Rape & Race in the Nineteenth-century South / Women and Race in Early Modern Texts / White Slavery, what the Scots already know

Slavery has been a serious and tragic part of not only the United States history, but history for all countries. Whether we have found written accounts of slavery or not there has been some type of human enslavement. What I found interesting is that many people think of Africans as a majority of people enslaved, but really citizens from all races and ethnicity's have been involved. For instance, English, Scottish, Irish and more have had experiences with slavery. Not to mention, men, women, and children all participated in the trade and endured all the same tasks together. No one was given less work because they were female unless they were partaking in the rigors of pregnancy or childbearing. Today, people believe women cannot perform all the same tasks as men and, particularly children, have been protected by laws so as not to have to do any sort of labor before an appropriate age. In a way the tables have turned for women. Men did not see women as more weak and as the 'homemakers' as much as they do now. Today it is as if women are having to prove themselves all over again by saying that they can do just as much as a male can.