Black_Women_Strugglers_of_the_19th_Century_to_Present

Annotated Bibliography Berry, M. F. & Blassingame, J. W. (2006). Long Memory: The Black Experience in America. Review by: Raymond Wolters. The American Historical Review, Vol.88, No. 5 (Dec, 1983), pp. 1342-1343. Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the American Historical Association. Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1905027. This book is an attempt to give an overview of the experience of black people in America. It extends from a brief introduction to life in Africa before the Atlantic slave trade to the status of present-day African Americans. One Chapter in particular deals with free blacks, and although there is little information specifically regarding the status of black women during this era, this chapter serves as an excellent introduction to the study of free blacks in ante-bellum America. Foner, P. S. & Lewis, R. L. (1978). The Black Workers to 1869: A Documentary History from Colonial Times to the Present. Review by: Richard Paul Fuke. Labour/Le Travail, Vol. 28, (Fall, 1991), pp. 356-357. Publish by: Canadian Committee on Labour History and Athabasca University Press. Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25143536. This book will be helpful on researching the status of free black women because it offers a survey of the leading occupations of black women in the north and the south. It contains accounts written by free African-Americans discussing their occupations, living conditions, and race relations. Also found in this work are various lists, which outline the work patterns of both women and men. It highlights the jobs as Mantua markers, seamstresses, and cook among the most prevalent occupations of free black women and lists actual free black women and men and their jobs. Harley, S. & Terborg-Penn, R. (1997). The Afro-American Woman: Struggles and Images. Review by: Bess Beatty. The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 45, No. 2 (May, 1979), pp. 304-305. Published by Southern Historical Association. Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2208188. This book provides great insight on the plights and social issues that affected black women. This work is not inclusive to nineteenth century life or free blacks. Instead, this book provides information that is applicable to the 20th century. This book is to be a useful tool to gaining information on the antebellum northern black female worker and the black male perspective on 19th century women. Lastly this book covers a lot of information regarding struggles of black women and how they worked to overcome adversity. Horton, J. O. (1993). Free People of Color: Inside the African American community. Review by: Leslie Patrick-Stamp. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 120, No. ½ (Jan. _ Apr., 1996), pp. 151-152. Published by The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20093037. This book is an excellent resource for learning the nature of the free black community. Horton focuses on migration, social issues, the Underground Railroad, gender, color identity, and the reconstruction, to name a few topics. This book wills a well grounded knowledge of free blacks in Antebellum America. The book does not focus on women, but does provide an ample amount of information. King, W. (2006). The Essence of Liberty: Free Black Women during the Slave Era. Review by: Kali Gross. The Journal of African American History, Vol. 92, No. 3 (Summer, 2007), pp. 435-437. Published by Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Inc. Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20064211. In The Essence of Liberty: Free Black Women during the Slave, Era, Wilma King provides a substantial overview of the “Disparate body of literature” concerned with the experience of free black women during the period of slavery. In her effort to fully understand “the heart, soul, and core of freedom,” King explores how her subjects defined liberty as well a how they actualized it. King builds upon these works by painstakingly tracing a broad array of free black women’s experiences both in the North and in the South and from the wealthiest to the most impoverished. Sterling, D. (1984). We Are Your Sisters: Black Women in the Nineteenth Century. Review by: Alexa Benson Henderson. The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 51, No.3 (Aug., 1985), pp. 436-437. Published by: Southern Historical Association. Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2208188. This work is an excellent in depth peak into the lives of black women from slavery to emancipation. We Are Your Sisters, is comprised of full text letters and essays written by black women from various social conditions. This resource allows you to not only learn about the history of black women, but actually illustrates the lives of these women. It will serve well in the research. Black Women Strugglers of the 19th Century to Present There have been numerous accounts defining the context of slavery for blacks and how black women operated in the slave society; among this context motherhood is one of the many roles for slave women. Motherhood, however, represented a unique position for black women, as these women were laborers, breeders, and concubines in the 19th century American society. From the 19th century to the 20th century, black women have had to deal with many barriers in life. From the ability to take care of their needs, and the needs of their family, the ability to survive just like in the animal kingdom, it is all about survival. Even though African American women are gradually becoming a model minority too, despite experiencing the most severe form of slavery, racism and gender discrimination because of strong families (respect for education, because knowledge is power) it is