Breeding Shadows: The Coerced Reproduction of Enslaved and Indentured Peoples in the Americas
Breeding Shadows: The Coerced Reproduction of Enslaved and Indentured Peoples in the Americas The end of the transatlantic slave trade in 1808 (US) and 1850 (Brazil) forced a grim pivot: slaveholders turned to the bodies of enslaved women to replenish their "stock." In the United States, where only 6% of transatlantic captives landed yet two-thirds of all New World slaves lived by 1860, "slave breeding" became systematic, lucrative, and modeled on livestock husbandry. Owners incentivized births, forced pairings, deployed "stud" males, and raped women, all while selecting for strength, size, or lighter skin to maximize market value. Brazil, importer of 40–45% of all Africans (4–5.5 million), long relied on fresh imports amid lethal sugar regimes and male-heavy demographics; only post-1850 did domestic reproduction gain urgency. Techniques mirrored the US but arrived late and never achieved self-sustaining growth. Both systems ended with abolition—1865...