In 1855, a young enslaved black woman named Celia killed a white man who raped her. A Missouri judge stated that an slave woman had no right to refuse her “master.” She was later convicted of murder and hanged. To overcome racial inequality, we must confront history.Celia was tried, convicted, and ultimately executed for killing her owner. Celia confessed: She had tried to put a stop to what had been five years of sexual abuse. At the center of the trial was a dramatic confrontation over the legal standing of enslaved women. Did an enslaved woman have the right to defend herself against sexual assault? Drawing on Celia’s own words, her court-appointed defense team said “yes.” Prosecutors, the trial judge, jurors, and the state high court all rejected Celia’s claim.
Enslaved women did not have the same right to self-defense accorded to free women under Missouri law, they concluded. To allow such resistance would have been to strike at the heart of slaveholders’ power. It also would have recognized the legal personhood, honor, and rights of enslaved women, undermining slavery’s legitimacy. In subsequent years, legislators and jurists in other slave states made more explicit that sexual coercion of slaves was not a crime. It is this state sanctioned sexual assault that is a baneful legacy of slavery. Even today, it contributes to erroneous ideas about black women as lacking honor and “virtue,” making them especially vulnerable to sexual abuse.