The Untold Horrors of Enslaved Women During Pregnancy

Picture a young woman, no more than 16 years old, enslaved on a plantation in the deep south. She’s pregnant with her first child, a child that she knows will not be her own. She’s scared, but she’s also filled with hope that maybe, just maybe, her child will have a better life than she has. As her belly grows, so do her fears. She watches as other pregnant women on the plantation are worked to the brink of exhaustion, forced to carry out the same grueling work as the other enslaved people. But she knows that if she can’t keep up, her punishment will be severe. As her due date approaches, the fear turns to terror. She knows that childbirth is dangerous for any woman, but for an enslaved woman, it’s even more so. There are no doctors to help her, no midwives to guide her. All she has is the other enslaved women on the plantation, who will do their best to help her through the ordeal. But the horrors don’t end there. If she survives childbirth, she’ll be expected