Tuckey Buzzard Lay Me

Abstract

This chapter examines sexual exploitation and violence in the antebellum South and what it meant for an enslaved person to have a white father. Evaluations of white fathers varied considerably depending on how that father treated his illegitimate offspring, how slave communities treated mixed-race children (which also varied), and an individual’s sense of identity, which was tied to these other factors. Biracial children at times expressed admiration for the few white fathers who openly acknowledged their children and provided freedom and education. They tended to be more ambivalent about white fathers who offered a privileged status on the plantation but not freedom. African American communities expressed particular disdain for white fathers who violated paternal duty by abusing or selling their own children. Reactions to white fathers highlight slaves and former slaves’ consistent notions of paternal duty. African American communities understood that white people had a monopoly on concrete power, but that did not mean they had honor.