansted 1816.

48. Hall, Slave Society, 88–91.

49. DNA, AA/WIA, 571:86.17-40, Tax records for St. Croix 1758-1915, 1780-1806. Euro-Caribbean male servants are also mentioned. For example, in 1780, there were a total of 77 male and 35 female servants in Christiansted.

50. Holsoe, ‘Coping with Enslavement’, 59–64, 68.

51. Hall, Slave Society, 91; Rezende, Cultural Identity, 204.

52. SCARP: DNA, SC, 684:38.26.27, Registers of Mortgages 1736-1844: Z 1804-1807, page 154, 20 December 1805. Elizabeth Bladwell sells two enslaved workers to her daughter Elenor Moreton; Rezende, Cultural Identity, 126–7, 182.

53. DNA, 06087:4: I E 5-9. List of Negroes in Christiansted and Frederiksted 1797.

54. Rezende, Cultural Identity, 142.

55. Ibid., 160–2.

56. Simonsen, En fortræffelig Constitution, 63.

57. Jensen, For the Health, 220, 224, 227–8.

58. For example Dr. Gaspar has found what may have been a colour-occupation correlation among free Afro-Caribbean women of Antigua. Free Afro-Caribbean women of lighter skin colour seem to have monopolized more respectable occupations (Gaspar, Manumission of Female Slaves, 76).

59. The same tendency is visible in Oxholm’s list of Christiansted 1797: DNA,OPL, 06087: 4: I E 5-9, List of Negroes in Christiansted and Frederiksted 1797.

60. This is a minimum because some of the women are not listed as freeborn or manumitted even though other sources assign them to one of these categories.

61. Beckles, ‘Black Female Slaves’, 120–1.

62. Ibid., 115.

63. Holsoe, ‘Coping with Enslavement’, 68–70; Garde, ‘Samboinden’, 214–15; Rezende, Cultural Identity, 19–20.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marie Veisegaard Olsen

Marie Veisegaard Olsen (b. 1978) is an Associate Professor in History at the Metropolitan University College, Copenhagen, Denmark. She holds a Master of Arts in History from the Department of History of the Saxo Institute, University of Copenhagen, and a bachelor of Education from Frederiksberg College of Education, Denmark. Her research so far has focussed on the history of free Afro-Caribbeans in the Danish-Norwegian West Indies.