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Slavery in America
Slavery in Southern America during 1800-1850
Slavery in Southern America during 1800-1850
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The Reflection of Harriet Jacobs and the Documentary “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” When learning about Harriet Jacobs experience, and the overall experience of black slave women and girls an abundance of emotions came across me. First, I felt that is was extremely sickening and molestaciouse for a old white man to want and lust for a young black slave girl that was 12 or 13 years old. Also not to mention most of these men were married which I felt made it even more disturbing. It made me contemplate how greedy could the white man be, that if perfect fertile wife was not enough, that he had to practically rape and sexually have the slave girl or women too! Additionally, bewilderment came upon me in reference to this topic I could not grasp how the white man steadily tried to dehumanize black people, but black women and girls were human enough for them to have the most intimate …show more content…
The statement infuriated and offended me because they really looked at black women during slavery as worthless, nothing, and abusable just because of our color. The stupidity, ignorance and evil tied to that statement will haunt me forever; because I still am in shock along disbelief that something so evil could come out of a person’s mouth. The statement in like manner also got be thinking that one statement said over a century ago still is affecting us black women today. I believe this because black women in our society are always put down and looked upon not as valuable as white, latino or other very fair toned skin races. Also when black women are rapped men try to justify it because of what we wear or maybe our job occupation. Withall, that statement really battered me to know that in a country I call my own they dehumanized and disfigured someone like me because of my color and my
In Harriet Jacobs’ autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, personal accounts that detail the ins-and-outs of the system of slavery show readers truly how monstrous and oppressive slavery is. Families are torn apart, lives are ruined, and slaves are tortured both physically and mentally. The white slaveholders of the South manipulate and take advantage of their slaves at every possible occasion. Nothing is left untouched by the gnarled claws of slavery: even God and religion become tainted. As Jacobs’ account reveals, whites control the religious institutions of the South, and in doing so, forge religion as a tool used to perpetuate slavery, the very system it ought to condemn. The irony exposed in Jacobs’ writings serves to show
Harriet Jacobs author of “Incidents of a Slave Girl” depicted the life of a women enslaved to white planation owners between the years 1819-1842. Harriet Jacobs escaped for enslavement and went on to become a pivotal figure for the African American culture with tales of cruelty from her owners and her need for freedom. Jacobs penned her story to persuade white people in the North to fight against the maltreatment of African Americans in the South. Jacobs highlighted for abolitionist and non-abolitionist alike the abuse slaves felt for many years and the obstacles they went through to secure their freedom. Harriet Jacobs asserted, “Slavery is bad for men, but it is far more terrible for women.” In contrast to Jacobs, slavery for women did not exceed or fall below that of men. The circumstances in which the different genders were treated did show some variations, however, the effects of slavery affected both men and women equally. Slave men and women all had one common goal and that was to enjoy the freedoms and rights as human beings amongst the Caucasian counterparts. Erik Foner, author of Give me Liberty! An American History, stated, “Black sought to make white Americans understand slavery as a concrete reality—the denial of all the essential elements of freedom—not merely as a metaphor for the loss of political self-determination.” African American fought collectively with both men and women against oppression from Caucasians.
Jacobs, Harriet A. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. New York: Oxford UP, 1988. Print.
Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl. 2nd Edition. Edited by Pine T. Joslyn. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, INC., 2001.
Minrose Gwin‘s book, Black and White Women of the Old South, argues that history has problems with objectiveness. Her book brings to life interesting interpretations on the view of the women of the old south and chattel slavery in historical American fiction and autobiography. Gwin’s main arguments discussed how the white women of the south in no way wanted to display any kind of compassion for a fellow woman of African descent. Gwin described the "sisterhood" between black and white women as a "violent connection"(pg 4). Not only that, Gwin’s book discusses the idea that for most of the eighteenth and nineteenth century, a black woman usually got subjected to displacement of sexual and mental frustration of white women. Gwin discusses how these black women, because of the sexual and mental abuse, felt looked down on more by whites and therefore reduced to even a lower level than that of white women‘s status of being a woman. .
