McLaurin states in the beginning of his book, "The life of Celia demonstrates how slavery placed individuals, black and white, in specific situations that forced them to make and to act upon personal decisions of a fundamentally moral nature" (McLaurin 1991, xi). The American policy at the time supported slavery, and even allowed slave and non-slave states to join the Union in equal numbers. Most Northerners did not support slavery, but most Southerners did, and the American government managed to stay neutral by allowing states to join the Union in equal numbers, until the Civil War broke out. Of course, the Civil War freed the slaves, but they were certainly not free and equal in the South. The American policy, even after the war, did not allow the same freedoms, and even if it did, the Southerners created their own policies with the Jim Crow laws that affected blacks.
Celia's trial is a direct result of that American policy of the time, which allowed blacks to be owned as slaves, and even supported extending those rights to certain new states. How did it reconcile itself? It reconciled itself with the belief, held by many, that blacks were "lower" than whites in every way, and that they were not as capable or as knowledgeable. Some people thought they were like children, while others thought they were like animals. As long as they viewed them this way, they were less than human, and so, they did not have to be treated in a humane manner.
This was true even in the...
If Celia had been a white woman accused of the same crime, she probably would have been acquitted. Newsom was a menace, and a pervert, and the jury would have taken that into consideration, along with the young age that he first attacked her. She feared for her life, and for the life of her child, and did the only thing she could to protect herself, because it was clear Newsom would not respect her wishes. She was convicted because she was black, and that represents the American justice system and humanity of the time. Blacks were not "real" American citizens, they were just property like animals, and so, they did not have to be treated the same as white people in the same situation.
In conclusion, Celia's story is more than just a sad tale of sexual perversion and death. It is a treatise about the American justice system and society at the time. The author discusses this throughout the trial section of the book, and even makes some judgments about it. Today, Celia is viewed as a victim, but not only a victim of Roger Newsom. She was a victim of society and the court system of the time, as well. They let her down because she was black and a woman and that represents the government's policies and beliefs of the time, a time that America should never forget, but never be proud of, either.
References
McLauren, M.A. Celia, a Slave: A True Story of Violence and Retribution in Antebellum Missouri. Athens, GA: The…
