Aneissa Coulter

History 108-012
Paper #2
Celia, A Slave
In the book Celia, A Slave, Melton A. McLaurin informs his readers about the story of a
female slave who had repeatedly been sexually assaulted by her master, Robert Newsom. These
events took place in Calloway County, Missouri in the mid to late 1800s. Eventually she had had
enough and on the night of June 23, 1855 after almost 5 years of being his mistress she murdered
her master in her cabin. After killing him she was worried about what would happen if anyone
found out what she had done, so she burnt his body in her fireplace to destroy all evidence. The
Newson family was determined to discover what had happened to their missing father, they
searched for him and called in their neighbor, Willian Powell, to do some questioning. Although
Celia did her best to destroy the evidence, she was unable to keep her secret for long due to
Powells constant interrogation. On Monday, June 25, 1855 the trial of State of Missouri vs.
Celia, A Slave officially began. These events occurred during a time in America when the
discussion of whether or not slavery was right or wrong was at its highest. Amidst this
happening, right across the state line, in Kansas, violence had erupted between pro-slavery and
anti-slavery Americans. This is known has Bleeding Kansas, citizens were to choose if the state
would be a free or slave state and war broke out. McLaurin discusses the moral, legal, and
religious paradoxes that affected the understanding of the events that took place during Celias
trial.
Slavery was a sad period for our country, a time where humans greatly mistreated other
human beings. This goes against all of the morals of humans today and at this time had. So why
was this able to happen and why did it happen for so long? Americans came to the U.S. to leave
the restrictions and control that Great Britain had on their people. The United States was created
to be a place of freedom for all and yet this was not true for African Americans slaves. How

Aneissa Coulter
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come Americans did not have a problem with limiting African Americans of their rights and
treating them as property? These questions and ideas are discussed greatly by McLaurin
throughout his book. McLaurin states in the beginning of his novel While it is possible that
Newsom harbored some moral ambiguity about slave ownership, it is far more likely that he
regarded it as a fitting reward for his years of labor, an indication of the social status he achieved
through his own efforts1 McLaurin argues that Newsom ignored his ownership of slaves as
being morally wrong due to the fact that he believed he had worked hard in enough in his life
and it was time that someone being doing the job for him. He suggests Robert Newsom saw
owning slaves as a reward for his hard work. This suggests that Americas made excuses to hide
behind the fact that slavery was, in fact, morally wrong. Another excuse for the behaviors during
Celias trial was that, the judge wished to dispose of the case as quickly as possible because of
political tensions within the state.2 Citizens and supremacys in the state were beginning to
discuss and argue over the laws of slavery and what was right and wrong. Other states around
Missouri were also arguing over the topic of slavery and these arguments were turning violent.
Judge Hall wanted to end Celias case quickly so that it did not cause an uproar within the state.
Even though the judge may have morally felt Celia was mistreated, the government did want
another outbreak of violence like what was happening in Kansas. This could have caused Judge
Hall to ignore his morals for the sake of safety. McLaurin also states, Hall also probably
understood that the trial held at least some potential to contribute to the outgoing national debate

1 Melton A. McLaurin. Celia, A Slave. Atlanta: University of Georgia Press. (1991).

Page 8.
2 Melton A. McLaurin. Celia, A Slave. Atlanta: University of Georgia Press. (1991).
Page 103.

Aneissa Coulter
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3
over slavery In the 1850s government officials were arguing over whether slavery should be
allowed and where it would and would not be allowed. If this case would have stated that Celia
was in the right for what she had done due to the fact that her owner was sexually abusing her,
many other issue would have risen. It is unclear if the Judge was for or against slavery4 but the
pressure this topic and how he would be ridiculed on his decision probably played a role on his
verdict and his morals.
Another topic from the book that has to do with morals, is how the Newsom daughters
did not do anything to help Celia. Celia announced to the daughters that she had been raped and
she was very sick, but it is thought that instead of helping Celia they just ignored the situation.
Whether or not they believed her, we can never know, but it is difficult to imagine they were not
aware of this relationship. Nor does evidence indicate whether Virginia or Mary attempted to
intervene with their father on Celias behalf.5 The decision to not interfere with what was
happening to Celia would have been against their morals and yet they did nothing. The book
suggests this is because, Economic dependence would have played a large role, but would not
have been the only influence, females were ultimately powerless when it came to white men,
even in their families6 McLaurin focuses on the fact that the daughters were victims to
Fundamental moral anxiety of slavery. They were faced with one of slaverys oldest moral
3 Melton A. McLaurin. Celia, A Slave. Atlanta: University of Georgia Press. (1991).
Page 81.
4 Melton A. McLaurin. Celia, A Slave. Atlanta: University of Georgia Press. (1991).
Page.
5 Melton A. McLaurin. Celia, A Slave. Atlanta: University of Georgia Press. (1991).
Page 32.
6 Melton A. McLaurin. Celia, A Slave. Atlanta: University of Georgia Press. (1991).
Page 32.