about knowing how to function and survive the willingness to work for what one wanted. Hence, this paper is organized around the themes of black women’s roles in the 19th century American society to present; black women’s response to motherhood, the importance of motherhood for black family life; and find that black women’s motherhood challenged hegemonic constructions of race, gender, and class in 19th century American society to present. The black woman has been the head of the worst kind of exploitation and oppression, since her arrival on these alien shores. Being black, she had to put up with all the horrors of slavery and living in a racist society; as a worker, she has been the object of continual exploitation, occupying the lowest place on the wage scale and restricted to the most demeaning and uncreative jobs; as a woman, she has seen her physical image defamed and been the object of the white master’s uncontrollable lust and subjected to all the ideas of white womanhood as a model to which she should aspire; as a mother, she has seen her children torn form her breast and sold into slavery, she has seen them left at home without attention while she attended to the needs of the offspring of the ruling class. Above all Long Memory is a detailed and generally accurate account of black resistance to racial oppression. Mary Frances Berry and John W. Blassingame confidently inform their readers that “Black students suffered greatly from the ‘tracking’ system introduced in many school districts in the 1950s”(p.282). Berry and Blassingame also stated that “Once a school became more than 50 percent black, it was ignored by public officials” (p.283). In Long Memory, however, the focus is almost exclusively on white oppression and heroic black resistance, with little attention given to the tangle of social ills that have impeded black progress. The authors take pains to establish the persistence of African survivals and adaptations that helped blacks endure, but they generally ignore evidence that slavery and discrimination played havoc with the character of many blacks and the institutions of the black community. The “lower class matriarchal family” is presented as “an example of the remarkable adaptation black institutions have made to oppressive conditions in America”(p.84). The disproportionate incidence of crime among blacks is depicted as retaliation against an unjust socioeconomic system. The prison system is characterized as an “American Archipelago”(p.257). This book is an attempt to give an overview of the experience of black people in America. It extends from a brief introduction to life in Africa before the Atlantic slave trade to the status of present-day African Americans. One Chapter in particular deals with free blacks, and although there is little information specifically regarding the status of black women during this era, this chapter serves as an excellent introduction to the study of free blacks in ante-bellum America. At your leisure you need to take the time to read this book to because it has a lot of information in it. For a lifetime black women have felt as if they are not in total control of their lives. They feel as though they are caged by the chains of society. To have the feeling of being a prisoner in a world that does not set you free and allow you to advance to your full potential. Philip S. Foner and Ronald Lewis is the authors of “The Black Workers to 1869: A Documentary History from Colonial Times to the Present” (1978), this is the first documentary work to include substantial material on free Black workers. It draws together a vast range of materials from newspapers, census reports, testimonies, speeches, letters, and many other sources to tell the story of this long-neglected side of Black life. This acclaimed series provides a vast range of material on free Black labor. This book will be helpful on researching the status of free black women because it offers a survey of the leading occupations of black women in the north and the south. It contains accounts written by free African-Americans discussing their occupations, living conditions, and race relations. Also found in this work are various lists, which outline the work patterns of both women and men. It highlights the jobs as Mantua markers, seamstresses, and cook among the most prevalent occupation of free black women and lists actual free black women and men and their jobs. Black women have to live in world that does not see them or treat them as equals. They have to work ten times harder than anyone else, and then they only break the surface. Harley and Terborg-Penn authors of “The Afro-American Woman: Struggles and Images” (1997), is another book that provides great insight on the plights and social issues that affect black women. This work is not inclusive to nineteenth century life or free blacks. Instead, this book provides information that is applicable to the twentieth century. This book is to be a useful tool to gaining information on the antebellum northern black female worker and the black male perspective on nineteenth century women. Lastly this book covers a lot of information regarding struggles of black women and how they worked to overcome adversity. In doing this paper, I thought about the movie “For Colored Girls” and thought to myself “Do we suffer differently, have different struggles, and more heartache than other women' I highly recommend everyone to see this movie by Tyler Perry. This movie is dark and hard to watch, at times, but uplifting and empowering in the same breath. Anyway, what do you think about the Black Woman’s struggle' Do you think that it’s a reality today, like it was in the past' Do we struggle harder' I don’t think so. All women have been oppressed all over the world throughout history. Struggle differently' Yes. I