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Women's role in american society throughout history
Effects of slavery on african american women
Women's role in american society throughout history
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For this discussion I chose to write about the second question which was about weather slavery was worse for women then it was for men. Personally I feel that slavery was a very awful thing that no one should have ever had to endure but slavery was defiantly way worse for women! Having to do just as much as the men, raise and take care of the children and suffer from all the sexual abuse from their owners, on top of that they had all this emotion turmoil from losing family to other slave owners. African American women were one of the most mistreated people during this time period. Slaves and Women during this time fought for a lot of the same issues during this time period, both where second class citizens, had little to no rights, and where
2. Female workers in Lowell, MA can be compared to slaves in the south in many ways but they are also very different. The conditions that the women in Lowell and slaves had to live in were very unsanitary and unbearable. The woman even felt like slaves. They were constantly watched as were slaves and they were also forced to go to church. Unlike slaves they were paid, even though they were paid very little because they could do the work of a man but get paid less, they still got paid. They had choices of what jobs to do where slaves were assigned to certain jobs. The women got some free time and even a 30 minute lunch break while slaves had very little or no brakes at all.
Slaves during the mid-1800s were considered chattel and did not have rights to anything that opposed their masters’ wishes. “Although the slaves’ rights could never be completely denied, it had to be minimized for the institution of slavery to function” (McLaurin, 118). Female slaves, however, usually played a different role for the family they were serving than male slaves. Housework and helping with the children were often duties that slaveholders designated to their female slaves. Condoned by society, many male slaveholders used their female property as concubines, although the act was usually kept covert. These issues, aided by their lack of power, made the lives of female slaves
Slaves were being beat, sold, and raped by their owners to the point that slaves started to committing suicide because of the lifestyle they were living. Africans always had to fight for their life and come together as one to be able to overcome slavery and take up for their love ones, before they were separated and sold. Many women around this time had to leave and separate from their children mainly because the children were able to be sold as well around this time to whoever family wanted to come pay the price for the child. Africans didn’t really just fight in war unless was sent to do so, they were mostly being held captive as a slave and working in the fields, kitchen, and for sexual reasons as
Women were held at an extremely high standard, in fact, they were held at a standard that was too high. They were expected to be at-home mom and take care of their children and their husbands. It was frowned upon if they obtained a higher level of educated, and it was disdainful for them to have a job outside the home. Women who did acquire a job found that what were not treated with the same respect as men and were paid less than men (“Women in Antebellum America”). For these reasons, women decided that enough was enough and it was time to start standing up for themselves.
The laws of the nation were degrading to the freedom and rights of the women in the land. The makers of the laws were all men who believed that women had no place in the
Did Gender Make a Difference within Slavery? Within slavery there were harsh conditions which Frederick Douglass tries to convey in his biography "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass." Within this narrative he dezribes how men and women slaves were treated differently by their masters. Women were abused by their master, physically, sexually, and mentally, while men were mostly abused physically and mentally.
It is also important to remember that the Civil War brought freedom, equality and the right to vote only to Negro men. It would be 30 more years before women began to receive the right to vote, and equal protection under the law. Women were forced to trade their freedom, their property, and their bodies for the financial support and physical protection of a husband. In many cases, marriage was no more than a business deal that favored only the
Both slaves and women within the United States felt the vast inconsistencies that plagued t...
Southern women needed to hold onto their predetermined roles in society in order for them to maintain their role in minimal role in society, meaning even though use of slavery did not remove all the problems in domestic living, women were forced to appear that the opposite was actually true or risk slipping down the social
...s that they weren’t just slaves; they were women, sisters, wives, and daughters, just like the white women (DOC C). The women of this time period reached out to expand ideals by showing men that women were going to be involved in political affairs, and they had a right to do so.
Those who wore the chains of slavery spent their lives tied down to their master, and even when the chains were broken, they were never truly free of their fate. Many African- Americans were born into slavery throughout the 17th and 18th century, and these children were property of their masters before their parents could claim them. After all slaves were not considered human beings, they were simply property, cheap labor, and at times merchandise. It was said in “Give Me Liberty” that American slaves were better off than slaves in other countries since they were more expensive and valuable in the Unites States than other countries such as the West Indies and Brazil (322). Slavery
The Abolitionist Movement transformed the role of women in American History. Prior to the abolitionist movement, women were viewed as invisible icons in society. A typical woman would only be responsible for motherhood duties, cleaning, and preparing food. While many women agreed with this, others did not. The desire to be heard and treated equally was something numerous women shared. Astonishing women like, Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Grimke sisters became prominent leaders in the abolitionist movement and made a pathway in history by initiating speeches, participating in female politics and supporting their personal opinions of women’s rights through religious doctrines.
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
According to the Struggle for Democracy by Edward Greenberg and Benjamin Page (2012, p. 232), in February of 1838 Angela Grimke presented a petition against slavery and became the first woman to speak before an American legislative body. Women were not given any leisure to speak publicly. They did not have the rights that men had in the political process. Women as a whole, African Americans and whites, were expected to reproduce and not engage in the political process. African American women did the same work as the men, picked cotton, worked long hours in the field, but were raped as a punishment in attempt to control there bodies as well as reproduce babies who were seen as property. White working class women were allowed to work and earn money for their family, but they were not allowed to be the primary wage earner in the household. Women of middle to upper class we...
...en that were enslaved with Northup were forced to live up to the expectations of their slave masters. Out on the field, the women did not receive any special treatment, as was the case for Patsey. Under the cover of darkness, the slave masters would have their way with the women slaves, claiming that they were “their property to do as they please with”. Finally, the worst was the separation of women from their children as they were sold into slavery. Without a doubt, the experiences of slaves were gendered in many ways.