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In the historical records of the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Sierra Leone, there is uncertainty regarding the classification of women as either wives or enslaved people. This was not simply a product of colonial biases and misconceptions. Colonial agents strategically invoked distinctions between marriage and slavery to mask the continued legality of slavery which was only abolished in 1928. In the archival record, the uncertainty over the relationship between marriage and slavery also points to tensions over reproductive and productive labour control. Slavery was not necessarily a separate identity from other forms of servitude, but instead needs to be understood in terms of household dynamics which saw marriage and slavery intersect in different ways. The ‘household’ was more than a physical space where individuals lived and are critical to analysing how gender relationships were reinforced and challenged as colonial rule expanded. While it is possible to draw a conceptual distinction between marriage and slavery, relationships viewed in a historical context often fell along a continuum, making differences harder to discern for external observers. Different actors and institutions would attempt to manipulate these areas of overlap and uncertainty between slavery and marriage to advance their interests.

The Same in All but Name? The Intersections of Marriage and Slavery in Sierra Leone, 1890–1930