The Determined, Decisive, and Diverse: Women of the Atlantic World

One of the most destructive and devastating periods of the human history was the transatlantic slave trade occurring from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. Millions of vulnerable African men, women, and children were forcibly taken from their homes, put on large, unsanitary, and overcrowded ships bound for European colonies in North and South America and the Caribbean. The life expectancy of these Africans was very short due to the tremendous hardships associated with being a slave. Moreover, as the demand of the European market was the main concern of slave traders, the African mortality rate soared as Africans were considered expendable and easily replaceable. In other words, Africans were seen as a disposable commodity, with the sole purpose of providing labour for Europeans who believed themselves to be the race superior in all regards. Even in such a savage world, free and freed women living in these profitable slave-trading communities were able not only able to assert themselves within the male-dominated societies, but they also found ways to exploit the harmful industry and reap its economic benefits. However, because of the traditional historical narrative which emphasizes the power of men during this period, women who climbed the social ladder to rival their male counterparts have often been forgotten. This article explores the ways women were able maneuver through and overcome their society’s rigid expectations of gender roles and establish themselves as key players in the history of the Atlantic world.

To comprehend the transformative nature of a women’s place within society, it is important to understand sixteenth-century attitudes towards women. Perhaps the most common outlook towards women was the belief in their general inferiority to men, which significantly limited their participation in both the public and domestic spheres of society. For example, in western Africa, families were often polygamous with the husband taking on many wives whose importance was ranked based on seniority or by the number of children they birthed.1 As well, daughters were typically placed in marriages which would prove to be economically and socially beneficial to their families.2 Outside the home, in addition to the typical domestic duties of cooking and raising children, African women did have freedom to participate within the public marketplace in selling agricultural produce. However, this freedom was limited as women needed their husband’s permission to participate in such activities since their husbands provided them with their initial capital.3 Even then, women did not have complete autonomy as their actions were closely monitored and their lives were dictated by their femininity.4

African women in the Caribbean were typically depicted into two contrasting stereotypes. As historian Deborah Gray White explains, on one hand, they were seen as overly sexualized woman only concerned with matters of lust and depravity, and highly dangerous to the upstanding white male. On the other hand, they were portrayed as a motherly figure, also known as the “mammy” who was deeply religious, physically less attractive, and embodying many maternal characteristics.5 These stereotypes dictated a black woman’s place in society based on society’s beauty standards. Remarkably, it was through this second-rate treatment where women found an even greater motivation to enact their personhood and overcome the constant experiences of commodification and dehumanization they endured.6 By the mid-seventeenth century, as the slave trade became central to the rise of market economics7 and as the female population in the Atlantic world was at an all-time high,8 these oppressive attitudes towards women were challenged and transformed as females skillfully adapted to their environments and courageously sought to look out for their own interests.

West Africa

To consider the social and economic conditions in which women asserted their own agency, it is crucial to examine some of the communities most involved in the Atlantic world. Looking first to the west coast of Africa, it was here where majority of Africans were avid participants in gathering slaves from the continent’s interior and preparing them for transport across the ocean. Busy port cities along the western coast provided many opportunities for female labourers. However, as more women entered the public sphere, it encouraged other women to do the same which in turn constructed an environment which disconnected African women from the typical aspects of femininity to which they traditionally adhered.9 In other words, it is evident that within the domestic and economic spheres of their communities, women were moving from the fringes of the historical narrative and becoming integral to the flourishing to these trading communities.10 In particular, these ‘informal’ economies11 driven by woman’s entrepreneurship emerged and flourished in Yoruba, Senegal, and along the Upper Guinea Coast where females integrated themselves into this new era of commercialization in order to find their success.12 For example, in Yoruba where the slave trade flourished, villages supported a diverse and wealthy population as individuals from all walks of life would seek to do business there. This produced the perfect conditions for women to get involved in trading and the exchange of goods. Therefore, by establishing a woman’s market association led by the female chief, the Ìyálòde (mother of the outside, the public) who demonstrated masculine qualities and dressed in the coral beads of a chief, became the manifestation of female power within these communities. Furthermore, as these women were busy participating in trade and often did not have time for their domestic duties, these senior market women gained the respect and prestige of others as well.13

Similarly in Senegal, French-African women who engaged directly in the slave trade were called signares and were

known for their ability to be manipulative and even willing to betray their own race and sex to ensure their own financial security and upward social mobility by engaging with European traders.14 Thus, historians view signares with contrasting opinions. On one hand, because of their economic ambitions, they have been interpreted negatively because of their participation in the slave trade; on the other hand, their ambition has been applauded as they were able to masterfully navigate the maleoriented environment by establishing lucrative business connections which ultimately led to their prosperity. Be that as it may, by operating within the slave system, women openly challenged the basic hierarchies of gender as they demonstrated their capabilities in occupying positions superior to men.15 For that reason that their accomplishments should be more widely recognized in scholarship.

Saint Louis accompanied by her slave. Jacques G. De Saint-Sauveur, “Hommes Femmes et scènes du Sénégal,” (1788), Wikimedia Commons.

