Summary Of Professor Heather Williams The Emotional Violence Of Slavery

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Recommended: Contemporary debate about slavery

In her lecture, Professor Heather Williams explored the emotional violence of slavery against both free and enslaved African Americans. She endeavors to explore this by analyzing legal records, such as court cases and state laws, and looking for evidence of different penalties for white men, black men, and enslaved black men. The significance of the essay’s title comes from the panic spreading in the the minds of plantation owners about slaves murdering their owners. It also refers to the physical and emotional violence of slavery that sometimes led to the death of slaves themselves. Professor Williams’ primary focus is the frequency of these murders, the procedures followed during the trials for such crimes, and the motives behind them. From

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