Shackled white slave girls
Female slaves were required for two main needs - the first was as domestic servants in rather the same way as the house slaves on American plantations - older women would usually be destined for this role. The younger and especially the more attractive women were required as sex slaves by the ruling class and richer merchants. The first requirement for a sex slave was that she should be a virgin and preferably young - around 12 being the ideal age. In a way similar to what happened in slave markets in America the girls would be stripped and put on public display at auctions - those who were most desirable would fetch the most money and go to the ruler or members of his family, those a little less desirable and thus cheaper would go to more minor nobles and so on. Slaves of all colors would be sold at these markets not just the European girls, but European girls tended to fetch more money - this was due to the color bias of the Ottoman buyers.
The sale of white slave girls
Illustrations made at the time almost always show very white girls in the harems of high-status Ottomans - any black girls present tend to be depicted as servants - of course there might be some bias on the part of the artists involved here. Over time a hierarchy of desirability was established all based upon the Ottomans' lust for white flesh - at the bottom would be slaves from sub-saharan Africa, then girls from non-muslim North African tribes, then girls from the Mediterranean countries such as Spain and Italy, then girls from England and other northern countries. At the top of this hierarchy were Circassian girls from the area of the Caucusus mountains - the Ottomans regarded these girls as the purest and most beautiful of whites.
Young Circassian slave girl
The enslavement of these Europeans mostly caught by pirate raids on ships and coastal settlements was much talked about in Europe at the time, even though it might be an almost forgotten episode today and much was made of the lustful Turk and the terrible state of the female prisoners - in reality it was the male prisoners who were more harshly treated, many being worked to death - for many of the female slaves their life was not that terrible in reality as they could be highly pampered within the harems. It should be remembered that these girls were almost all European peasent girls from very poor backgrounds - if their relatives had had any money their pirate capturers would have held them for ransom rather than selling them at a slave auction.
Life in the harem
Hi Stefia...i'm a white blond guy from Tunisia North Africa.. I suspect I'm descended from white slaves brought to north Africa, I want to make a DNA Test to know from wich part of Europe i'm related, I want to know everything about my ancestors..
ReplyDeleteplz can we talk more about it ?
my email : zouaricreation@gmail.com
'for many of the female slaves their life was not that terrible in reality as they could be highly pampered within the harems.' yes i see what you mean. being taken away from your home, firends, family, to a foriegn land, denied your freedom, denied your own life, and held prisoner wouldnt be 'that terrible'. also being subjected to the brutality, abuse, degradation and de humanization of being stripped naked in public and put on display in front of a bunch of men, who then bid on you like a piece of meat wouldnt be 'that teribble'. then of course thier is the fact that they undoubtedly would have been used as sex slaves, being raped continualy. i suppose thast also wouldnt be 'that teribble'. WHAT A FUCKING IDIOT!!! yes im sure being 'pampered' before being raped would make all the difference. if they were pampered it was only to make them more pleasing to thier captors and rapists you fucking inhumane moron.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to say something about this. Most of the art you are using was designed to excite the middle class art buying class at the time. A lot of the art from the Victorian era showed a "white slave girl." Where in truth most of the slaves were arab, black and asian girls. White slavery still happened and the vikings in fact had a very good trade in slavic women at one time...but don't fall into a trap where it was just white girls bound for the harem.
ReplyDeleteYour research is impeccable. Well done. Note that it was the US who put an end to this. Shores of Tripoli and all. The Europeans didn't mind this.
ReplyDeleteHi SteffiA!
ReplyDeleteNot sure if you're still reading your blog, but here goes!
You express a lot of pride in your racial heritage, which is wonderful. You should be proud of who you are.
Your annoyance with people who refuse to acknowledge your blackness is understandable but also thought provoking. It is wonderful to live in a time when you can be proud of your racial heritage, but it is also intriguing to speculate on how your candor and honesty might have been received in the past.
Imagine you traveled back in time and awoke in Texas, 1840. Assuming you found some simple clothes that would allow you to blend in, you would quickly have to make a momentous decision: white or black? Think carefully, for the ramifications of your decision might change your life forever.
If you chose to be white you might be able to get a job. I suspect it would be difficult, though, since you would have little of the "common knowledge" that a white woman of the 19th century antebellum south would be expected to have, and would quickly be branded as "different." This, in turn, might quickly lead to some embarrassing questions about where you came from, which you would need to answer quickly and convincingly.
In another post on another board you mentioned: "My family come from Georgia so I think my best bet would have been south to then try and get on a boat to New Orleans - seems easier than trying to get to the northern states."
It's a good strategy, since you mentioned that you tan easily. Traveling on foot you'd doubtlessly become darker and more haggard, traits which would hamper your escape the farther you traveled.
However by fleeing to New Orleans you'd be strolling directly into the world's largest slave market. As bright and curious as you are would you be tempted to go inside a slave market or stop to watch an auction in Jackson Square? Imagine your trepidation and anxiety as you watched girls with fair skin and features not dissimilar to your own being handled by the buyers! I'd advise you not to tarry, for if you caught a slave trader's unwanted attention you might soon be viewing a slave auction not from the crowd but barefoot on the auction block.
New Orleans was pretty much the world capital of race mixing, filled with mulattos, quadroons, and octoroons. The streets would be filled with slave traders, planters, and countless others scrutinizing your racial attributes. As a young woman traveling alone, without any documentation or friends to vouch for you, you'd be very vulnerable indeed. It would not be a question of whether you'd escape, but how many blocks you might be able to travel before someone stopped to question you.
Remember that although the laws were cruel and unjust they were still the laws. To escape you would need help, but anyone who helped you might also be punished, and charged with aiding your escape. To what extent would you be willing to break the law, and encourage others to risk their lives and freedom by doing so?
Another option would be to go to the Sheriff in Texas, and explain your situation to him. If you decided to be candid, you would tell him that you were a quadroon, 24% black, but FREE. Whether or not you chose to tell him you were from the future would be up to you -- would it make the rest of your story more or less credible?
ReplyDeleteYou could ask the Sheriff to lend you the funds to prepare "Free Papers" that would allow you to travel North safely. These papers would describe your general appearance, height, and weight, along with any moles, birthmarks, or scars on your body.
How candid would you be? Would you describe every mole and blemish, wherever they might be? If you did not, the paperwork declaring your freedom might well be declared invalid, if you were later checked. The indignity of having to document every aspect of your appearance on a legal form underscores the precariousness of your position. If the mark were in a particularly personal place, the Sheriff might ask his wife or another local lady to do the checking, but more likely he would do check you himself, in his office, with little consideration given to your modesty and dignity. In his eyes your confessed "blackness" would make you very much like a slave.
You would have to obey his orders. Under the law the Sheriff would be empowered to brand you as slave, both legally, and if he chose to, literally. In that case you would be a slave forever and "passing" would no longer be an issue. You would be kept in his jail, at his mercy, as he advertised your "capture." If no one claimed you, you be sold at the Sheriff's auction, alongside the other unclaimed parcels and livestock. Your blonde hair and blue eyes would doubtlessly fetch an excellent price and the Sheriff would earn a fine commission on your sale.
So, what path would you choose? I eagerly await your answer.
StefiA you must have read the book called: "Harem. The World Behind the Veil" by Alev Lytle Croutier. I recognized most of the artwork as coming from that book.
ReplyDeleteI read that book about 26 years ago. It's kinda sad.....
A better topic for this kinda discussion would be:
ReplyDeleteWhat was it like to be a poor man or woman in the american antebellum south?