Lack of Bodily Autonomy

The lack of control women had over their bodies both during Hazel and Mary’s times is critiqued in this novel. Throughout history, one way that slave owners kept their slaves under submission was through rape. White men would rape the Black women they enslaved, and this took power away from the women, satisfied the men’s sexual desires, and increased their number of slaves because any children born to enslaved women were then enslaved themselves. Hazel and Mary are descendants of a sexual relationship between a white man and a Black woman in their family tree. While the man may have loved the woman, he did not love her enough to give her her freedom.

Hazel is not enslaved, but she is a poor Black woman living in the home of sexually aggressive white males. Bessie knows that Hazel is a target...