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Part A:  Chapters 3-4 in Women in the National Experience
Pg. 36-Barilla Taylor, pg. 38-Harriet Hanson Robinson, pg. 41-Sarah Bagley, pg. 62-Caroline Healy Dall and pg. 64-Dr. William W. Sanger.
Parts B and C:  Chapters 5-6 in Women and the National Experience
The history of North American slavery is complicated.  North American slavery is a dynamic institution that dramatically changed from the colonial era to the Civil War.  Before European settlers colonized North America, a person of any skin color or religious persuasion could be a slave.  For example, millions of Irish people were enslaved by the British over a period of several hundred years.  The British brought many Irish slaves to the New World (including North America) in the earliest days of exploration and settlement and treated them worse than animals.  The “peculiar institution” eventually became a color based system but it did not start out that way.  White and black slaves often lived together in the same “slave quarters.”  This led to the blossoming of relationships between white an

d black slaves, which angered white land owning masters.  When these relationships contributed to open rebellion, like with Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia, the elites took action and passed laws which curbed the liberties of free black people as well as black slaves, creating a division between white and black slaves as well as free white and black people. Gradually, the planters stopped importing white slaves and increased their dependence on black slaves.  
The experience of female slaves further complicates the history of slavery.  Slave women did the same back-breaking work as men, worked the same long hours and endured the same barbaric and cruel punishments; however, they faced another danger unique to their gender, rape and other forms of sexual assault. 
Part B:  In your primary sources there are a few different accounts on slavery, escape, sexual assault and abolition.  For Part B of this discussion, please answer the questions outlined below for the following sources:
Pg. 80-Harriet Tubman, pg. 84-Harriet Jacobs and pg. 91-Mary Boykin Chesnut
Questions: