Were enslaved people forced to 'breed' like livestock—or is that one of the most misunderstood parts of slavery history?"
"Were enslaved people forced to 'breed' like livestock—or is that one of the most misunderstood parts of slavery history?" Few topics in American history create more debate than this one. Images like this are often shared with claims that enslaved men were routinely selected, inspected, and forced to father large numbers of children for profit. The reality is complicated, disturbing, and still discussed by historians today. What is well documented is that enslaved people were legally treated as property in much of the United States. Because the status of a child followed that of the mother, every child born into slavery increased an enslaver's wealth. Human beings became financial assets on paper. Some slaveholders encouraged births among enslaved people. Others used coercion, threats, sexual violence, or forced relationships to increase the enslaved population after the transatlantic slave trade ended in the United States in 1808. What remains debated is how wide...