I. Recap of last lecture
- Importance of hierarchy and patriarchy
- Coverture
- Only single women (21 and above) and widows could exercise limited legal rights
- How the roles of mother and wife were defined
- Mothers not charged with their children’s educated
- Two other points: colonial women were poorly educated
- Higher rates of illiteracy than men
- Illiteracy especially in southern colonies
- Women not generally taught how to write
II. Indentured servitude
- Between voluntary and forced labor
- Contracts of 4-7 years
- Mostly young—teens or early 20s
- Quite powerless
- Not treated as part of the extended family
III. Female indentured servants
- Women generally came in search of marriage
- Vulnerable to abusive masters
- High rates of out-of-wedlock pregnancy
- Nearly 20% of all female indentured servants became pregnant during their period of contract
- Harsh penalties: Whipping, fines, additional time placed on her contract
- Child bound out to another family; proceeds went to the master
- If the master was the father
- She (and eventually the child) were bound out to another master; profits went to the parish
- New England: Lower rates of single pregnancy
- Most (2/3rds) married the father of the child
- Otherwise, they were unlikely to marry–stigmatized for life
IV. Family life in the Chesapeake
- Most wives were married to farmers and lived on small plantations
- Former indentured servants married later and had fewer children than wives in NE
- On average, 5-6
- Many women experienced significant upward mobility
- Former indentured servants married later and had fewer children than wives in NE
- Impossible to realize the patriarchal ideal in this region
- Most marriages short-lived
- Family membership changed rapidly
- Impact on women
- Greater power in regard to inheritance than New England women
- Usually inherited more than the “widow’s third”
- Usually inherited more than the “widow’s third”
- Greater power in regard to inheritance than New England women
IV. Slavery
- Relatively few African slaves in North America prior to 1700s
- Ideas about “race” were very different
- Main division b/n Christians and heathens
- Skin color seen as mutable—a product of climate and environment
- Initially, many blacks treated as indentured servants
- By 1640s, the institution of slavery began to coalesce
- 1660s: Slave codes (VA and MD)
- The mother’s status determines the child’s status
- Contradicted patriarchy
- Undercut power of black men who married slave women
- Interracial marriages banned
- 1664 Maryland law:
- White women who married slaves became slaves until their husband’s death
- Because marriage is a contract, slaves could not legally marry
V. Slave women in the colonies
- Imbalanced sex ratio 2:1
- Considered fit for field work
- Not punished for unwed pregnancy
- Childbearing rates remained very low