Not only are women oppressed by sexism and racism, but it is them who are compromised to allow the men to be free. In the novel Guitar explains to Milkman that black men are the “workhouses” of humanity. However the events in the novel suggest that this description best fits black women. Although the black women suffer the same discrimination as men, they are left behind to bear the responsibilities for their family and community. For example, after being a slave, Solomon decided to fly home to Africa.
Douglass’s key demonstration of the corruption of slave owners is Sophia Auld, a woman who had never been a slaveholder before her husband attained Douglass. In the book when she first meets Douglass she is kind to him, but she in time becomes cynical and unsympathetic. She was corrupted when her husband said to her, “If you teach that nigger (Frederick Douglass) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no good, but a great deal of harm.
Some of the strongest African American women were sold as breeders, valuable because they were able to produce in addition to work in the house or on a farm. When women were being purchased they were look at from their head to their toes. Once the women were purchased they were working from the time the sun had risen to nightfall. They did not have time to spend with their family unless it was a Sunday and even that was not all the time. The Masters would use the children as bartering tools when African American women would refuse to engage in certain things that the master wanted her to do.
Black women weren’t even allowed to keep their child even if they birthed them! White women and Black women were both struggling at gaining rights. During the early 19th Century women didn’t have the right to vote which created much frustration among women, they even weren’t allowed to run for the presidency just because they are a different gender. In the 19th Century men believed that women’s only job was to clean and cook for the family. Women in general back in the 19th Century didn’t have many rights, but Black women were definitely on the short end of the stick if you compared the rights between Black and White women.
Harriet Jacobs for instance used the thought of someday freeing her children to drive her throughout the book and decide on what is best for them as a whole, maybe not immediately but eventually. She views slavery as worse than death, thus she feels disgusted that she brought her children into the world of slavery, “It seemed to me I would rather see them killed then have them given up to his power.” (Jacob’s 68) Frederick Douglass on the other spectrum of slavery was a man who had no children, and never had to suffer the physiological abuse of rape, and sexual harassment, but this did not make his slavery or his journey to freedom any easier. But it seems as though the small tastes of freedom he had experienced in Baltimore were the driving motives for Frederick Douglass. He always had a desire for more, “The fact that he gave me any part of my wages was proof, to my mind, that he believed me be entitled to the whole of them. I always felt worse for having received anything; for I feared that the giving me a few cents would ease his conscience, and make him feel himself to be a pretty honorable sort of robber” (Douglass 108) It is this ongoing understanding by both characters that they are unique and deserve much more, as in Frederick Douglass’ case these samples of freedom he was given were not taken as a sign of improvement but instead a reminder that he was a man and deserved
a) Humiliation was a key aspect of many slave owners’ tactics. It was used to keep the slaves in line, reminding them that they had no power. b) Rape of the slave women by the masters was used as a way in which to humiliate both the men and women, serving to belittle the women while leaving the men powerless to protect their women. ii. When describing her experience, one former slave commented on the intense and relentless work schedule that the slaves kept.
1 Lauren Sternbach Sex in American History 27 September 2013 Taking Control Throughout the nineteenth century, when slavery was at its peak, many masters took sexual advantage of their slave girls. It was common ideology throughout the South to view slaves as the master’s property, a view that justified the licentious actions of masters against their female slaves. A majority of these slaves were unsuccessful in controlling their sexuality; they submitted to their master’s desires and frequently bore bastard children as a result. In the autobiography Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs tells the story of her experiences as a slave and how she evaded her master’s sexual advances. Jacobs ultimately controlled
Furthermore, sometimes raped black women it leads them to be stressful, depression and sometime death. Black men were unable to help or defend their women because they were slaves themselves, therefore they had no power which means they just have to see and do nothing about it. Davis describe the important information about how badly is the black women being treated. “Many white men, who began by taking a slave girl in an act of sexual exploitation ended by loving her and the children she bore” (Davis, 1981:25). This shows that black women were treated like animal and treasure just for having high number of children.
” It was ridiculous to think that a white girl had any desire for a black man. He also said he felt sorry for her and that’s why he decided to help her. This made it seem like Tom thought he was better off than Mayella, which could be totally true, but none of the whites of Maycomb want to hear it. Harper Lee, having grown up in the south, understood the rifts in society and she displayed them in her book. She also showed how trivial they are by looking at them from a child’s point of view and by making Tom Robinson break all of them to save his own
I’ll start off with General Strain theory, it states that strain can be caused by failure to achieve positively valued stimuli, the loss of positively valued stimuli, and presentation of negative stimuli. In Compelled to Crime, the African American battered women were overwhelmed with strain, in response they acted out by committing an array of different crimes. The reasoning behind this could be because of their low levels of social support. The African American battered women did not have a lot of support; they were most of the time cut off from their families and friends. Another example of how strain applies to these women can be seen in Agnew’s writings when he said “Data suggest that child abuse and neglect negative school experiences, chronic unemployment, and residence in deprived communities are important causes sate anger and that such anger explains much of the effective of strains on crime.” (Agnew, Chp.