The David Dickson Gendered Legacy
The David Dickson Gendered Legacy: Miscegenation, Amalgamation & Triumph in 19th Century Middle Georgia Society
Very few Africans gained immunity to the rigid racial caste system of Southern society during the Antebellum and post-Civil War periods. Miscegenation thrived during this period. However, most Mullato children took on the socio-economic status of their mothers. White male fathers usually ignored their Mullato offspring and allowed them to endure a harsh life of involuntary servitude or share-cropping. Most whites of the southern planter class deemed it improper to even speak of outside children of established white men. From a variety of sources, a great deal of information can be gathered on Mullato Amanda America Dickson, who exempted the traditional role of gender and racial inferiority in Antebellum and post-Civil War southern society. By studying her life, one is able to gather information about the “The Way It Was” in the South during the 19th century. This paper hopes to examine a few of the main characters of Amanda Dickson’s life and how they altered traditional southern antebellum and post-war societal norms and set the stage for her to become very successful despite the odds of race, class and gender. [1]
Race does indeed outweigh class and gender in the case of Amanda Dickson. Amanda Dickson’s forty year old father, David Dickson, raped her thirteen year-old mother Julia Lewis Dickson. Resulting from this most harrowing experience, Julia Dickson conceived Amanda America Dickson. These types of forced conceptions were considered the norm of southern society during the 19th century. Women had [2]very little rights concerning their rights to sexual intercourse and birth rights.
Many authors have examined the Dickson affair and asserted that this rape, rearing and rights of Dickson’s black offspring was an anomaly. In order to argue that this rape was unique for the time period in question, one must contextualize the life of the
Very few Africans gained immunity to the rigid racial caste system of Southern society during the Antebellum and post-Civil War periods. Miscegenation thrived during this period. However, most Mullato children took on the socio-economic status of their mothers. White male fathers usually ignored their Mullato offspring and allowed them to endure a harsh life of involuntary servitude or share-cropping. Most whites of the southern planter class deemed it improper to even speak of outside children of established white men. From a variety of sources, a great deal of information can be gathered on Mullato Amanda America Dickson, who exempted the traditional role of gender and racial inferiority in Antebellum and post-Civil War southern society. By studying her life, one is able to gather information about the “The Way It Was” in the South during the 19th century. This paper hopes to examine a few of the main characters of Amanda Dickson’s life and how they altered traditional southern antebellum and post-war societal norms and set the stage for her to become very successful despite the odds of race, class and gender. [1]
Race does indeed outweigh class and gender in the case of Amanda Dickson. Amanda Dickson’s forty year old father, David Dickson, raped her thirteen year-old mother Julia Lewis Dickson. Resulting from this most harrowing experience, Julia Dickson conceived Amanda America Dickson. These types of forced conceptions were considered the norm of southern society during the 19th century. Women had [2]very little rights concerning their rights to sexual intercourse and birth rights.
Many authors have examined the Dickson affair and asserted that this rape, rearing and rights of Dickson’s black offspring was an anomaly. In order to argue that this rape was unique for the time period in question, one must contextualize the life of the
Cited: David Dickson to Richard Warthan, April 10, 1843, Misc. Special Collections, University of Georgia Library, Athens. Eighth Census of the United States (1860): Population, Hancock County, Georgia. Thomas Dickson 's Will, November 5, 1827, 182-97, Index to Wills, Hancock County, Georgia. Grant, Donald. The Way It Was In the South: The Black Experience In Georgia. Secaucus, N.J.: Carol Pub. Group, 1993. Lemire, Elise. “Miscegenation:” Making Race in America. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002. Leslie, Kent. Woman of Color Daughter of Privilege: Amanda America Dickson. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1995. [3] Ibid, 32-40; Eighth Census of the United States (1860): Population, Hancock County, Georgia, 269. [6] Willard Range, "The Prince of Southern Farmers," Georgia Review 2 (Spring 1948), 94-95, 97; Eighth Census of the United States (1860): Population, Hancock County, Georgia, 269. [9] Smith (et al.) v. DuBose (et al.) executors 78 Ga 425, 419; Atlanta Constitution, December 11, 1979, B-4; Eighth Census, 269; Leslie, Woman of Color, 32-46. [11] Savannah Morning News, February 23, 1885, p. 1; Willard Range, "The Prince of Southern Farmers," Georgia Review 2 (Spring 1948), 95, 97. [12] Hancock County Court of Ordinary, Probate Records, 1885, 246; Leslie, Woman of Color, 76-90.