The idea of the “Southern Belle”, with her demure and chaste yet flirtatious attitude, Southern Hospitality, women who married respectably and became ladies of society; these are all things that society considers to have come out of the Antebellum South. The Antebellum South, according to Historynet.com, is a period in American history between the War of 1812 and the Civil War characterized by things such as abolition, the Industrial Revolution, and Westward Expansion. However, when people think of the South during this time, they think of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind, or the historical flashbacks in Vampire Diaries. They think of women in this time being the quintessential lady of the house--but this was not the case with all women. Women in the Antebellum South--unlike the modern idea that people have about them today--assisted heavily with the day-to-day lives of their entire families, held jobs in or outside of the house, and were more educated than their predecessors.
Women were deeply involved in the running of their households on a daily basis. The responsibilities that women
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Some women worked at home to produce goods that could then be sold, or ran businesses alongside their husbands. Things like clothing could be made at home and then sold to the public as a source of income for the family. In several cases, women operated bed and breakfasts or grocery stores within their homes, and working with their children or husband, turned profits without leaving the safety of their own hearths. Other women actually held jobs outside of their houses. Common jobs for women were to work in mills or factories, or in the fields of their neighbors. Since many women were still not educated, these were the jobs that they could hold without needing an education. However, with an education women could serve as teachers or as nurses, and the idea on the education of women was
This source provided the unique perspective of what was thought to be the perfect household, with a man who worked and a wife who cooked and cleaned. However, it also showed how a woman could also do what a man can do, and in some cases they could do it even better. This work is appropriate to use in this essay because it shows how men talked down to their wives as if they were children. This work shows the gradual progression of woman equality and how a woman is able to make her own decisions without her husband’s input.
Lillian Smith provides a description of the typical black woman and the typical white woman "of the pre-1960's American South" (Gladney 1) in her autobiographical critique of southern culture, Killers of the Dream. The typical black woman in the South is a cook, housekeeper, nursemaid, or all three wrapped up in one for at least one white family. Therefore, she is the double matriarch of the South, raising her own family and the families of her white employers: "It was not a rare sight in my generation to see a black woman with a dark baby at one breast and a white one at the other, rocking them both in her wide lap" (Smith 130). The southern black woman's duties extend far beyond rearing children, as she also serves as a family counselor, confidant, and nurse for the entire white family (Smith 129) and her own if time permits. She can do all this and more because she is strong, wise, and insightful in all areas of life (Smith 119). In short, the southern black woman is the cornerstone of the southern, domestic life. The white woman in the South has an equally important role. The southern white woman is responsible for maintaining southern social order, better known as Southern Tradition.
It was the women’s who was charged with keeping the home in order. The destiny of a black women during the slave era were to absurdly be pushed to give offspring by a random slave men so he can ultimately be sold or be used in the plantation. Her societal purpose was to cook, sew, wash, clean the house, breastfeed her kids as well as breastfeeding her master’s offspring. Customarily black women were given domestic or demeaning work to show their inferiority within society if we look at the pyramid of different classes of people in that era. Black women represented a mother figure to attend to the needs of black men and children in her community. She was not compensated for the work she had performed. She was very much indispensable to the survival of her community. The black women experience to share the sweat and tears of her race in the antebellum era and the revolutionary period played a big role in her survival, and her humanity. Hers and others survival through that difficult antebellum time has led them to their contribution of the revolutionary period, and ultimately gave birth to freedom from
During the Antebellum Era, slavery was about one-third of the South’s population. The Antebellum Era was the period before the Civil War broke out. The South’s economy was booming which was credited to slavery. Their argument about slavery was that slaves were necessary and important to their economy. It would kill their economy if they got rid of slavery. Slavery was the foundation of their economy. Without any slaves, cotton would not be able to be produce. Nearly 60 % of their exports was cotton. Southerners would also point out that slaves were better working in plantations than working in a northern factory. According to them, the North had bad workplaces and long hours. They insisted that slaves were cared for and helped when they needed it unlike the North. However, slaves were still treated bad in the South. They would resist slavery in a variety of ways. For example, running away was one form of resistance. The most common form of resistance was known as “day-to-day” resistance which were
Thesis Statement: Men and women were in different social classes, women were expected to be in charge of running the household, the hardships of motherhood.
