Slave Breeding: Sex, Violence, and Memory in African American History

· Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Terrence Kidd
Audiobook
8 hr
Unabridged
Eligible
Ratings and reviews aren’t verified  Learn More
Want a 48 min sample? Listen anytime, even offline. 
Add

About this audiobook

For over two centuries, the topic of slave breeding has occupied a controversial place in the master narrative of American history. From nineteenth-century abolitionists to twentieth-century filmmakers and artists, Americans have debated whether slave owners deliberately and coercively manipulated the sexual practices and marital status of enslaved African Americans to reproduce new generations of slaves for profit. In this bold and provocative book, historian Gregory Smithers investigates how African Americans have narrated, remembered, and represented slave-breeding practices. He argues that while social and economic historians have downplayed the significance of slave breeding, African Americans have refused to forget the violence and sexual coercion associated with the plantation South. By placing African American histories and memories of slave breeding within the larger context of America's history of racial and gender discrimination, Smithers sheds much-needed light on African American collective memory, racialized perceptions of fragile black families, and the long history of racially motivated violence against men, women, and children of color.

About the author

Gregory D. Smithers teaches American history at the Virginia Commonwealth University. He is the author of Science, Sexuality, and Race in the United States and Australia, 1780s-1890s and coauthor of The Preacher and the Politician: Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama and Race in America.

A seasoned playwright, Terrence Kidd uses his skill as a storyteller to bring life to any genre. He loves narrating nonfiction best, but Terry's engaged, informed, and warm tone illuminates everything from potboiler crime thrillers to romance. A longtime bartender, Terry now narrates from his home studio in Massachusetts.

Rate this audiobook

Tell us what you think.

Listening information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can read books purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.