A Fancy Girl, sometimes called a Fancy Maid, was a young woman of African descent with a lighter complexion sold with the intent of forced prostitution and concubinage.[1] This sale was often referred to as the Fancy Trade within the larger history of Slavery in the United States.
History
editFancy girls were purchased and sold within the southern United States by slave traders such as Rice C. Ballard and Robert Jardine. The young women were often sold at auctions with other enslaved people, though it was common for the Fancy Girl to be sold in New Orleans.[2] The young women were often sold at prices much higher than the average enslaved person was sold for. One bill of sale for the purchase of a young woman named Clary declared she was purchased for fifty pounds,[3] or nearly five-thousand dollars in modern currency.
Fancy Girls were often kept either in the home, or in a special building on the slave owner's property. The white wives of the slave owners and traders were not fond of these women, often blaming them for the choices of their husbands.[4]
Notable Fancy Girls
editAvenia White was a woman purchased by Rice C. Ballard and kept on his plantation for many years. Her importance to Ballard is highlighted by her continuous time living on his plantation, and travelling with him and his family during repeated moves.[4]
White and Ballard had known each other for a long time when she, along with fellow Fancy Girl Susan Johnson, were freed and sent to live in Cincinnati by their previous owner Ballard. Cincinnati was highly populated with previously enslaved women and their mixed children, it functioned as somewhat of a safe-haven for those in situations similar to White and Johnson.[4]
References
edit- ^ White Gray, Deborah (1985). Ar'n't I A Woman?: Female Slaves in the Plantation South (Revised ed.). W.W. Norton & Company (published February 17, 1999). ISBN 978-0393314816.
- ^ Gordon, Tiye (2015). "The Fancy Trade and the Commodification of Rape in the Sexual Economy of 19th Century U.S. Slavery". University of South Carolina Scholar Commons.
- ^ "Bill of Sale for a Girl Named Clary Purchased by Robert Jardine for 50 Pounds". Museum of African American History and Culture. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
- ^ a b c Green, Sharony (2015). Remember Me to Miss Louisa: Hidden Black-White Intimacies in Antebellum America. DeKalb, Illinois 60115: Northern Illinois University Press. ISBN 9780875807232.
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