Seperate And Unequal, Frederic

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Separate and unequal: Blacks and White women.
Many may say that blacks and white women had more in common than people thought they did in the pre civil war era. A point worth arguing is that there are a few similarities and too many differences to list. No matter how you twist reality to make it seem the worst for women, they were at least treated as humans and not like barn animals. Before 1861, many white males valued their farm animals higher than their slaves. Although white women were not treated with the equality to white men that we see in the world today, they should not even be classified with blacks of the pre civil war era.
Blacks and white women were treated in a common manor, because neither group was really free. Both had to listen to what the white males told them to do without haste or incompetence. At the time, it would be safe to say that America was for the white males. Because they were the only people who had any say in the rules that governed peoples lives. Even from day one, the Constitution of the United States of America contradicts the way that things were and the way they would continue for some time. The first amendment grants freedom of religion, speech, and assembly. It states

“ Congress shall pass no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise, thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech…or the right of the people to assemble.” (Primis, 95).

Even with this being law both blacks and white women were not allowed to choose what church to attend or allowed to voice their own opinions; both conditions violate the 1st amendment. The 9th amendment also states something contradictory to the way life actually was, it says: “The enumeration in the constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” (Primis, 96) This means no person can deny any other person his or her rights given in the Constitution of the United States of America. Evidently the forefathers who founded our government did not consider white women or blacks to be members of our country. But each state sure decided to recognize them when it came time to decide the number of delegates that each state would have in congress. Although blacks only counted as 3/5 of a person they were being acknowledged as members of our society and were denying them their freedom given to them in th...

... middle of paper ...

...south. They were free, except their ideas, thoughts and property became under their husbands control after marriage.
According to feminist Sarah Grimke, a South Carolina Quaker, “ the very being of a woman is like that of a slave, is absorbed in her master. All contracts made with her, like those made with slaves by their owners, are a mere nullity”(Primis, 141). She feels like a slave. Why? It is because her husband now owns what she used to before they wed. But how many white women were actually treated like slaves to say that the very being of a woman was like that of a slave? None, if any. What husband would make his wife eat dough out of ashes or sleep on the clay with only a blanket to cover her? To say that white women had even half of the injustices and struggles that blacks had would be unfair to the accomplishment achieved through their fight for equality. Although there are many arguments saying that blacks and women had more in common in the pre-civil war era than normally assumed, I think that there is more than enough evidence to state the opposite. Blacks had so many more injustices than women did and the similarities between the two groups are few and far between.

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