During the eighteenth and nineteenth-century, notions of freedom for Black slaves and White women were distinctively different than they are now. Slavery was a form of exploitation of black slaves, whom through enslavement, lost their humanity and freedom, and were subjected to dehumanizing conditions. African women and men were often mistreated through similar ways, especially when induced to labor, they would eventually become a genderless individual in the sight of the master. Despite being considered “genderless” for labor, female slaves suddenly became women who endured sexual violence. Although a white woman was superior to the slaves, she had little power over the household, and was restricted to perform additional actions without the consent of their husbands. The enslaved women’s notion to conceive freedom was different, yet similar to the way enslaved men and white women conceived freedom. Black women during slavery fought to resist oppression in order to gain their freedom by running away, rebel against the slaveholders, or by slowing down work. Although that didn’t guarantee them absolute freedom from slavery, it helped them preserve the autonomy and a bare minimum of their human rights that otherwise, would’ve been taken away from them. Black
In Harriett Jacobs’s book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, she informs her readers of her life as a slave girl growing up in southern America. By doing this she hides her identity and is referred to as Linda Brent which she had a motive for her secrecy? In the beginning of her life she is sheltered as a child by her loving mistress where she lived a free blissful life. However after her mistress dies she is not freed from the bondage of slaver but given to her mistress sister and this is where Jacobs’s happiness dissolved. In her story, she reveals that slavery is terrible for men but, is more so dreadful for women. In addition woman bore being raped by their masters, as well as their children begin sold into slavery. All of this experience
Slavery is a term that can create a whirlwind of emotions for everyone. During the hardships faced by the African Americans, hundreds of accounts were documented. Harriet Jacobs, Charles Ball and Kate Drumgoold each shared their perspectives of being caught up in the world of slavery. There were reoccurring themes throughout the books as well as varying angles that each author either left out or never experienced. Taking two women’s views as well as a man’s, we can begin to delve deeper into what their everyday lives would have been like.
During slavery there was nothing, no law, to stop a white male from raping a slave woman that lived in his plantation. As a result of this a lot of slaves were raped with no one being able to do anything about it. The narratives of both Harriet Jacobs and Elizabeth Keckley narrate how their slave owners abused them sexually. Jacobs was a house worker and her parents were also slaves, his father was part of the skilled workers group. Keckley was a house and field worker and her parents were also slave field workers. Both of them were daughters of slaves, owned by a rich white plantation owner and both were women. Now there was only one difference that Harriet Jacobs had a lighter skin complexion that Elizabeth.
Analyzing the narrative of Harriet Jacobs in the context of the writings of W.E.B. Du bois serves to demonstrate how slavery prompted the weary and self-denigrating attitudes of Negro Americans during the subsequent Reconstruction period. However, it is important to note that Harriet Jacobs does not embody the concept of double-consciousness because slavery effectively stripped away her sexuality and femininity, therefore reducing her to one identity--that of a
Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. New York, NY: W. W. Norton &
As female slaves such as Harriet Jacob continually were fighting to protect their self respect, and purity. Harriet Jacob in her narrative, the readers get an understanding of she was trying to rebel against her aggressive master, who sexually harassed her at young age. She wasn’t protected by the law, and the slaveholders did as they pleased and were left unpunished. Jacobs knew that the social group,who were“the white women”, would see her not as a virtuous woman but hypersexual. She states “I wanted to keep myself pure, - and I tried hard to preserve my self-respect, but I was struggling alone in the grasp of the demon slavery.” (Harriet 290)The majority of the white women seemed to criticize her, but failed to understand her conditions and she did not have the free will. She simply did not have that freedom of choice. It was the institution of slavery that failed to recognize her and give her the basic freedoms of individual rights and basic protection. Harriet Jacobs was determined to reveal to the white Americans the sexual exploitations that female slaves constantly fa...
"Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women." Why was slavery "far more terrible for women"? In Harriet A. Jacobs’s memoir, she shows people the additional horrors and brutalities that an enslaved men went through, but enslaved women were often used as “breeders”. The enslaved women went through further horrors than men, they had to bore pain and degradation.
In Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, the author subjects the reader to a dystopian slave narrative based on a true story of a woman’s struggle for self-identity, self-preservation and freedom. This non-fictional personal account chronicles the journey of Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897) life of servitude and degradation in the state of North Carolina to the shackle-free promise land of liberty in the North. The reoccurring theme throughout that I strive to exploit is how the women’s sphere, known as the Cult of True Womanhood (Domesticity), is a corrupt concept that is full of white bias and privilege that has been compromised by the harsh oppression of slavery’s racial barrier. Women and the female race are falling for man’s
Women were either looked up as jezebel whom were sexual tempting, alluring, and desirable, or mammy an overweight and unattractive slave whom loved her white family more than her own. These stereotypes are still presents today on reality TV and movies where you see black women being promiscuous and sleeping with multiply men and not knowing whom their child father is, or when you have the plus size usually darker skin women who plays the goofy and unattractive roles. Not only are these stereotype present on movies and television, but also in song lyrics were here guys saying “light skin is the right skin”, which is a racial preconception that form in the north during slavery. Therefore, the negative image of black women are plaster everywhere, so those whom never encounter black women would amused this was the behavior, because of how they were portrayed in the media. Also these stereotypes took a toll on black women as well whom felt like they weren’t good enough or beautiful, because they had darker