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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 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…
References
Mclaurin, Melton A. (1993). Celia, A Slave. HarperCollins.
JRank.org (2016). Slave State of Missouri v. Celia, a Slave
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After being charged with the crime, a slave-owner yet eloquent prominent trial attorney James Jameson was appointed to defend Celia, partially to silence critics on both sides of the issue in Missouri. Jameson defended his client's right to resist her master's advances based upon statues designed only to apply to assaulted white women and another statute that allowed slaves to fight back with deadly force to spare their own lives.