Notorious in the Neighborhood

Sex and Families across the Color Line in Virginia, 1787-1861

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Discrimination & Race Relations, Cultural Studies, African-American Studies, History, Americas, United States, 19th Century
Cover of the book Notorious in the Neighborhood by Joshua D. Rothman, The University of North Carolina Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Joshua D. Rothman ISBN: 9780807863121
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press Publication: December 4, 2003
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press Language: English
Author: Joshua D. Rothman
ISBN: 9780807863121
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication: December 4, 2003
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Language: English

Laws and cultural norms militated against interracial sex in Virginia before the Civil War, and yet it was ubiquitous in cities, towns, and plantation communities throughout the state. In Notorious in the Neighborhood, Joshua Rothman examines the full spectrum of interracial sexual relationships under slavery--from Thomas Jefferson, Sally Hemings, and the intertwined interracial families of Monticello and Charlottesville to commercial sex in Richmond, the routinized sexual exploitation of enslaved women, and adultery across the color line. He explores the complex considerations of legal and judicial authorities who handled cases involving illicit sex and describes how the customary toleration of sex across the color line both supported and undermined racism and slavery in the early national and antebellum South.

White Virginians allowed for an astonishing degree of flexibility and fluidity within a seemingly rigid system of race and interracial relations, Rothman argues, and the relationship between law and custom regarding racial intermixture was always shifting. As a consequence, even as whites never questioned their own racial supremacy, the meaning and significance of racial boundaries, racial hierarchy, and ultimately of race itself always stood on unstable ground--a reality that whites understood and about which they demonstrated increasing anxiety as the nation's sectional crisis intensified.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Laws and cultural norms militated against interracial sex in Virginia before the Civil War, and yet it was ubiquitous in cities, towns, and plantation communities throughout the state. In Notorious in the Neighborhood, Joshua Rothman examines the full spectrum of interracial sexual relationships under slavery--from Thomas Jefferson, Sally Hemings, and the intertwined interracial families of Monticello and Charlottesville to commercial sex in Richmond, the routinized sexual exploitation of enslaved women, and adultery across the color line. He explores the complex considerations of legal and judicial authorities who handled cases involving illicit sex and describes how the customary toleration of sex across the color line both supported and undermined racism and slavery in the early national and antebellum South.

White Virginians allowed for an astonishing degree of flexibility and fluidity within a seemingly rigid system of race and interracial relations, Rothman argues, and the relationship between law and custom regarding racial intermixture was always shifting. As a consequence, even as whites never questioned their own racial supremacy, the meaning and significance of racial boundaries, racial hierarchy, and ultimately of race itself always stood on unstable ground--a reality that whites understood and about which they demonstrated increasing anxiety as the nation's sectional crisis intensified.

More books from The University of North Carolina Press

Cover of the book Sound States by Joshua D. Rothman
Cover of the book Midnight in America by Joshua D. Rothman
Cover of the book Allende’s Chile and the Inter-American Cold War by Joshua D. Rothman
Cover of the book The German Colonial Empire by Joshua D. Rothman
Cover of the book Southeastern Geographer by Joshua D. Rothman
Cover of the book Creating a Confederate Kentucky by Joshua D. Rothman
Cover of the book Lydia Cabrera and the Construction of an Afro-Cuban Cultural Identity by Joshua D. Rothman
Cover of the book The Irish in the South, 1815-1877 by Joshua D. Rothman
Cover of the book Lee's Tar Heels by Joshua D. Rothman
Cover of the book An American Triptych by Joshua D. Rothman
Cover of the book The Heart of Confederate Appalachia by Joshua D. Rothman
Cover of the book A Philosophical Commentary on the Politics of Aristotle by Joshua D. Rothman
Cover of the book Walter Clark by Joshua D. Rothman
Cover of the book Stonewall's Prussian Mapmaker by Joshua D. Rothman
Cover of the book I Am a Man! by Joshua D. Rothman
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy