This book is the first to explore the history of a powerful category of illicit sex in America's past: liaisons between Southern white women and black men. Martha Hodes tells a series of stories about such liaisons in the years before the Civil War; explores the complex ways in which white Southerners tolerated them in the slave South; and shows how and why these responses changed with emancipation. Hodes provides details of the wedding of a white servant-woman and a slave man in 1681; on antebellum rape accusation that uncovered a relationship between an unmarried white woman and a slave; and a divorce plea from a white farmer based on an adulterous affair between his wife and a neighborhood slave. Drawing on sources that include courtroom testimony; legislative petitions; pardon pleas; and congressional testimony; she presents the voices of the authorities; eyewitnesses; and the transgressors themselves - and these voices seem to say that in the slave South; whites were not overwhelmingly concerned about such liaisons; beyond the racial and legal status of the children that were produced. Only with the advent of black freedom did the issue move beyond neighborhood dramas and into the arena of politics; becoming a much more serious taboo than it had ever been before. Hodes gives vivid examples of the violence that followed the upheaval of war; when black men and white women were targeted by the Ku Klux Klan and unprecedented white rage and terrorism against such liaisons began to erupt. An era of terror and lynchings was inaugurated; and the legacy of these sexual politics lingered well into the twentieth century.
#106532 in Books 1981-09-10Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.90 x 1.30 x 7.00l; 1.85 #File Name: 0300027605458 pages
Review
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Made for TVBy Matt WippermanThe cover of this book really doesn't do it justice. This is history; but not a dry recitation of facts. This is engaging; and put together in a way that seems more focused on the cause/effect interplay of many forces; rather than strict chronological telling; or another seemingly more logical ordering. Even though the way the information is presented doesn't always seem unbiased and logically ordered; it is the very perspective of history influencing history (which is subjective) that is so engaging. This is really the first time I have ever read a "history" book and been genuinely interested in it; to the point I want to know more about the characters and events.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. One of the finest primers on the intellectual development on reform of the ...By Gary M HallOne of the finest primers on the intellectual development on reform of the church in the high middle to late medieval period. Ozment's scholarship is world renowned and he delivers in exceptional style. One will not become slouched and bored with his endeavor. This is a must read for any serious student of the medieval reform movement; Protestant reformation; or late medieval studies.14 of 14 people found the following review helpful. Profound; insightful; accessible; and interesting!By QSteven Ozment's writing stands head and shoulders above that of most historians. He makes the difficult and thorny religious issues of this period accessible and interesting. At the same time; he goes in depth and never oversimplifies the complicated issues at stake in this period. Even scholars very familiar with this period will learn from this book. Most histories of the Reformation skim over lightly the medieval background. A great strength of this book is the in-depth treatment of the late medieval religious and intellectual period. Ozment gives insightful treatments of Thomism; late-medieval nominalism; mysticism; Renaissance humanism; anti-clericalism; and how all these contributed to the Protestant Reformation and modernity. Although he focuses on intellectual and religious history; he also discusses the political and social history since religion; politics; and culture cannot be separated in this period. Another notable feature of Ozment's treatment is that he recognizes and discusses the interpretive controversies of Reformation and Renaissance historians. He gives very fair summaries of the positions of the leading scholars; including their strengths and weaknesses; these summaries are very handy for graduate or undergraduate students who need to write an essay on this period. I give this book my highest recommendation. For anyone interested in Christianity and its role in the development of modernity; this book is essential!
