e to answer these questions, and different colonies answered them differently for a time. Then, in 1662 in Virginia, the fateful and fatal law was passed. In most places, at most times in history, children have blessed or cursed by the social positions of their fathers. But in the early 1660s-beginning with the 1662 Virginia law-the American colonies without exception passed laws stating that " all children borne in this country shall be held bond or free only according to the condition of the mother. " children born to free women would be free, but children born to slave women would be slave and, of course, the property of the woman's owner. (SHT 16)
             The 1662 law its successors in other colonies settled the issue of who could be enslaved. At same time, it altered the status of black women in the most profound way, by redefining their position as women. From then on, black motherhood was, at least for slaves, a legal curse. Henceforth, black women would be valued not only for their work, but for their ability to produce mo
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