A Fiction Novel's Harrowing Look at Relationships Between White Slave-Owners and their Black Concubines

Besides American Oral Histories and a few documented stories on the American legacy of Slavery, mystery surrounds the actual nature of relationships between some White Masters and the Black Women they owned. We know there was a sizable "mulatto" population from children of white slave owners and slave women. Author Dolen Perkins-Valdez explores such relationships in her compelling debut novel Wench.

Wench tells the story of 4 slave women in 1951 who form a friendship while staying with their slave masters at a Ohio Resort name Tawana. Tawana was a real resort in history where many wealthy plantation owners would take their black slave concubines to get away from plantation life. Perkins-Valdez examines the dynamics of such relationships, which are depicted as abusive to varying degrees. As an avid history fan myself, the novel left me analyzing if genuinely caring relationships could have existed.

Wench does not give a clear answer. I certainly believe there must have been loving relationships that weren't depicted in this novel. Despite the power imbalance such relationships carried and the race/class politics of the times, many slave owners manumitted the slave women and children they fathered. Some even lived as a husband and wife after granting freedom. It would only be part of human nature to develop such emotional bonds under certain circumstances.

Wench is a brave and well researched effort with complex characters and realistic scenarios. It's a controversial and important topic in which many people don't like to delve into. This gap in history will never be filled. Regardless, this novel is one beautifully written, engaging and heartbreaking tale about conflicting human emotions and friendship under bondage.