Tera W. Hunter presents a reader with a deep insight into the problem of marriage between African Americans in the nineteenth century. Being slaves, they had limited rights and had to resist pressure from society and white people, who did not respect this sort of relations among slaves. As one of the embodiments of racism, the issue offered by the author remains topical today as there is a detailed description of all peculiarities of that epoch and discriminations the couple had to overcome.
From the very first chapter of the book, the reader recognizes that the life of black slaves in relations was difficult. The main character, Henry Brown, had to resist oppression and find ways to protect his wife and not be separated. Because of the changing owners, there were different conditions under which the family lived, and Brown had to pay a portion of the price to remain together with his beloved one. However, very soon, the sum became unreasonable as well as the master’s demands. Hunter then switches to the description of slavery peculiar to the land in general and on family traditions that impacted African-American slaves’ lives.
In the next chapters, the author shows the slave trade was one of the core reasons for the disruption of black families and their marriages. Owners used them as a good to make various purchases, improve their conditions, or as a part of a deal regarding some loans. It could not but impact relations between individuals and their attempts to resist and protect themselves from these discriminative patterns. Through the use of this story of kinship, Hunter continues to cogitate about the barriers and laws that prevented slaves from being together with each other and creating new families.
The author combines the narrative of African-Americans, interviews with slaves, and reports to create the full image of the problem and make readers think about the obstacles that emerged before black people who wanted to enter legal relations in the nineteenth century. In one of the chapters, Hunter touches upon the theme of the Civil War and the appearance of the masses of ex-slaves who wanted their relations to be accepted by the law and considered legal. However, it became another problematic issue to this group as the government and white people were not ready to recognize their rights and accept the idea of the high value of marriage between former slaves.
In such a way, simply and understandably, Hunter manages to show the essential aspects of relations between black slaves in the nineteenth century. Using a touching story of a married couple as the background for her narration, she outlines all legal, moral, and cultural challenges people had to overcome to protect their relations and save their families. The book becomes a credible source of knowledge that can be used to understand the basic causes of racism and discrimination, along with the attitude that was dominant in the previous ages. Readers can benefit from the information given by the author.
Work Cited
Hunter, Tera. Bound in Wedlock: Slave and Free Black Marriage in the Nineteenth Century. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2017.