summary of Celia a slave by Melton McLaurin in 1850 a rich farmer in Missouri named Robert Newsom gets a slave girl named Celia she is only 13 years old we don't know much about Celia's life before she lived on Newsome's land but we do know that she was 14 years old when Newsome bought her Robert Newsom is a lot like the other people in his Missouri Town he is a farmer who Moved West to find cheap fertile land he has a big family with many sons and daughters two of them Virginia and Mary still live with him Robert by Celia because his wife died and he wants someone to sleep with Robert raped Celia the same night he buys her this keeps happening year after year Celia can't do anything to stop Robert from sexually harassing her Robert owns her and she has no legal right to say no to him at the same time that Robert buys Celia there is a fierce discussion going on All Over America about slavery the abolition movement which wants slavery to be completely outlawed has been getting stronger for a long time also many lawmakers in the north think that slavery shouldn't be allowed to spread into the land that the United States won in the Mexican-American War after a lot of discussion in Congress Missouri is added to the Union as a slave state this is a big win for politicians who support slavery because it sets a pattern for adding more slave states to the union and forces the federal government to recognize slavery as an institution on newsom's Farm Celia has a hard and lonely life she has no friends on the farm neither among the slaves nor among the white people Virginia and Mary probably know that their father was seeing Celia but they think of her as a sexual abuser and blame her for seducing their father at the beginning of the 1850s Celia starts dating another slave named George gets very angry when he learns that Celia and Newsome are having an affair Early In 1855 when Celia finds out she is pregnant either with Robert newsom's child or George's Things finally get bad George is angry but he is too afraid to talk to Newsom directly so he gives Celia an ultimatum either end the affair with Robert or he won't talk to her again Celia has been placed in a scary situation she knows that Robert can rape her and that she can't stop him but she doesn't want to lose George she tries to get Virginia and Mary to help her by telling them she's been sick because she's pregnant and can't handle Robert's approaches right now she also gives him the impression that if he tries to have sex with her again she'll have to use Force to protect herself Virginia and Mary don't seem to do anything when Celia asks them to most likely they explain why they aren't doing anything by saying that Celia is a seductress on the night of June 23 1855 Robert Newsom as he usually does sneaks out of his room and goes to Celia's house there Celia tells Robert not to get close to her when Robert doesn't pay attention to her she hits him with a big stick when he stumbles back she hits him again killing him Celia is scared and it's easy to see why she's probably going to be killed for killing her owner she chooses to burn the body in the fireplace to hide it by morning she had done a good job of turning Newsome's body into ashes the next day Robert's family and Neighbors start looking for him early in the morning Robert's neighbor William Powell talks to Celia and finds out the truth Celia killed Robert Celia is being kept in jail and her hearing is set for October at the time white people in America are afraid that slaves will rise up in recent memory slaves in Haiti LED an uprising that was successful and got rid of the French colonists more recently the slave preacher Nat Turner led a failed but damaging Uprising in Virginia so it looks like Celia will be punished as much as the law allows judge William Augustus Hall chooses a man named John Jameson to protect Celia in court Jameson is a lawyer with a good name in his community he is friendly and charismatic Jameson builds a case for his client with the help of his two assistant lawyers Jameson is a very religious man which means he probably cares more about slaves than the average Missourian at the time he plans to argue that Celia has the right to kill her master if he tries to rape her he will do this by pointing to a law in Missouri that says women can kill to protect their honor to make this case though he will have to convince a judge that the law applies to Slaves who are property and not people in the 1850s the fight over slavery has become very violent Stephen Douglas a powerful Senator got the Kansas Nebraska Act passed this law gives people in New Western areas the right to vote on whether or not slavery should be legal in their state David R Atkinson a powerful politician in Missouri who supports slavery plans a number of steps to make Kansas a slave state he sends Border Ruffians into Kansas to make sure that most of the people there agree with slavery the Free Soil Party which wants Kansas to be a free state sends thousands of people out west to make sure Kansas doesn't vote for slavery the fight in Kansas turns deadly very quickly there are riots in protests all over the region which shows how controversial the problem of slavery has become at Celia's trial Jameson makes a great case for her because the law says she has the right to protect herself from rape he is also able to show through his cross-examinations of the prosecution's witnesses that Robert Newsom sexually abused Celia this is a bad fact that most of the witnesses try to hide but many of Jameson's points and evidence are shot down by the prosecution the jury instructions are the most important part of the trial both the defense and the prosecution must persuade judge Hall to tell the jurors how to decide the case in a way that will help their side win Robert tries to get Hull to tell the jury to figure out how Missouri law says a slave can protect herself from being raped but Hall won't do that so Celia is found guilty and given a death sentence later in the month Jameson and his staff go beyond their original plan and write an appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court but the court doesn't answer Celia is Led out of jail just days before she is to be put to death no one knows why but it is known that she will be taken back into custody soon after her execution date and she is scheduled to be killed in December tragically the Missouri Supreme Court rejects Jameson's appeal and upholds the jury's original decision this decision is the same as what the Supreme Court of the United States said about the Dred Scott case earlier that same year at the time slaves were considered the property of their masters which meant they had no legal or human rights at the end of December Celia is hanged her life shows how terrible slavery was especially for women slaves who are often sexually abused by their male Masters a few years after Celia dies the country goes to Civil War this shows that slavery's bad effects can't be fixed by calm means about the author Melton McLaurin was born in North Carolina and went to East Carolina University for college he got an M.A and then a PhD in history from the University of South Carolina his study there was on the Cotton industry in the South during Reconstruction in the late 60s and early 70s he taught at the University of South Carolina and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1977 he joined the University of North Carolina at Wilmington School in 2004 he was named a professor emeritus he has written many books that have been well received such as nights of Labor in the South 1978 which is about the labor movement and the soldiers of Montford Point 2007 which is about the history of black soldiers hope we summarized it fully and you liked it please hit the like button and subscribe to our channel so that we are motivated to create more videos