agree with whoever said that black women deal with the same struggles as other women, and also have to deal with all the public denigration and stereotyping and whatnot. “For Colored Girls” is based on a play/book from 35 years ago when the country was still figuring out how to recover from the 60’s and Vietnam and Jim Crow and everything else that had just happened. At that time, black people, and black women in particular, were just starting to really embrace the educational and professional job opportunities that were already open to other women. At the same time, thousands of black men were just coming home from Vietnam with no job prospects, with their heads screwed up from the war, and with too many of them strung out on drugs and alcohol. There was a big cultural shift all over the country, but with so much poverty already in the black community and everyone just beginning to recover from Jim Crow, such a huge cultural shift in the early 70’s caused a rift between black men and black women. The family dynamic changed along with the power structure. And you know how men get when they think their manhood is being threatened. Times were different when the play/book first came out. However, while I think that our overall external reality has changed, but too many of the attitudes remain. I do think Black women go through the same trials of tribulation like other women but the word “Black” seem to bring a different psychological perspective. Black women get put down more than any other race of women. Black women’s struggle is slightly harder than of a woman of a white-background, but not just black women, but any dark-skinned woman. Yes, there are more stereotypes and judgment passed on black women than other races. The “strong black woman” stereotype comes to mind as black women have to make a large effort to prove themselves to the world. Even though African American women are gradually becoming a model minority too, despite experiencing the most severe form if slavery, racism an gender discrimination because of strong families (respect for education, because knowledge is power) it is about knowing how to function and survive the willingness to work for what one wanted. Hence, this paper is organized around the themes of black women’s roles in the 19th century American society to present, black women’s response to motherhood, the importance of motherhood for black family life; and find that black women’s motherhood challenged hegemonic construction of race, gender, and class in 19th century American society to present. Black women must struggle not only as other women do, but at the same time try to have an intact family to raise their children is kind of hard when you look at prison stats and the black male propensity for racial adultery. While other women have a support system at home, many black women do not and that needs to change. During segregation black men more often stayed with their families and worked. Now, if you pay people not to work, they will not! Every time the government gives unemployment extensions the more people choose to live off of it as long as they can. Black women face the two most discriminatory factors in life, being a woman and being Black. Women in general have a tough time making it in this male dominate world. And we all know the struggles Black peoples has faced and is still facing. Black women have to deal with crap from their black men and from others. So when people constantly ask why some Black women always have attitudes, I see it as look what they have to deal with on a daily basis. There is so many factors up against them. That is why as a Black woman, anything I do, I do it ten times better than the rest because it is not easy out there. References Bentley, J. H., Ziegler, H. F., & Streets, H. E. (2008). Traditions & Encounters: A Brief Global History. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies. Berry, M. F. & Blassingame, J. W. (2006). Long Memory: The Black Experience in America. Review by: Raymond Wolters. The American Historical Review, Vol.88, No. 5 (Dec, 1983), pp. 1342-1343. Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the American Historical Association. Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1905027. Foner, P. S. & Lewis, R. L. (1978). The Black Workers to 1869: A Documentary History from Colonial Times to the Present. Review by: Richard Paul Fuke. Labour/Le Travail, Vol. 28, (Fall, 1991), pp. 356-357. Publish by: Canadian Committee on Labour History and Athabasca University Press. Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25143536. Harley, S. & Terborg-Penn, R. (1997). The Afro-American Woman: Struggles and Images. Review by: Bess Beatty. The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 45, No. 2 (May, 1979), pp. 304-305. Published by Southern Historical Association. Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2208188. Horton, J. O. (1993). Free People of Color: Inside the African American community. Review by: Leslie Patrick-Stamp. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 120, No. ½ (Jan. _ Apr., 1996), pp. 151-152. Published by The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20093037. King, W. (2006). The Essence of Liberty: Free Black Women during the Slave Era. Review by: Kali Gross. The Journal of African American History, Vol. 92, No. 3 (Summer, 2007), pp. 435-437. Published by Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Inc. Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20064211. Sterling, D. (1984). We Are Your Sisters: Black Women in the Nineteenth Century. Review by: Alexa Benson Henderson. The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 51, No.3 (Aug., 1985), pp. 436-437. Published by: Southern Historical Association. Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2208188.