‘Horrible Enough to Stir a Man's Soul’: Enslaved Men, Emotions, and Heterosexual Intimacy in the Antebellum U.S. South

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article analyses enslaved men's emotive responses to slavery's sexual economy in the antebellum U.S. South. It joins the growing historical literature on everyday forms of resistance and refusal, shedding light on the intimate dimensions of enslaved men's resistance. Using the framework of ‘emotional regimes’, this article shows that enslaved men strategically dissembled within, evaded, and defied slavery's culture of paternalism and strict emotional regime. It argues that enslaved men desired, sought, and valued strong intimate and affective relationships as an everyday life-affirming practice. While slavery's sexual economy routinely undermined enslaved romantic unions and emotional bonding, enslaved men typically showed their strength through vulnerability, emotional resilience, and emotional caretaking in intimate relationships.