Analysis Of ' N 't I A Woman

African American women are stereotyped as the “Jezebel” archetype. African American women’s historical background causes the

White wanted to “Enrich our knowledge of antebellum black culture and serve as a chapter in the unwritten history of the American black woman” (White). The author utilizes previous publicize scholarly books and slave narratives to compile the history of a group of women white says is a “womanhood that celebrated heroism, but accepted frailty” (White) this 244-page book identifies with an audience who want to connect with the past experiences of the Black woman. Ar’nt I a woman is made up of 6 chapters that deal with everything from the myth between jezebel and mammy

The title of this book comes from the inspiring words spoken by Sojourner Truth at the 1851, nine years prior to the Civil War at a Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. In Deborah Grays White, Ar’n’t I a woman her aim was to enrich the knowledge of antebellum black women and culture to show an unwritten side of history of the American black woman. Being an African- American and being a woman, these are the two principle struggles thrown at the black woman during and after slavery in the United States. Efforts were made by White scholars in 1985 to have a focus on the female slave experience. Deborah Gray White explains her view by categorizing the hardships and interactions between the female slave and the environment in which the

In the speech “And Ain’t I a Woman” Sojourner Truth speaks on why women should have rights at the Woman’s Rights Convention in 1851. There were women, men, Methodist, Baptist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Universalist ministers in the church who didn’t want Sojourner Truth to speak from when she walked in the door because she was a woman. The writer Frances Gage said “Again and again, timorous and trembling ones came to me and said, with earnestness,” “Don’t let her speak, Mrs. Gage, it will ruin us. Every newspaper in the land will have our cause mixed up with abolition and niggers, and we shall be utterly denounced.” (Truth 875) In those

In a time period when women were considered inferior, as were blacks, it was unimaginable the horrors a black woman in the south had to endure during this period. African women were slaves and subject to the many horrors that come along with being in bondage, but because they were also women, they were subject to the cruelties of men who look down on women as inferior simply because of their sex. The sexual exploitation of these females often lead to the women fathering children of their white masters. Black women were also prohibited from defending themselves against any type of abuse, including sexual, at the hands of white men. If a slave attempted to defend herself she was often subjected to further beatings from the master. The black female was forced into sexual relationships for the slave master’s pleasure and profit. By doing this it was the slave owner ways of helping his slave population grow.

This paper discusses the experiences of African American Women under slavery during the Slave Trade, their exploitation, the secrecy, the variety of tasks and positions of slave women, slave and ex-slave narratives, and significant contributions to history. Also, this paper presents the hardships African American women faced and the challenges they overcame to become equal with men in today’s society. Slavery was a destructive experience for African Americans especially women. Black women suffered doubly during the slave era.

The systematic, oppressive dehumanization of black womanhood was not a mere consequence of racism. It was a calculated method of social control, manipulation, and misogyny. With capitalism on the forefront of the American society during the Reconstruction years, and a booming manufacturing economy was on the rise, white supremacy capitalism patriarchy needed a group to be at the very bottom of the social hierarchy, a scapegoat. That scapegoat was black women. Manumitted black women showed that when given the same opportunities to live their lives like humans, they surpassed and excelled in all areas. Their success was a direct challenge to the racist ideologies that darker races were inherently inferior. Racist

Slavery was common in the eighteenth century. Slaves were seen as property, as they were taken from their native land and forced into long hours of labor. The experience was traumatic for both black men and black women. They were physically and mentally abused by slave owners, dehumanized by the system, and ultimately denied their fundamental rights to a favorable American life. Although African men and women were both subjected to the same enslavement, men and women had different experiences in slavery based on their gender. A male perspective can be seen in, My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass. A female perspective is shared in Harriet Jacobs’ narrative titled, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Upon reading both of the viewpoints provided, along with outside research, one can infer that women had it worse.

