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Divisions Between African-Americans And Women

Decent Essays

Divisions were set between the African-Americans and European-Americans in the initial settling of America; mirroring the relationship between men and women during the origin of civilization. Divisions were first noticed between men and women in the early civilization of Mesopotamia. Women had less apparent roles in society; while men served as the people controlling “the means of production” (Lerner 586), women served as the homemakers and historians (Lerner 581). Women ensured that customs and traditions were passed down, but they were not recognized for their efforts. Similarly, African-Americans had a role on southern society, but it was not as glamorized as the European-Americans role as the plantation owners. African-Americans had the common role of ensuring that …show more content…

Though under control, both women and African-Americans held roles within society. This correlates with Gerda Lerner’s idea of history, denoted with a lowercase “h”. “history” denotes all events that have happened to the past (Lerner 581), which is an unbiased view of past events. The unbiased viewpoint would recognize African-Americans and women for their roles within society, but as they were not the ones recording history, their viewpoints are not remembered. In William Shakespeare's era, feminism was as much of an issue then as it is currently. When Shakespeare wrote “The Tempest” he found it necessary to only include one female role in the entire play. That role is played by the character Miranda who is the only daughter of Prospero. Shakespeare crafts Miranda's character in a manner such that feminism inevitably dominates over her encounters. The lack of women's rights both presently and in the 1500s demonstrates how it would be easy for a powerful man to take charge. In the play, Miranda is portrayed to be an innocent and obedient daughter when she forgets herself and reveals her name to

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