Children of the plantation

"Children of the plantation" is a euphemism and term used that refers to ancestry tracing back to the time of slavery in the United States in which the offspring was born to black African female slaves (either still in the state of slavery or freed) in the context of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and European men, usually the slave's owner, one of the owner's relatives, or the plantation overseer.These children were often considered to be the property of the slave owner and were often subjected to the same treatment as other slaves on the plantation. Many of these children were born into slavery and had no legal rights, as they were not recognized as the legitimate children of their fathers. This practice was a form of sexual abuse and exploitation, as the European men who fathered these children often used their power and authority to dominantly force themselves upon the black women who were under their control. The trauma and suffering that these children and their mothers experienced as a result of this practice continues to have a lasting impact on the African American community.

Plantation owners raping female slaves was a common occurrence. These children were born into slavery, through a legal doctrine known as ''partus sequitur ventrem''. They were classified as mulattoes, a former term for a multiracial person. The one drop rule meant that they could never be part of white society. Some of the fathers treated these children well, sometimes providing educational or career opportunities, or manumitting (freeing) them. Examples are Archibald and Francis Grimké, and Thomas Jefferson's children by Sally Hemings. Others treated their multiracial children as property; Alexander Scott Withers, for instance, sold two of his children to slave traders, where they were sold again.

Alex Haley's '' Queen: The Story of an American Family'' (1993) is a historical novel, later a movie, that brought knowledge of the "children of the plantation" to public attention. Edward Ball's '' Slaves in the Family'' (1998), written by a White descendant of slave owners, describes this complex legacy. Toni Morrison wrote that this sexual usage of slaves was known as ''droit du seigneur'', the "right of the lord", a term originating in the feudalism of medieval Europe.

See also

* History
** Slavery in the colonial history of the United States
** Colonial American bastardy laws
** History of sexual slavery in the United States
** Female slavery in the United States
** Enslaved women's resistance in the United States and Caribbean
* Marriage and procreation
** Marriage of enslaved people (United States)
** ''Plaçage'', interracial common law marriages in French and Spanish America, including New Orleans
** Slave breeding in the United States
** Sexual relations and rape
** Sexual slavery
** ''Partus sequitur ventrem''
** Legitimacy (family law)
** Non-paternity event
* Families
** Essie Mae Washington-Williams, the mixed-race daughter of segregationist politician Strom Thurmond
** Jefferson–Hemings controversy regarding the sexual relationship between Thomas Jefferson and his slave, Sally Hemings, resulting in six children
** Zephaniah Kingsley, Jr., a Quaker slave trader, married, or claimed to have married, a 13-year-old slave he purchased in Cuba; no documentation of the marriage, if it did take place, has ever been produced, but it was honored by U.S. courts after his death.
* Heritage
** Issue (genealogy)
** African American genealogy
** Atlantic Creole and field slaves in the United States, distinctions within the plantation system
** Discrimination based on skin color or "colorism"
** High yellow

References

Further reading

*

{{Portal bar, United States, History, Society, Human sexuality

American children
American phraseology
Euphemisms
Slavery in the United States
African-American genealogy
African-American demographics
Mulatto
Plantations in the United States
Race and society
Sexual abuse