Sexuality and the slave community.

CINCE WORLD WAR II, and especially during the past two decades, historians of United States slavery have begun to examine the role of blacks within the slave environment. Scholars previously concentrated upon whites and concerned themselves with such questions as the profitability of the institution, the hegemony of the white South, the role that slavery played in the conflict between the North and the South, and the careers and attitudes of white abolitionists. But during the past twenty years, as societal conflicts and the civil rights movement became increasingly prominent, the focus of concern broadened. Researchers have been inspired to investigate the actions and reactions of slaves. The current generation of historians recognizes that blacks, as well as whites, significantly contributed to slave culture and they are now subjecting slaves and slave society to extensive analysis.1 Two decades ago, Stanley Elkins published Slavery: A Problem in American Institutional and Intellectual Life, a contribution to the study of slavery that heralded a new era in the slavery debate. Elkins introduced ideas concerning blacks that have been criticized extensively and refined. One of the most influential of Elkins' beliefs was that under the conditions of North American slavery, slaves were effectively stripped of an active personality, and that they passively endured the rigors of their status that is, slaves fulfilled the stereotyped Sambo image of docile beings acting only under orders from their masters.2 Historians intent upon revising Elkins' conclusion, for a number of motives, have indicated that slaves not only retained personality initiative, but that they were able to endure the vicissitudes of slavery pre-