When she finally succeeded in defending herself against his attacks—by killing him—she had nothing in the way of legal recourse to justify her actions. For one, she couldn’t testify during the trial proceedings, as Missouri slave law—a separate set of laws applying only to slaves—did not permit slaves to testify against their masters.
Full Answer
What happened to Celia in a slave trial?
Celia, A Slave, Trial (1855) by Douglas O. Linder (2011) For nineteen-year-old Celia, a slave on a Missouri farm, five years of being repeatedly raped by her middle-aged owner was enough. On the night of June 23, 1855, she would later tell a reporter, "the Devil got into me" and Celia fatally clubbed her master as he approached her in her cabin.
What factors influenced the outcome of Celia's trial?
The course and outcome of Celia's trial were influenced by individuals and a court system that were trying to reconcile the personal consequences of slavery with existing moral codes, politics, and economics—at a time when nationwide struggles over the same issues were increasingly heated and often violent.
Why does Celia's testimony not appear in the trial records?
Celia's testimony does not appear in the trial records because at that time in Missouri, slaves were not allowed to testify in their own defense if their word disputed a white person's. It is a crime "to take any woman unlawfully against her will and by force, menace or duress, compel her to be defiled."
Why does the community believe Celia committed the murder of her children?
These fears, along with Celia's physical condition and the belief that her two children were in the cabin at the time of the murder, led the community to believe that Celia did not commit the crime on her own.
What were the charges against Celia the slave?
Celia, a Slave was an 1855 murder trial held in the Circuit Court of Callaway County, Missouri, in which a slave woman named Celia was tried for the first-degree murder of her owner, Robert Newsom. Celia was convicted by a jury of twelve white men and sentenced to death.
What is the significance of Celia a slave?
SIGNIFICANCE: This case graphically illustrates that enslaved women had no legal recourse when raped by their masters.
What was the outcome in the trial of Celia?
Judge Hall took twenty-four hours to consider the defense motion, then rejected it and sentenced Celia to be "hanged by the neck until dead on the sixteenth day of November 1855." The defense motion that it be allowed to appeal the judge's ruling to the Missouri Supreme Court was granted.
What happened to the slave Celia?
Celia was ultimately executed by hanging following a denied appeal in December 1855. Celia's memory was revitalized by civil rights activist Margaret Bush Wilson who commissioned a portrait of Celia from Solomon Thurman.
When did Celia A Slave take place?
1855Celia, A Slave Trial (1855) For nineteen-year-old Celia, a slave on a Missouri farm, five years of being repeatedly raped by her middle-aged owner was enough. On the night of June 23, 1855, she would later tell a reporter, "the Devil got into me" and Celia fatally clubbed her master as he approached her in her cabin.
Who was Celia's attorney?
John JamesonThe political implications of Celia's trial could not have escaped Circuit Court Judge William Hall. Certainly, he knew, pro-slavery Missourians expected Celia to hang. Hall's choice as Celia's defense attorney, John Jameson, was a safe one.
What is McLaurin's major argument about the case?
McLaurin, a historian, argues that Celia's case offers us important insights into how together, gender and racial oppression render enslaved women completely powerless to protect themselves from sexual exploitation, and how the moral ambiguity caused by slavery is often reconciled in the courts, whose rulings alleviate ...
What was the impact of Nat Turner's rebellion?
Nat Turner destroyed the white Southern myth that slaves were actually happy with their lives or too docile to undertake a violent rebellion. His revolt hardened proslavery attitudes among Southern whites and led to new oppressive legislation prohibiting the education, movement, and assembly of slaves.
What type of book is Celia a slave?
BiographyLaw materialCelia, a slave/Genres
Why did Melton a McLaurin write Celia a slave?
The author, Melton A. McLaurin, had many intentions in the composition of this book. Firstly, McLaurin wanted to uncover true cruelty of antebellum slavery. Additionally, he wanted to show that slavery was not strictly used for economic prosperity, but also for personal gain.
In which role was a slave most likely to experience the harshest conditions?
