“The word ‘intimate’ suggests emotional…and physical closeness between two human beings, even unlikely ones,” said Sharony Green, UA Assistant Professor of History. “The word sheds light, too, on the wins and losses of such closeness when one party has more power than the other, but still both find ways to reap some benefit.”
Green felt it was important to explain the word while speaking at the “Interracial Intimacy in Antebellum America” lecture that was held Wednesday from 5-7 p.m. at the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center, in which she and three colleagues discussed sexual relationships between slaveholders and slave girls and the ramifications of such relationships.
The three women who spoke alongside Green were bestselling author Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Trudier Harris, UA Professor of English and Lisa Ze-Winters, Wayne State University Associate Professor of English. All four women have written about interracial intimacy in antebellum America.
The conversation-like lecture included each of the writers reading part of their writing and synopsizing it, them asking questions to each other, the audience asking questions to the speakers, and finally a meet-and-greet book signing reception.
Green started the night off by introducing her colleagues, sharing some personal anecdotes, and warning the crowd that some uncomfortable things will be said, but that she hopes everyone is open.
The microphone was then handed to Ze-Winters who synopsized her work, saying that she is primarily interested in how the relationships between slave girls and their masters affected the relationships among the women themselves. It sparked a conversation on how interracial intimacies affect intra-racial intimacies.
Next Perkins-Valdez read from her book Wench, which was inspired by her curiosity after learning that there was a resort in Xenia, Ohio that slave owners used to go to on vacation. The slave owners would bring slave girls to use as sexual slaves while there.
“Why didn’t they run?” Perkins-Valdez asked, wanting to know more about why slave girls wouldn’t try to escape when they were brought to these resorts in abolition territory.
During the lecture and in her writings she worked to explain the psychological ramifications of slavery.
Following Perkins-Valdez, Harris spoke about what caused relationships between slave owners and their slaves.
“Violence and lack of choice informed these sexual intimacies,” Harris said.
Harris also posed several thought provoking questions, like whether pedophilia played a role in a slave owner’s relationship with a slave girl, and whether or not someone can love you if he keeps you in chains.
Other topics of discussion throughout the night were in regards to what role the slave owners’ wives played in the intimacies, the complexities of a “benevolent” slaveholder, the effects on the children conceived in these intimacies, whether or not it was always rape and more.
The lecture, which was attended by members of the UA and Tuscaloosa community alike, was free thanks to the sponsorship of many UA colleges and departments along with UA Crossroads and the Summersell Center for the Study of the South.
Wyatt Clark, a sophomore economics major found the talk to be interesting, though it wasn’t what he expected.
Nicoletta Versace, a freshman pre-pharmacy major, agreed.
“I didn’t expect to hear about both [the black and white] perspectives,” said Versace.
According to Green it is important that there are events like this and so that people think about their shared past in order to realize where they need to be going.
“Simply by showing up we are working through this,” said Green.