At the 1851 Women's Right Convention in Akron, Ohio Sojourner Truth, delivers a wonderful speech about women’s rights. Her speech is arguing the claim made by ministers that states, “: women were weak, men were intellectually superior to women, Jesus was a man, and our first mother sinned.” Sojourner Truth’s speech is to draw attention to the topic of women’s right. Implying that in this world women need to be helped when it comes to them being outside. For her, it is not even like the stereotype in which they have to be helped, because of her skin color. In her speech, Sojourner supports her claim about how women are treated differently except [especially for her because of her skin color] her by saying, Ain't I a woman.” This implies that she should be treated the same if other women are treated some sort. Which also circulates to the other idea in her speech, how women can do the exact same amount as men. If men can walk over mud the woman can do, they do not need help. If white women were helped then she should be helped as well. Connecting to her phrase “Ain't I a woman.” This idea attributes to both sides of her speech, which were equal rights, and how she should be treated the same as another woman. Allowing her voice to seem more intellectual, Sojourner adds all of the attributes of a woman (having kids, her arms). Which adds more support to her claim of why she is not treated the same as white women or even as a human. Who just happens to be women. Sojourner

White explores the master’s sexual exploitation of their female slaves, and proves this method of oppression to be the defining factor of what sets the female slaves apart from their male counterparts. Citing former slaves White writes, “Christopher Nichols, an escaped slave living in Canada, remembered how his master laid a woman on a bench, threw her clothes over her head, and whipped her. The whipping of a thirteen-year-old Georgia slave girl also had sexual overtones. The girl was put on all fours ‘sometimes her head down, and sometimes up’ and beaten until froth ran from her mouth (33).” The girl’s forced bodily position as well as her total helplessness to stop her master’s torture blatantly reveals the forced sexual trauma many African females endured.

Both poems, Ain’t I a Woman and at the cemetery, walnut grove plantation, south carolina, 1989, were written by African American women that have left a large impression on how we read and interpret African American literature today. Ain’t I a Woman was spoken by Sojourner Truth, and was advocating for women’s rights. The poem, at the cemetery, walnut grove plantation, south carolina, 1989, was written by Lucille Clifton, and was intended to bring honor to the dead slaves. Both pieces of work have their own unique style of writing and purpose. Both the poem, by Lucille Clifton, and oration, by Sojourner Truth, are effective as a means of exposing social injustice and as a means of diminishing social injustice. Both Ain’t I a Woman, by Lucille

Minrose Gwin‘s book, Black and White Women of the Old South, argues that history has problems with objectiveness. Her book brings to life interesting interpretations on the view of the women of the old south and chattel slavery in historical American fiction and autobiography. Gwin’s main arguments discussed how the white women of the south in no way wanted to display any kind of compassion for a fellow woman of African descent. Gwin described the "sisterhood" between black and white women as a "violent connection"(pg 4). Not only that, Gwin’s book discusses the idea that for most of the eighteenth and nineteenth century, a black woman usually got subjected to displacement of sexual and mental

Deborah Gray White’s book Ar’n’t I a Woman talks about the female slaves that are in the South. In the book, she was letting her readers know about the different kinds of women identities there were in the South and that black women were the source of population growth. Two of them that she names in the book is “Jezebel and Mammy.” The “Jezebel” woman identity that she describes in the book is of a woman that is in connection with sexuality and sex. The “Mammy” character that she describes in the book is of a woman that can do anything and do it better than anyone else. She was also seen as what White calls the “premier house servant and all others were her subordinates.” The Mammy character was completely dedicated to the white family and the children of that family. Also, the mammy character was the slave masters most “favored slave.”

Women are seen less than men even in the American culture. Being an African American women meant that you don't even exist. Women were sought out to be taken advantage of and abused. Their lives were to be made as if they did not matter. Alice Walker talked about how spiritually strong they became because of they were they were being treated.

During the 19th century, black women faced a plethora of hardships culminating from hundreds of years of oppression and denigration while simultaneously fighting for equal rights with all other women. One of the biggest obstacles that was necessary to overcome was one of the most common ideologies of the West, the Cult of True Womanhood. This Victorian ideal of womanhood defined women within a domestic sphere and required them to be subservient to their husbands (Broude). These women gave up much more than their rights outside of the home, they were taken advantage of physically, mentally and sexually. The majority of women during this time did not meet this standard of true womanhood and never could hope to. This ideal and the common stereotypes of the time were questioned by an African-American woman named Sojourner Truth.