Beyond What is Written: Enslaved Women and the Production of Intellectual Traditions Independent of Literacy

This research analyzes how 19th century enslaved women produced intellectual traditions independent of literacy, as well as how these traditions shaped their relationships to their communities. The research utilizes written works by both freed and enslaved black people to understand how the ideologies of enslaved women in their communities influenced them. Framing knowledge produced by enslaved women through the lens of intellectualism is meant to complicate how intellectual thought is understood across historiography. In doing so, it expands the idea of intellectual thought to be inclusive of ideologies produced by enslaved women-a group systemically barred from literacy.The research concludes that various personal, political, and spiritual aspects combined to influence the decisions made to survive bondage on a day-to-day basis. Understanding how enslaved women's intellectual ideas shaped their actions is important in conceptualizing them as dynamic historical actors and expanding understandings of intellectual figures within historiography.