In which role was a slave most likely to experience the harshest conditions? most often were servants, cooks, and other domestic servants. Which is true of the role of slaves in the southern economy?
How many slaves did John Newsom own?
Like the majority of Callaway County farmers, Newsom also owned slaves--five male slaves as of 1850. During the summer of 1850, Newsom purchased from a slave owner in neighboring Audrain County a sixth slave, a fourteen-year-old girl named Celia. Shortly after returning with Celia to his farm, Newsom raped her.
What happened to Celia in 1855?
On the night of June 23, 1855, she would later tell a reporter, "the Devil got into me" and Celia fatally clubbed her master as he approached her in her cabin.
Where did Robert Newsom settle?
Around 1820, Robert Newsom and his family left Virginia and headed west, finally settling land along the Middle River in southern Callaway County, Missouri. By 1850 (according to the census), Newsom owned 800 acres of land and livestock that included horses, milk cows, beef cattle, hogs, sheep, and two oxen.
When was Celia convicted?
Celia's defense team filed a motion for a retrial based on alleged judicial misconduct by Judge Hall; this motion was overruled by the judge, and Celia was sentenced on October 13, 1855 to be executed by hanging November 16, 1855.
Who was Celia the Great executed by?
Celia was ultimately executed by hanging following a denied appeal in December 1855. Celia's memory was revitalized by civil rights activist Margaret Bush Wilson who commissioned a portrait of Celia from Solomon Thurman.
Why did Celia escape Callaway County jail?
Celia escaped Callaway Country Jail on November 11 and remained at large until the beginning of December in order to prevent her death before the Supreme Court could rule on her case.
How many children did Celia Newsom have?
Celia became involved with George, one of Newsom's four adult male slaves, and began sharing this cabin with him by the beginning of 1855. Celia had three children, at least one of which was indisputably Robert Newsom's. Sometime during Celia's incarceration, Celia delivered her third child.
What nationality was Celia Newsom?
Nationality. American. Celia (died December 21, 1855) was an enslaved woman found guilty of the first-degree murder of Robert Newsom, her owner, in Callaway County, Missouri.
Why is Celia Callawegians commemorating her death?
Celia's commemoration is often used as an opportunity to raise awareness about racism, sexism, domestic violence, and the historical intersection of slavery and sexual violence in America.
Why did Robert Newsom's sons have one of their daughters?
Following her execution, Harry Newsom, one of Robert Newsom's adult sons, may have acquired one of her daughters, because a female enslaved child appears in his household in the 1860 census. According to the probate court of Callaway County, Celia's daughters were sold in the year following her execution.
What is the theme of Celia a slave?
Celia, A Slave depicts an instance in which the brutality and moral depravity of the institution of slavery impacted the life of an individual slave. In this way the book’s approach was somewhat novel when it was first ...
How old was Celia when she arrived at the Newsom farm?
She was the slave Celia, who, when she arrived in 1850, was approximately fourteen years old, about the same age as Newsom's daughter Mary. Practically nothing is known about Celia's life before her arrival at the Newsom farm. Related Characters: Celia, Robert Newsom. Related Themes:
What is the defense of the chapter 6?
Chapter 6 Quotes. The defense's contention that slave women had a legal right to protect their honor, that the term "any woman" in Missouri's general statutes applied to slaves was a truly radical notion, threatening both a fundamental concept of slave law and the everyday operations of slavery. Related Themes:
What was the chapter 4 of the Missouri Compromise?
Chapter 4 Quotes. To enhance its chance of adoption, Douglas championed a bill that repealed the old Missouri Compromise and allowed the possibility of the expansion of slavery into the new federal territories of Kansas and Nebraska, which the proposed legislation would create. Related Characters: Stephen Douglas.
Who was Celia Newsom's slave master?
Celia apparently suffered repeated rape at the hands of her master, Robert Newsom.
Was Missouri a slave state?
