Therefore, the slave woman became emotionally isolated from her husband. This emotional isolation, when combined with the physical isolation that inevitably happened when slaves were sold, led to slave women having a greater affection and affinity for their children than for the men that fathered them (especially when such men included slave masters and slave traders). The result, White explains, is that slave women came to seek and accept the society of one another, and developed a hierarchy as such in which there was an informal set of rankings and prioritization. The Mammy character was generally at the forefront of this hierarchy, which was essentially a coping mechanism to deal with all of the perverted occurrences that chattel slavery in the U.S. inflicted upon all involved, (including slave owners). White reinforces her contention that this institution was inordinately worse for slave women than for their male counterparts. The final mythological construct bestowed upon these women was that of the Sapphire, a woman who...
This characterization accounted for the lack of protection her male counterpart could provide, as well as the continual disillusionment of bearing children only to see them sold into slavery.
Woman? The book, 'Aren't I a Woman?' explores the challenges that women faced in the antebellum America. The author has focused to address the challenges of sexuality and racism that affected many women of this age. The author, Deborah Gray is a Professor at Scott University, who has focused her study in examining the issues of justice and social inequality in society. She is interested in this study as she
Smith may dislike the stereotype, but she cannot help internalizing it. She feels unfinished because she is regarded as unfinished, and even members of her community urge her to straighten her hair. This is completely different from the joyous, affirmative sigh "I am complete" at the end of Morales' poem. Just as Morales admits that all experiences with racism and discrimination are different, Smith's poem demonstrates how African-American women
Often black women were the sole breadwinner for a family devastated by slavery and discrimination. The 'new sexism' that some women playfully indulge in today, laughing with irony at the image of a white, cartoon femininity, is a luxury that black women on the 'front lines' of struggle cannot enjoy (Thomas 2010). As noted by white feminist historian Marilyn Frye: "As a white woman I have certain freedoms and
Rebellion to Revolution Slaves in Southern Plantations In his 1979 book From Rebellion to Revolution, Genovese examines the change in the thrust of slave rebellions away from localized efforts focused on winning freedom to a movements couched in Marxist world view that were intended to overthrow slavery as a social system. Chapters 1 and 2 are reviewed below. Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective In this chapter, Eugene Genovese examines the slave revolts that
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