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dilemmas and chose not to act on it to safe their own wellbeing. Modern Americans have learned
from Celias case that many excuses were used to explain the actions of slaves owners and the
people around them.
Along with moral paradoxes there were also many legal paradoxes within this work. At
this time there were documents, such as the Declaration of Independence, that stated that people
were equal although this was not that case. African Americans and women were not treated the
same as white men, especially wealthy white men. Women were treated as second class citizens
and African Americans slaves were not treated as citizens they were treated as property. Murder
was not legal, but murder of a master by a slave was even worse. And women were not supposed
to talk about rape and sexual assault, even if it happened to them. Celias defense still believed
they gave her a fair trial. Whatever his motives, his performance revealed that, in this case at
least, Jameson believed even a slave accused of her masters murder deserved the best possible
defense7 Celia first plead not guilty of her crimes but Jameson saw that the this would cause the
jury and the judge to come to a verdict that they did not want. After Jameson heard all the
testimonys he had an idea. Celia would plead guilty to murder after she stated, she did not
intend to kill him when she struck him but only wanted to hurt him.8 His plan was to use her
reason for murder, rape and sexual assault by her master, to sway the jury in favor of Celia. He
immediately focused on the sexual nature of the relationship between Celia and Newsom, forcing
Jones to admit that Celia had told him that Newsom had raped her That he had continued to

7 Melton A. McLaurin. Celia, A Slave. Atlanta: University of Georgia Press. (1991).

Page 87.
8 Melton A. McLaurin. Celia, A Slave. Atlanta: University of Georgia Press. (1991).
Page 43.

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demand these sexual favors of her throughout the years she resided on the Newsom farm.9 This
plan, however, was very difficult for Jameson because This line of questioning brought an
objection from the prosecution, which Judge Hall sustained.10 Why would Judge Hall appoint
Jameson to defend Celia, knowing he would do a good job if he was going to not allow him to
properly defend? Was it because the topic of rape was not to be discussed and Judge Hall did not
want it to be? Legally it was not an accepted act, but it was also not to be talked about. It is
suggested Judge Hall was worried about the kind of disrupted behavior would arise if everyone
knew Celia had been sexually assault since age 14. Jameson was willing to argue and defend her
case that she committed murder due to the events that had taken place for years before. Most
likely because he had daughters her age and could not imagine this happening to either of them.
Judge Hall knew this when he appointed Jameson to defend the case, it seemed as if he wanted
her to have a fair trial. With the second class sigma she had with being a woman but also an
African American slave basically gave her no rights at the time. This probably played a big role
in the legal decisions that this Judge was forced to make. Judge Hall found Celia guilty of
murder and sentenced her to be hanged for her crimes, ignoring all of Jamesons attempts to
prove reason for her crime.
While the state of Missouri v. Celia case was in motion, ministers were being beaten and
killed because they believed that slaves had the same rights as everyone else. African Americans,
slaves, should not be treated differently because of the color of their skin, everyone is created
equal in Gods eyes. Minister was preaching the Negro was, in every particular, as good as the
9 Melton A. McLaurin. Celia, A Slave. Atlanta: University of Georgia Press. (1991).
Page 96.
10 Melton A. McLaurin. Celia, A Slave. Atlanta: University of Georgia Press. (1991).
Page 97.

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11
white man. And should have equal rights In Religious congregations were among the first
institutions formed, meeting in private homes before building actual churches12 This suggests
that the people of Calloway county were pretty religious people. McLaurin also states, Most
coming to Calloway County were seekers and dreamer looking to find the promise land that God
had promised.13 It would seem that people in Calloway County would be against slavery
because of their focus on Christianity, and yet for some reason many had slaves. The Newsoms
themselves probably belonged to some religious congregation and yet they still owned slaves.
They ignored what the bible, and their God was saying about everyone being equal and allowed
themselves to somehow think it was okay. Not only does the bible state that people should be
treated equal it is also against sex out of wedlock. Both of these ideas were broken by Newsom
and yet accepted or at least not question by some. These religious ideas seem to have been
broken to become more powerful and to not have to work as hard. Having slaves do his work
was okay because he worked hard when he was young so now he should be able to sit back and
enjoy himself while others, slaves, spend their time working hard.
The book Celia, A Slave informs Americans about slavery and how unfairly Africa
Americans were treated at this time. Moral, legal, and religious beliefs were proven to be ignored
during this time and in this case. Now, after reading this book, Americans can attempt to
understand why the people of this time treated the situation in the way that they did. Why these

11 Melton A. McLaurin. Celia, A Slave. Atlanta: University of Georgia Press. (1991).

Page 74.
12 Melton A. McLaurin. Celia, A Slave. Atlanta: University of Georgia Press. (1991).
Page 4.
13 Melton A. McLaurin. Celia, A Slave. Atlanta: University of Georgia Press. (1991).
Page 6.

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paradoxes that McLaurin discusses were happening. Morals were seemed to be traded or set on a
backburner to protect themselves and the safety from outbreaks of violence. Legal issues were
treated in different ways to ignore subjects that were not to be discussed or not accepted to be
talked about. Religious views were ignored to gain or have power and someone to do things for
you.