In 1821 Missouri was admitted to the Union as a slave state, Maine as a free state, and slavery's expansion into the Louisiana Territory was limited to that area south of Missouri. A healthy sixty years of age, Newsom needed more than a hostess and manager of household affairs; he required a sexual partner.
Was slavery a part of the Bible?
Far from being the evil abolitionists claimed, slavery was "sanctioned alike by the Bible, the Laws of Nature, and the Constitution of the United States," and Congress had neither the authority nor the right to "impair a vested interest in slaves in the territories, the District of Columbia, or anywhere on earth.".
What does the defense argue about Newsom?
Finally, the defense argues that the jurors must acquit if they can conclude that Newsom was attempting to compel Celia to have sex against her will at the time of his death. The defense makes a series of bold, even radical, points in its jury instructions.
What is the Dred Scott theme?
The defense has made a radical interpretation of Missouri slave law—far more radical, even, than the one advanced by the attorneys for Dred Scott in 1852 before the Missouri Supreme Court. Dred Scott is a runaway Missouri slave who flees to a free state. Scott’s attorneys argue that Scott has earned his freedom by entering ...
Why is Jameson smart enough to realize that his case is finished?
Jameson is smart enough to realize that his case is finished: because of Hall’s interpretation of the jury instructions, he has no chance of convincing the jury to side with him. With nothing further to lose, Jameson moves (in vain) to grant Celia a new trial. Active Themes.
What chapter is Celia a slave?
Celia, a Slave: Chapter 6. LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Celia, a Slave, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. The trial has entered “the determination of jury instructions.”.
What does it mean to acknowledge slavery?
To acknowledge such a crime would mean acknowledging that slaves have certain rights that they can use against their owners, and that they have control over their own lives. In effect, legal precedent in the United States in 1855 denies that there is such a thing as slave rape.
Why did the slave woman have the right to defend herself from rape?
A law giving a slave woman the right to defend herself from rape could have been further interpreted to allow the slave woman to control who she married and whether she had children, thereby interfering with the master’s desire to produce a new generation of slave children.
Why did Jameson and his aides appear before the court?
On October 11, Jameson and his two aides appear before the court and move to “grant a new trial” on the grounds that Judge William Hall has been unfair in his rulings and interpretations. Hall doesn’t respond to the motion, but delays the reading of the verdict.
Who taught Celia the slave?
Sarah: Right off the top, we want to acknowledge that all of what we’re going to say here about Celia and her life as a slave comes from the work of historian Melton McLaurin, who taught history at the University of North Carolina: Wilmington for decades.
What did Robert Newsom want from Celia?
In other words, Robert Newsom needed sexual release. He saw in Celia an opportunity: a sexual release that would be entirely controllable, subservient, and who, if she bore children, would add to his overall wealth and status by producing more slaves. Celia was purchased with the intent that she be a sex slave.
How many slaves were there on the Newsom farm?
Elizabeth: Also living on the Newsom farm were nine enslaved people: five adult men, a small boy, plus Celia and her two small children. Missouri, of course, had successfully entered the Union as a slave state, and the enslaved population had slowly grown over the thirty years that Newsom had lived there.
How old was Celia when Robert Newsom bought her?
It was at that point that Robert Newsom decided to purchase Celia, who was about fourteen years old. Newsom never left a letter or diary that explicitly described why he purchased Celia.
Why was the Civil War not a smart way to avoid a civil war?
To many Americans in the early 19th century, it was abundantly clear that this was not a smart way to avoid a civil war; this was a clear indication that all of the attempts in the Constitution to appease both non-slaveholding and slaveholding factions had failed, and would continue to fail.
Why is slavery a label?
This is because the word “slave” is a label, which makes it seem as though human beings can simply be categorized as possessions; whereas “enslaved” makes it clear that in order to people to become possessions, they need to be actively enslaved.
When was the law of child born to a slave written?
It was written in from the beginning. In the 1662 , as slavery started to become coded into the law, the Virginia House of Burgesses passed a law that stated that children born to female slaves followed the status of their mother – meaning that any time an enslaved woman bore a child, that child was born a slave.