Black Women/White Men: The Sexual Exploitation of Female Slaves in the Danish West Indies

Description

Using archival material and other existing sources, this book graphically documents the sexual exploitation of female slaves in holding pens on the West Coast of Africa, on slave ships during the Trans-Atlantic crossing, and on plantations in the Danish West Indies, now known as the United States Virgin Islands. In this book, Donoghue successfully demonstrates how under the Danish Slave Codes it was impossible to rape a slave. He notes that if a female slave died during her resistance to the sexual advances of any master, her owner was entitled to com- pensation by law. The author further notes that the diminishing slave population near the end of the eighteenth century triggered the development of a comprehensive plan for the breeding of slaves in the Danish West Indian colony. The blueprints included the granting of generous loans to planters to import female slaves of childbearing age. The book also provides compelling evidence that many females resisted exploitation by resorting to abortion, infanticide, poisoning, marronage and suicide. “The theme is somewhat current, but Dr. Donoghue is on relatively new ground in his extensive exploration of the exploitation of slave women” Sir Howard Fergus, University of the West Indies “Donoghue breaks new ground with this deeply analytical and illuminating exploration of the exploitation of black women,” The Daily Observer. “Donoghue shows the reader the true depths of the sexual exploitation of female slaves,” The Avis. The Book received the highest rating of five stars by reader-reviewers of Blackwell’s Online Bookshop. Eddie Donoghue was born on the small island of Montserrat in the Caribbean and lived for almost twenty years in Sweden. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and is currently a Researcher for the Legislature in the United States Virgin Islands.