The demands of justice : enslaved women, capital crime, and clemency in early Virginia, 1705-1865

Award-winning historian Tamika Y. Nunley has unearthed the stories of enslaved Black women charged by their owners with poisoning, theft, murder, infanticide, and arson. While free Black and white people accused of capital crimes received a hearing, trial, and, if convicted, an opportunity to appeal, none of these options were available to enslaved people. Conviction was final, and only the state or owners could spare their accused chattel of punishment by death. For enslaved women in Virginia, clemency was not uncommon, but Nunley shows why this act ultimately benefitted owners and punished the accused with sale outside of the state as the best possible outcome. Demonstrating how crimes, convictions, and clemency functioned within a slave society that upheld the property interests of white Virginians, Nunley reveals the frequency with which owners preferred to keep the accused in bondage, which allowed them, behind the veil of paternalism, to continue to benefit from Black women's labor. This so-called clemency also sought to rob Black women of the power they exercised when they committed capital crimes. The testimonies that Nunley has collected and analyzed offer compelling glimpses of the self-identities forged by Black women as they attempted to resist enslavement and the limits of justice available to them in the antebellum courtroom. "Less a legal history and more an examination of gender, race, crime, and punishment in the antebellum era, Nunley's book measures the limits and possibilities of justice for enslaved women accused of attempting to or succeeding in committing grave crimes against their owners. Immersing herself in hundreds of court cases, executive orders, transportation records of the state treasury, and newspapers from a single state - Virginia - Tamika Nunley has unearthed the stories of enslaved women charged by their owners with poisoning, theft, murder, infanticide, and arson"-- Provided by publisher Cover 1 Contents 8 List of Illustrations 10 Prelude 12 Introduction 16 Chapter One: Virginian Luxuries 40 Chapter Two: Poison 68 Chapter Three: Murder 102 Chapter Four: Infanticide 130 Chapter Five: Insurgency 160 Conclusion 196 Acknowledgments 206 Notes 208 Bibliography 232 Index 246 A 246 B 246 C 247 D 250 E 250 F 250 G 250 H 251 I 251 J 252 K 252 L 252 M 253 N 254 O 254 P 254 R 255 S 255 T 257 V 258 W 258