Caribbean

Turning now to the communities scattered around the Caribbean, it is clear that women’s immense engagement in the slave trade allowed them to achieve a similar outcome as their African contemporaries. Located in the heart of the slave trade, free and freed white women and women of colour understood and took advantage of the overwhelmingly lucrative industry, especially by owning sugar mills.16 Thus, wealthy Atlantic entrepôts such as Jamaica’s Port Royal, or Bridgetown in “Dancing Scene in the West Indies” by Agostino Brunias, Oil on canvas. From Tate Patrons. Fair use. Barbados served as the perfect location for women to take advantage of the slave trade’s profitable market. Consequently, despite operating in such a hyper-masculine environment and often being subjected to sexual exploitation and commodification,17 slaveholding women petitioned and fought hard for their right to own slaves as this feat contributed to their economic status, allowed them to live comfortable

lives, and provided for their families.18 For those reasons, women found their motivation to assert their dominance by acting in a manner that demonstrated their strong-willed, persistent, and at times shrewd natures in order to navigate the male-dominated world.

One of the more common ways coloured free(d) women were able to elevate their social status, despite the unforgiving realities of their environment, was in trading slaves themselves. In her book, Jamaica Ladies: Female Slaveholders and the Creation of Britain’s Atlantic Empire, historian Christine Walker contends that while marriage was the usual path for a women’s upward social mobility, slaveholding offered another possibility that gave the same outcome without the requirement of submission to a husband. To be a women engaged in such a ruthless and competitive industry, one had to be tremendously adaptable, calculating, and determined to prove one’s place within the public sphere. Yet, by involving their families in the slave trade, women committed future generations to this lifestyle and perpetuated the horrible practice of slavery. Thus, as Walker states, the first three generations of Jamaica’s female population paved the way for the British Empire’s success in the transatlantic slave trade by using slavery as an opportunity for their own advancement.19 In a period full of so much uncertainly and instability, for these women, slavery seemed to be one of the most stable and prosperous endeavours to participate because this was one area of life they were able to direct to fulfill their own agendas.20

Another aspect of the Caribbean that allowed for women’s social advancement came from the intimate relationships between free(d) women of colour and European men. As historian Jennifer Palmer writes, intimacy configured the institution of slavery, while the formation of families created a platform resistant to racial categorization.21 Thus, domestic relations allowed for individuals of various skin tones to explore alternative lifestyles, which contradicted the entrenched beliefs of the black and white hierarchy.22 As historian Christer Petley states, intimate relationships between whites and coloured individuals had the potential to destabilize and even undermine the radicalized separation that served as the foundation of society and the slave trade.23 However, these close relationships benefited coloured women as they were able to make profitable connections and determine their own positions in society that did not conform to society’s restrictive norms.

Finally, legal wills were another acceptable course of action by which women became prosperous. This legitimate transfer of wealth was increasingly common during the eighteenth-century as both men and women bequeathed their material assets to female family members. This was an advantageous decision not only because it secured a household’s prosperity, but it also ensured that a woman could support herself. Wills contained mention of land, animals, personal belongings, and of course, slaves who were

“Free women of Colour with their Children and Servants,” by Agostino Brunias, Oil on canvas. Brooklyn Museum. Fair use.

treated as a commodity. Through the notion of equity, this law enabled women to preserve their own material wealth based on the ideas of justice between the genders. Therefore, females were afforded the opportunity to hold bank accounts separate from males to store and manage their wealth how they saw fit.24 It was not unusual for property-owning women to leave their assets in the hands of their daughters or other female family members to secure their futures. For example, in the will of Charity Butler from 1744, the widow placed ten slaves in a trust for her daughter “for her sole and separate use,” stating that it was her “express will” that her son-in-law would have “no power to intermeddle with…negro slaves and that he [did] not receive any benefit from them.”25 This shows that Butler sought to pass on the slaves she owned to secure her daughter’s financial future and specifically deny her son-in-law benefit of the inheritance. Butler’s actions echoed many women of the time who sought to protect their assets from a legal system which left women vulnerable to the greed and envy of men.26 Similarly Mary Sissnett’s will from 3 February 1794 stipulated that the remaining property and thirteen slaves should go to the Honourable Joshua Gittens and Mr. Daniel Broadbent in !trust to and for sole and only proper use and behoof of my said dear daughter Mary Ann and her heirs.”27 Again we see a woman using legal means and specific instructions to ensure that no man, including her daughter’s future husband, would be able to take advantage of her daughter’s rightful inheritance. An even more unique example can be found in the final testament of Sr. Regnaud De Beaumont on the 18 June 1775, as he instructs that “a life pension of one hundred livres” to each of his “natural daughter, free mulâtresses” Marie-Claire and Marie-Olive, “daughters of Marie-Anne free négresse.” In this more unusual case, one can see Dr Beuamont choosing to leave his inheritance to his mixed-raced biological daughters instead of his white daughters whom he left in in France.28 It is evident, therefore, that entrusting a woman—regardless of their skin tone—with the right to own property was more common than believed as “some of the females of colour … possessed … considerable property, given [to] them by their white partners, or amassed by their own industry.” In turn, these women were able to build further on those riches and prove their intelligence when it came to managing finances.29

It is undeniable that women living within the Atlantic world demonstrated a resilience, determination, and keen aptitude for navigating the uncertainties and instability of their time. Whether in West Africa or across the ocean in the Caribbean, females found ways to become active participants in their communities through the endless number of opportunities made available to them by the profitable nature of the slave trade. Motivated to secure not only their own futures, but those of their children and future generations, these women broke gender barriers and asserted themselves in society as forces to be reckoned with by rivalling men in status and wealth. More importantly, while this period is often overshadowed by a traditionally masculine narrative, the accomplishments of

females should not go unnoticed and must be included in the historical narrative.

“The Linen Market, Dominica, 1780” by Agostino Brunias, Oil on canvas. From Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. Fair use.

Heather Lam

MAIH (History stream)