Women in this era had just begun to secure some freedom from their typical cultural expectations. They were expected to take care of the children, cook, clean, sew and be presentable to society. As jobs were made available to women, only a low percentage of these women started to work outside of the home. This means that many women had chosen to stay inside the home to remain in the role of “house keeper”. Even though the woman attained some freedom they were still considered inferior to men. Men still had the most authority in the household and
The Role Women Played in the Social Reform Movements of the Antebellum Period Comprehending the lives of American women and their roles is fundamental for understanding the entire antebellum period in America. The period 1820 to 1870 in the United States was marked by a forceful and widespread debate on woman's roles and their proper vocation whether this be in the home or outside the home and becoming wage earners. This was, however, still a time in which females were encouraged to be pure, dutiful, domestic and compliant by men and the government. On the other hand, due through this, the evident truth was ignored that was that women’s roles were steadily beginning to reach outside the family and home, their were gaining confidence in themselves and their independence was growing.
The Antebellum Period in American history is the time period that directly follows the end of the War of 1812 in 1814 up until the beginning of the Civil War in 1861. This time period got it’s name from the Latin word “Antebellum,” which means, “before the war.” The Civil War is such an iconic turning point in American History. The Antebellum Period played a large role leading towards the division of North and South and contributed to making the Civil War almost
“The Pastoralization of Housework” by Jeanne Boydston is a publication that demonstrates women’s roles during the antebellum period. Women during this period began to embrace housework and believed their responsibilities were to maintain the home, and produce contented and healthy families. As things progressed, housework no longer held monetary value, and as a result, womanhood slowly shifted from worker to nurturer. The roles that women once held in the household were slowly diminishing as the economy became more industrialized. Despite the discomfort of men, when women realized they could find decent employment, still maintain their household and have extra income, women began exploring their option.
On the family farm, the woman of the house was usually responsible for the care of the small livestock, the poultry, pigs and calves. She would also attend to the vegetable garden and to the growing of fruit. Usually there was no running water or electricity, sanitation was poor and there were few modern conveniences. Few women worked outside of the home and they usually lost their jobs on marriage. For instance, women teachers, who qualified after the 1st January 1933, were obliged to retire when they married. From the early 1940s on, sympathy was growing for the woman in the home and the difficult conditions under which she had to labour. (N.p).
If they did work, the jobs were considered to be of little importance. Their jobs were always considered secondary to men. Usually, a woman’s job was to take care of the house and please her husband. Women who tried to have a ‘higher’ job such as a nurse, was considered a witch. So women tended to work in the lower jobs or one a man didn’t want. Women during this era might have been a lady of the manor, nun, free townswoman, etc. The Lady of the Manor was a woman who ran manors, farms, and castles. She normally dealt with the management of the land, crops, animals, property, workers, and legal arguments. This was always considered a ‘woman’s job.’ A woman could also be a nun. A nun’s main job was to ‘work’ for God. Typically a woman’s job was to be a free townswoman, meaning they kept order of their townhouse and also assisted their husbands in business. The woman would help him in his trade or practice her own. It was rare for a woman to have any other jobs, especially one with a lot of
Women were a nurturing part of the household and therefore it was seen as their job to take care of the children. For example, the editor of the McGuffey’s states, “the middle-class...
Women's roles were confined to a small list of responsibilities. As a result, they were seen as a minority. Society convinced women that they weren't capable of performing any work outside of the home. They were to stay home to cook, clean, take care of the children, and any other aspect involving the home. This was their sole responsibility. There wasn't anything else they were allowed or expected to do. Unfortunately this frame of mind developed in women and until only recently has this mindset been challenged by the female gender.
In the early 1900’s, around the time the story takes place; women were expected to be care takers of the home, to be clean, well dressed and mannered. All of these
In early America, the work as a wife was often along with her husband, running a household, farm or plantation. Cooking, making clothes, spinning yarn, sewing and weaving cloth took a major part of a woman’s time. Women played a huge role in the colonial times, revolutionary times, middle- class reform times, turn of the century times, 1920’s and 1960’s. All though these times were not easy for most women they still managed to get through it.