Of Note: Montia Gardner

Montia Gardner (Cohort '19) has recently been awarded a short-term fellowship award from the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies. This award allows fellows, like Montia, to use the  Digital Archeological Archive of Comparative Slavery or Getting Word (an oral history project of the descendants of Monticello’s enslaved families.)

This a the description of Montia's research statement:

 “The Reproductive Resistance of Enslaved Women in the Antebellum South” explores the history of resistance practices used by enslaved women to reclaim ownership of their bodies and reproductive rights lost due to chattel slavery. On January 1, 1808, with over four million Africans enslaved in the south, northern and southern congressmen joined in a vote to abolish the African slave trade.  The termination of the trade caused a free labor shortage and it would have been necessary for planters to decide the method in which they would increase human stock.  The most inexpensive way would be through breeding or natural reproduction. My research explores the documented accounts of reproductive resistance practices of enslaved women and midwifery techniques associated with birthing and gynecological care.

Congratulations, Montia.