618. Shannon Eaves, Part 2

 Part 2 of our interview with Shannon Eaves. "Her book, Sexual Violence and American Slavery: The Making of a Rape Culture in the Antebellum South, was published by UNC Press in 2024. This study examines how the rape and sexual exploitation of enslaved women created a rape culture that was woven into the very fabric of antebellum society, influencing daily life for both the enslaved and enslavers....

Shannon earned her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and currently serves as an Associate Professor of African American History here at the College of Charleston. She is a specialist in 19th century U.S. History, African American History, and Slavery and Gender in the Antebellum South" (Faculty page).  "It is impossible to separate histories of sexual violence and the enslavement of Black women in the antebellum South. Rape permeated the lives of all who existed in that system: Black and white, male and female, adult and child, enslaved and free. Shannon C. Eaves unflinchingly investigates how both enslaved people and their enslavers experienced the systematic rape and sexual exploitation of bondswomen and came to understand what this culture of sexualized violence meant for themselves and others. Eaves mines a wealth of primary sources including autobiographies, diaries, court records, and more to show that rape and other forms of sexual exploitation entangled slaves and slave owners in battles over power to protect oneself and one’s community, power to avenge hurt and humiliation, and power to punish and eliminate future threats" (UNC Press).

1. Now available: Liberty in Louisiana: A Comedy. The oldest play about Louisiana, author James Workman wrote it as a celebration of the Louisiana Purchase. Now it is back in print for the first time in 221 years. Order your copy today!
   
2. This week in Louisiana history. March 22, 1976. Reese Witherspoon is from New Orleans and is best known for her role in Legally Blonde and Walk the Line.
   
3. This week in New Orleans history. Maximilian Ferdinand Bonzano, physician, minter, administrator. Born, Ebingen, Germany, March 22, 1821, arrived in New Orleans, 1835, working first in a printing office as a roller boy and then as printer, which provided opportunity to master the English language. Morally opposed to slavery. Also opposed secession and refused to serve the Confederacy. He was elected from his district as a delegate to the state's 1864 constitutional convention, where he chaired the committee on emancipation and personally wrote the ordinance which freed Louisiana's slaves. He lived in the mansion which had served as the headquarters of Gen. Andrew Jackson.
   
4. This week in Louisiana.
   Cane River Creole National Park
   The Texas and Pacific Railway Depot
   Oakland and Magnolia Plantations
   9:00 am - 3:00 pm daily
   Natchez, LA
   Website
   The Cane River region