October 1640
Court decisionBook sources
A Black woman is whipped while Robert Sweat receives penance
James City, colonial Virginia
Virginia’s court ordered an unnamed Black woman serving Lieutenant Sheppard whipped after finding that Robert Sweat had made her pregnant. Sweat was ordered to perform public penance at James City church. The order imposed different punishments on the two people.
Dates preserve the source’s precision. This entry is part of a selected historical record; its qualifications and sources are retained below.
Context / qualification
The woman’s name and account do not survive in this extract. The court’s sexual-offense language does not establish consent or explain the full circumstances of the relationship.
Sources
- Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, chapter 2, p. 30; supplied print pages, edition/year unidentified
- Helen Tunnicliff Catterall, Judicial Cases (1926), vol. 1, pp. 77–78; McIlwaine court extracts and notes ↗