WPA American Slave Narratives Assignment

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WPA American Slave Narratives Assignment Harley Hill GMC HIS 121 Professor Johnson November 19, 2023
WPA American Slave Narratives Assignment The whole idea of slavery stings deeply. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it was a common work force in the United States. The biggest example of brutality combined with inhumanity was the slavery system. It was successfully argued that African American men and women were abducted from their native Africa and brought to America to labor on farms (Campbell, 2015). Slavery against African American men and women was an extreme form of abuse. Before the Civil War, African Americans, including men and women, played widely different roles in slavery. The responsibilities that were allotted to them, how their masters managed them, where they would work, and how they supported their families were all based on their gender. Prior to the Civil War, African American women were only allowed to handle household chores and duties, while men were given assignments and were required to labor outside the home (Hallam, 2020). Men who also supported their families were the only ones tasked with providing for the slave owners. Men worked outside, away from their homes, for the entire day. In the past, men worked long hours. Before industrialization, there were days of slavery, when difficult workdays lasting from sunrise to sunset were typical. In order to support their family and the slave owners who benefited from their labor, they had to put in more effort at work. Women were still required to take care of the home, cook, and tend to the children. Men were supposed to work outdoors doing heavy labor, whereas women were supposed to stay at home and accomplish smaller, lighter activities. As Alice says, "Down thar I worked 'round the house an' looked aftah de smaller chillun, I mean my mother's chillun" (Alice, 1937), Hallam (2020) claims that a number of African women were employed as slaves in the households rather than by males who worked on the plantations. This was because housework was seen as a lighter labor, it was maintained for women, who the white slave owners also
believed to be vulnerable. They could neglect their children and master house duties for extended periods of time, resulting in a lack of quality time spent with them. In the story of Scott Bonds, Scott claims that his mother "was far above the average slave woman, having trained as a seamstress and housemaid in the days before the sewing machine." She gained greatly from her everyday interactions with the most educated and intelligent white women. Except for late at night, when most people had gone to bed and her daily work was over, she had no time to devote to her boy" (Taylor). This demonstrates clearly that African American women's societal roles were determined by their backgrounds and abilities. From their extended encounters with one another, women gained a great deal of knowledge. They became familiar with white women's lifestyles. It was difficult for women to devote themselves fully to becoming wives and mothers since they struggled to find time for their husbands and kids. There were slave boys and girls as well, and in some families when everyone was enslaved, the family was rarely able to get together for a family gathering. Similar to their parents, slave boys and girls performed similar tasks (Morris, 2011). Different forms of punishment were meted out to African American men and women. Before the Civil War, there was a great deal of sexual abuse of women, and when their master’s erred, many of the ladies suffered greatly at their hands (Bromfield, 2016). Sexual abuse was a common method of punishment for women. Because they were thought to be inexpensive and receptive to procreation, female slaves were valued. The children's masters would keep multiple slaves without necessarily purchasing any. Young ladies suffered more at the hands of their master’s on multiple occasions. Their African American men would do nothing about the widespread rapes because they were afraid. Several couples were stressed by these behaviors, and some of them ended in divorce (Hallam, 2020). Men who were enslaved left their families,
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