My mother had nine more children for the Master of the Land, but they was all sold when they got to be bout three years old by the Mistress of the Land becuase they was too white and lookin like the Master of the Land. That, and the money.
Women in slavery bore their masters many children, just like Cora's mother The children were often sold not by the masters but at the behest of their wives who were extremely jealous of the children's position and also bore a deep dislike of the offspring of a slave. In Cora's mother's case, Cora and her siblings were too pale skinned for the Mistress's liking. They resembled the Master too much, and she did not like to be reminded that they were his.
Another reason for the children to be sold was economics; nine children would bring in a lot of money to help prop up the plantation and would also buy a great deal of favor with neighboring landowners to whom they were sold.
It was THAT day the Master of the Land said my mama was goin to go for to be his son's night-mate too, smilin' down at her like he was doin her some special kinda good favor.
Cora's mother had told her about the night in question. Having produced ten children for the Master, she was now being passed along to his son, but the way in which he told her this was nauseating to Cora because he acted as though he was giving her a great act of benevolence; he almost saw it as a compliment to Cora's mother that he felt her good enough for his son. This is also revealing about the maters of slaves in general in that some felt they were doing something good for the women in their servitude, not something that was abusive. Cora's mother's master saw allowing her to sleep with his son as an honor, not another form of abuse and punishment.
