The Sea is Haunting: Final

 Meilan Whitaker

ENGL 2016- 44378

Professor Harris

17 November 2022

The Sea is Haunting: Final

Black men and women have faced many trials of protecting their masculinity and defending their sexuality. During the enslavement period, sexual abuse was prevalent but never brought to light. Sexual abuse was evident in women because of the production of biracial children. In the neo-slave narrative Homegoing, Esi was sexually assaulted, which resulted in having a child. Chapter two states, “He put her on a folded tarp, spread her legs, and entered her. She screamed, but he placed his hand over her lips, then put his fingers in her mouth. Biting them only seemed to please him”, Esi questioned herself what made this traumatic moment not as painful as she thought it would be. This confuses her sexuality and makes her feel vulnerable.   Sexual abuse can also cause shame to be brought upon and cast the person to become the black sheep in the family. In “Daughters of the Dust,” the two protagonists, Eula and Yellow Mary are both raped by an outsider, which causes a rift in their family. Emotions were never processed fully to heal because the traumatic event was hushed and never spoken about. Yellow Mary’s case was different because she was not married, and Eula was married. Since Yellow Mary was unwedded and deemed ruined because her innocence was taken. Being shunned by her family for something she had no control over gives power to outsiders because it causes a weak family dynamic that stars a curse.

Sexual abuse with male enslaved people and descendants is not normally discussed because of black masculinity. Black masculinity has been affected by sexual abuse because of the embarrassment and the uncomfortable emotions and memories brought by it. In chapter two of “Equiano,” Equiano found it unusual for men to sleep in the same bed as their wives would, “who lay in those buildings along with their wives, who often accompany them; and they always go well armed.” Normal traditions for him were broken, and it was the beginning of his identity being stripped away. Sexual abuse was also used as a punishment; the purpose was to take away their pride and be ashamed of mentioning it. In the "Predator or Prey: The Analysis of Gender and Race on the Perception of Black Men as Sexual Assault Victims" article by Jordyn Livingston, it states, “Additionally, slave owners used sexual assault as a punishment, owners would force enslaved people to have non-reproductive sex with each other and would require enslaved people to wear little to no clothing (Foster, 2011).” Something supposed to be intimate and sacred and used to ridicule someone causes them to have a negative connotation to sex and results in lashing out.

Sexual abuse to obtain dominance over the enslaved ties in with our course theme the sea is haunting because as the abuse was happening, it was happening over the water. While the enslaved were taken away from their home and their descendants, they crossed waters, and the waters held their trauma and their story.




Works Cited

“For Many Enslaved African on Slaveholders’ Sexual Abuse of Slaves.” On Slaveholders’ Sexual Abuse of Slaves, http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai/enslavement/text6/masterslavesexualabuse.pdf.

Livingston, Jordyn. “Predator or Prey: The Analysis of Gender and Race on the Perception of Black Men as Sexual Assault Victims.” University of South Carolina, 2021, https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/research/news_and_pubs/caravel/archive/2021_spring/2021_predator_prey.php. 

Gyasi, Yaa. Homegoing, Penguin Books, London, 2022.

Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equian or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Printed for James Nichols, Leeds, 1814.

Dash, Julie, et al. Daughters of the Dust. Kino International, 1992.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reality Beneath the Surface

  Treasure Garner  ENGL 2016 Ms. Harris 17 November 2022 Reality Beneath The Surface The Black culture. Culture consists of elements that makes up a nation; it is the foundation of a united group of people. In reference to Black culture, I am referring to Africans, African Americans, and all Black communities. The Black culture has taken on elements since the period of enslavement. These elements stem from the ideology of the Black Gothic. The Black Gothic is a genre within academic literature and visuals. It is the process of experiencing spiritual, traumatic, and horror circumstances as well as healing and overcoming breakthroughs. To bring acknowledgment to the elements that have been brought on stemmed through the Black Gothic from the years of the enslavement of our ancestors by looking through the lens of spirituality and mental health.  Spirituality is widely permeated within the Black culture and community. Dr. Carter in his work he explained the importance of spi...
Read more

Black Roots from A Famous Poet!

Image
  Oteria Mounds Ms. Harris English 2016-44378 14 November 2022                                                      Black Roots from A Famous Poet My project was solely based on our class theme, “The sea is haunted.” I decided to be creative, and I came up with the title; Black Roots from A Famous Poet! After learning what a Flying African is I feel Nipsey can fall into the same category. Before Nipsey's death, conspiracy theories surfaced in the media mentioning his documentary with Dr.Sebi about a cure for aids. In my opinion, it is common for the white man to feel intimidated by the knowledge of an African American. Nipsey's connection to the controversial figure made him a target. I decided to portray both stories, The Int...
Read more

Mixtape

  Wright James  Harris, Jaleesa  ENG 2016  17 November 2022  Playlist  1985 (Intro to “The Fall Off”) - J Cole  ● Gazzy Garcia known as Lil Pump, is a rapper who comes from a Latin American heritage. In 2018, Lil Pump presumably had beef with J Cole and proceeded to write a diss track on him. J Cole took to such actions, in dissing Lil Pump in a fatherly manner, giving advice on what’s best for his image. J Cole addresses that though coming from a Latin American heritage, Lil Pump passes as a black man, who provides a false image toward his widely caucasian audience, in order to provide the feeling of what it’s like to be black. Thus escalating Lil Pump’s social and financial status, which is a representation of Black Bourgeois in the Black Gothic.  Deep River  ● Deep River comes in many arrangements by many African American composers like Hall Johnson and H. T. Burleigh. Nevertheless, this negro spiritual tells the story of going home by way...
Read more