Love

Slaves are not allowed to have their own personal love lives if their master does not approve. A young female slave once told Mrs. Flint, Linda’s mistress, that a colored man asked the young female slave to be his wife. Mrs. Flint replied to the girl by saying, ‘“I will have you peeled and pickled, my lady,’ she said, ‘if I ever hear you mention that subject again. Do you suppose that I will have you tending my children with the children of that nigger?’” Linda was in the same situation as this young female slave. Slaves could not just pick up and leave a family to marry a colored man, especially a free colored man. Even if the man had money to buy the female slave, she still could not leave the family without the permission of her master. In Linda’s situation, her master, Dr. Flint, did not want her to leave the family and suggested that she come work with him in Louisiana, a completely different state. Dr. Flint would not even let Linda talk to the man that wanted to marry her. Linda really wanted to love someone, but she was unable to. As a slave, she was considered property and was under the control of her master.