African-American Women: Understanding The Problems of Gender and Race

First of all, women don’t have important rights in slavery society. Patriarchal system is operated under the absolute dominance of men, and women have responsibility to fully obey husbands. Women have to serve men and accept their inferiority to men. Husbands possess absolute control over wives and children just as they do over their slaves. White women share common characteristics of patriarchal system. They are not allowed to freely move and always have to ask their husbands’ permissions. White female gentries have so many responsibilities for the family. They were expected to take care of her children, support husbands unconditionally, do the household

Often times when talking about the institution of slavery in the United States of America, men are at the center of the discussion; whether they were owners or slaves, men are presented first. Black women are pushed in the background except for the most famous like Harriet Tubman and Sally Hemings. In North America, specifically the United States, more than six hundred thousand slaves were brought in from Africa and the Caribbean between 1620 and 1865, the laws regarding slaves were condensed into slave codes that varied from state to state. Female slaves usually received the worst of it. Abusing them was legal, since the were considered property and as long as the owner wanted, he could have his way with any women he chooses on the plantation. Female slave were subject to harsh punishment for refusing the advances of the master. As one of, if not, the most vulnerable group in America at the time, female slaves had more threats to their existence than black men.

Africans arrived in America over 400 years ago based upon a barter system, where our ancestors and many others traded and sold slaves for food, gold, or things of that nature. The first enslaved Africans arrived in the Virginia colony at Point Comfort on the James River on August 20, 1619 (Equal Justice Initiative, 2014). They were treated as indentured servants and after working their contracts for passage to Virginia, each was granted fifty acres of land and released to live free.

This is after slavery was abolished and they were still in some respects treated as servants. What is even more unsettling to me is the fact that at this point in time, it was not just African American women that were treated this way, but rather women of every race. These women were simply making an attempt to provide for their families to the best of their abilities and were often not able to do that. Women experienced oppression and discrimination in numerous ways while trying to find work during the Great depression. It is rather unfortunate to see women trying so hard to make advancements in certain circumstances yet continue to be hindered by

Slavery was common in the eighteenth century. Slaves were seen as property, as they were taken from their native land and forced into long hours of labor. The experience was traumatic for both black men and black women. They were physically and mentally abused by slave owners, dehumanized by the system, and ultimately denied their fundamental rights to a favorable American life. Although African men and women were both subjected to the same enslavement, men and women had different experiences in slavery based on their gender. A male perspective can be seen in, My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass. A female perspective is shared in Harriet Jacobs’ narrative titled, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Upon reading both of the viewpoints provided, along with outside research, one can infer that women had it worse.

In The Book of Negroes the situation of the female slave, Aminata provides insight into her harrowing journey as a child experiencing slavery; a women struggling for survival, dignity, and motherhood rights; and a woman working with Abolitionists to raise awareness regarding the repugnant, oppressive conditions of slavery. In this novel, women are treated worse than a slaves and women are unmistakably treated as the inferior sex. Hill includes an ironic aspect relating to women being treated inferior to men in the words of Aminata as a young girl: “I remember wondering, within a year or two of taking my first steps, why only men sat to drink tea and converse, and why women were always busy. I reasoned that were weak and needed rest” (Hill 13). From this text, it is clear that women are treated unfairly and also they do not even get time to get rest.

As humans living in an organized society, we are inevitably defined and viewed through the ideals created by that organizing entity. Each culture has its own view of masculinity and femininity that may vary from another culture's. The degree of difference may not be very large but it is these cultural differences that often create conflicts and struggles among certain groups of people. A quintessential example of such a struggle can be seen when observing black women in America. The adversities that black women encounter in this country are caused by the societal ideals of femininity. In American culture, though a woman can be as independent and successful as she desires, she must still conform to

Ever since the period of slavery, Black women have described the different forms of multiple oppressions they face of race, class, and gender with terms like “interlocking oppressions,” “simultaneous oppressions,” “double jeopardy,” “triple jeopardy” and so on.

Patriarchy’s Scapegoat: Black womanhood and femininity – A critique of racism, gender inequality, anti-blackness, and historical exploitation of black women.

Being a black woman, in a “white man’s” world, is a very hard thing to encounter; especially growing up in the south where racism is still clearly evident. Georgiana, Al, the small town I grew up in, a white man owns everything. The only exception is the night club that is open only Thursday thru Saturday, but even that business is on the way of being shut down just because it is a popular business owned by a black man. Growing up I have seen first-hand racism, discrimination, and stereotyping against towards the black community.

According to Jansson, (2009), the confidence of the African American women became more prevalent than the Caucasian women, as they took initiative in developing crucial programs for their fellow peers. The women’s effective efforts included programs such as providing education and vocational skills to the women (Jansson, 2009). The efforts were demonstrated by the significantly large number of members in the society (Jansson, 2009).

Women slaves endured far worse punishment and cruelty than men ever did. Lets begin with women’s duties. Their duties consisted of two parts. The first part was that of being a household servant. They did the cleaning, cooking, cared for the white children of their Mistress and Master, and other household duties. Secondly, slave women had to not only maintain the household, at times, they were also expected to work in the fields and slave like the men on the plantations. Things like picking cotton, cleaning outside, feeding animals, and hoeing the grounds for planting crops. Slave men were never made to perform women duties.

African-American people have had to climb over many obstacles to get to their position today. First, was the selling of their people into slavery. Then, they endured slavery itself, being treated like an animal. After slavery was abolished, Colored people still had to deal with racial discrimination and hatred. If this sounds rough, black women had it worse. African-American women had to deal with all the previously mentioned things, but they

Deborah Gray White’s “Ar’n’t I a Woman?” attempts to illustrate and expose the under-examined world in which bonded, antebellum women lived. She distinguishes the way slave women were treated from both their male counterparts and white antebellum women by elucidating their unique race and gender predisposed circumstances, “(…) black women suffer a double oppression: that shared by all African-Americans and that shared by most women” (p. 23). In all, black women suffered an exclusive oppression due to their specific race, bondage, and gender. This essay will attempt to explain how institution of slavery did not protect women from the injustices placed upon them but instead, how they had to create unique and

Throughout the world, women are treated differently based on their geographic living. While the world is evolving, so are the role of women and their expectations. However, the women in Africa are constantly battling with the traditional way of life, where they have rules and standards. Rather than an intellectual way of life, where getting your education is made available for women and the overall idea of choice and options are allowed for them. Black women have always been minorities and have always been struggling with how their lives are and what they should be. Never the less, they have not made a big deal about their roles. Some women are starting to see the light and others remain on the track to the traditional route of living in Africa.