The Story of Celia a Slave

Celia, a Slave

The book Celia, A Slave, was written by Melton A. McLaurin, and published in 1993 by HarperCollins, a various locations around the world, as well as in digital form. There is no single location for publishing in this era. HarperCollins has its corporate headquarters in New York City. The story covers the time period of Celia's life from the time she was purchased by Robert Newsome at a slave market in 1850. Celia was fourteen years old at the time of the purchase. She was raped by Newsome, and give birth to two of his children. She began a relationship with another slave in 1855, and became pregnant. She was afraid of Newsome and afraid for her unborn child. Unable to secure protection from him from his family, she killed Newsome when he visited her cabin on June 23, 1855. She beat Newsome to death with a stick that she had hidden in the cabin for her own self-defence. Celia was tried and convicted of murder, and hanged on December 21, 1855. The defense had sought to defend her on the basis of a woman's right to defend herself against sexual assault. The judge in the case refused to instruct the jury that the law in question covered slaves as well as white woman, stating that slaves had to obey their masters, even in cases of sexual assault. The book tells this story.

The writer sought to tell Celia's story, in the context of the history of slavery in the United States. The fact that slaves were raped by their masters is well-established fact, but during this particular period in history there were many laws and legal cases that sought to establish more rights for all people, including for slaves. The legal case surrounding Celia is perhaps the most interesting aspect of the book as a result, because it juxtaposes the rights that white women had just been granted with the rights that slaves were still not granted. In fact, the wording of the law did not specify "white women." Legal scholars see this as the most significant legal aspect of the case: "Judge William Hall refused to instruct the jury that the enslaved Celia fell within the meaning of "any woman" -- giving the jury no latitude to consider Celia's murder of her sexually abusive master a justifiable act of self-defence (Jrank.org, 2016)."

The details that the historian provides are focused on what is known about Celia. There is little in the way of embellishment or speculation. It begins by announcing the view that Newsome is typical of the white slave-owners of that part of America at that time, and this theme resonates because the judge is portrayed as that as well, in his wilful interpretation of the state statute to specifically exclude Celia's only realistic hope of defense. The judge's interpretation effectively condemns her to hanging, and it illustrates the way that the justice system reflected older values, certainly those that still viewed slaves as sub-human. The defense team sought to fight against those values. While they ultimately lost that battle, the book does illustrate well the conflict that America was going through at that point in time, where entrenched values were hard to break, yet right-minded people had to fight hard to try to break them. Had the defense team succeeded, that could have been grounds for precedent, for example, and the judge was unwilling to grant that, even in light of the vagueness of the lack of specificity in the law's wording.

It is almost a sidebar to realize just how poorly worded the law was, which in turn means how much is left to the courts to define the scope of laws. This is an issue that resonates even today, where courts are frequently challenged by poorly-written laws to define terms and apply scope. There remains today challenges from those who prefer older, outdated applications of laws, especially laws written far in the past, versus those who would like to see modern interpretations. The judge in the case of Celia was applying the standards of his people -- the whites in power in Missouri in 1855 -- rather than seeking for new standards that would be respectful of all people.