Slaveholders weaponized biblical texts to justify whipping disabled slaves

Evidence

I have seen him tie up a lame young woman, and whip her with a heavy cowskin upon her naked shoulders, causing the warm red blood to drip; and, in justification of the bloody deed, he would quote this passage of Scripture—“He that knoweth his master’s will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.” Master would keep this lacerated young woman tied up in this horrid situation four or five hours at a time. I have known him to tie her up early in the morning, and whip her before breakfast; leave her, go to his store, return at dinner, and whip her again, cutting her in the places already made raw with his cruel lash. — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 248

Categorization

• SHARE: A specific horrible detail — scripture quoted verbatim to justify beating a burned and disabled young woman — worth passing to anyone writing about proslavery biblicism.
• XREF: connects to: Slave Bibles excised liberation passages while keeping obedience commands — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 225; Theological blessing of slavery severed slaveholders’ natural moral impulses — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 251; Religious conversion made slaveholders more cruel, not less — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 246 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Slave-owning theologians justified the lash as biblically warranted parental discipline #corroborates (0.92) — , The Rod and the Child, 4388
• Theological blessing of slavery severed slaveholders’ natural moral impulses #expands (0.85) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 251
• Racist theological ideas sanctioned and made American slavery acceptable to Christian churches #expands (0.85) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 20
• Religion supplied slaveholders moral sanction rather than conscience for cruelty #expands (0.85) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 246
• Religious blessing of slavery severed white Christians’ natural moral restraint #expands (0.85) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 251
• Religious conversion made slaveholders more cruel, not less #corroborates (0.80) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 246
• Documented slave tortures exceeded whipping into extreme acts of cruelty #expands (0.75)