The Emancipation of African Women

If you have never heard of polygamy you will and if you had in the past it was most likely due to the hit reality series “Sister Wives” about a polygamist family in the state of Utah. Polygamy is defined as the practice or condition of having more than one spouse at a time. Polygamy is nothing new and has been practice for hundreds of years but it is now seen as an immoral act, and a criminal act in a large majority of the of the world. Now even though polygamy is wide known in certain areas like Africa (South Africa, Kenya), Asia (middle east), etc. Still there are rules that they must abide by and it frowned on in an obese manner in areas like the United States, Australia, and China, because as a society we see it as an unjust act that can not be upheld by any justification but it is permitted in the bible. I support polygamy because I see no fault in the act of a family with multiple spouses.

African Americans throughout the road to gain racial equality exercised many methods in order to attain such liberties. We start our exploration by viewing the most paramount methods to acquire racial equality; these methods included lobbying public officials through the court system and through peaceful public protests. We'll lastly address the violent methods used to gain racial equality but see how they were mostly unavailing.

“Not Killing Me Softly: African American Women, Slave Revolts, and Historical Constructions of Racialized Gender” is an attempt by Rebecca Hall, to uncover women’s participation in slave revolts and to address a concern of why enslaved women were silenced in revolt. She also focuses on why certain aspects of slave revolt are seen as exclusively male activities. To accomplish her task, she uses a number of book excerpts from prominent historians, as well as many sources from accounts of slave revolts in history. Although Hall relies heavily on the works of other historians to support her argument, she also utilizes her own observations and experiences to strengthen her thesis. The significant points discussed in Hall’s dissertation are, the

Angelia Emily Grimké, a sister, a wife, a women’s right advocate, and a women who fought tirelessly against slavery. Grimké held her composure in hostile crowds, even as stones were casted out, and harsh words cut into the dust filled air. This strong independent woman fought for those who could not fight for themselves. She lived in a time when women were encouraged to keep their heads low and their opinions kept to themselves. Grimké worked along with her sister to fight for rights that at the time did not come easily. In today’s world, the thought of women and the African American race having little input in the government or day to day living is disturbing. Americans take great pride in having a voice and the ability they have to use that voice at any time of any day. Unfortunately these times were not always easy to come by. People like Angelia Grimké paved the way for those rights and the overall rights of equality. She accomplished this by expressing her opinion and beliefs to those who were not always willing to agree. Grimké and many like her fought the hard fight and did not give in when they were outnumbered. Grimké came from a slave owning family in the south; therefore, she saw firsthand the effects of slavery. Into Grimké’s adult life, she moved north and further developed her beliefs through her relationship with God and devotion to her Bible, as well as, historical documents like the Constitution. These developed beliefs seen in her published

Essays should have organized thoughts, an interesting writing style, and most importantly get the attention of the reader. The essay, “African Women in Colonial Society,” by Carol Berkin was no exception. The claims were well thought out and clear, and the essay definitely hooked readers in with an anecdote that led into the story quite fittingly. She had three noticeable claims that were major that she talks about in the essay, and that is the struggles of African women, moreso compared to that of a man’s, the silver linings that the women found, and finally the unity of the Africans through common languages and religion.

United States’ southeast region can be described as unique when it comes to its economic system and its social structure due to the multiple political and constitutional problems these structures have created. The most important factor of these problems raised could be said that was the social structure, regarding the interaction between the different social groups of this southeastern community. From the conflicts that aroused between the different White European settlers, to the adjustment of the African Americans to labor, the southerner society, or community, was created. The commodification of the domestic work of African American women affected in great ways their performance in white households, as well as their portrayal in advertisements, where they were shown to be a need to white southerners during the 1920’s. Although these advertisements approached the public with the idea that domestic work was a necessity, the advances in society made of their work one that day-by-day became less needed.

According to Ira Berlin's essay "The role of African-Americans in the abolition of slavery," despite the role of slavery in causing the American Civil War, Northerners and Southerners alike did not envision slaves having a viable role in fighting for their freedom. However, as the war progressed, it became increasingly clear that slaves could play a role in the conflict to help the Northern side. The Emancipation Proclamation and the subsequent conscription of African-Americans had a very practical purpose: it demonstrated that the Union was on the 'side' of enslaved blacks and enabled African-Americans to prove their readiness to become citizens. At first there was tremendous opposition to these policies: merely because people supported the Union did not mean they believed in equality of the races. Even in the North, there was initial resistance to returning slaves to their owners after war was declared. Anti-slavery congressmen took great passed a resolution declaring it 'no part of the duty of the soldiers of the United States to capture and return fugitive slaves" only with great effort (Berlin et al 428). As black Americans, including escaped slaves began to play a more and more critical role in the war effort and eventually, the abolitionist view began to become more accepted. Escaped and freed slaves served in military camps as cooks, nurses, laundresses and labor, and bridged the social

In the late 1700s, most African Americans were enslaved and treated poorly, because of their skin color. By the 1800s, some African Americans were free, because they fled to towns that allowed them to be treated fairly or they bought their freedom. Although some African Americans were free they were treated like they were still enslaved. Free African Americans did not have any rights, so they were still being prohibited from many things that whites had the privilege to do freely. For instance, free African Americans could not own land and they could only live in certain areas. While whites could own land and live wherever they desired. Whites had laws that allowed them to be free and live without limitations, while African Americans had

Slavery was a growing problem in America in the 19th century and anti-slavery supporters as well as pro-slavery supporters were fighting to gain as much support as possible. There were many strategies used, but one that was exceedingly effective was the involvement of women. Female anti-slavery abolitionist societies were created all over the North. Beginning in 1833 Philadelphia, Boston, and New York in 1836, spreading to other cities like Providence, Rhode Island, Portland, Maine, and quickly spreading through the countryside. By the late 1830s there were female societies in communities as small as Boylston, Massachusetts, with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants. These local societies were in most ways like the many thousands of other women’s voluntary organizations that were emerging in Northern communities in the early nineteenth century. Female abolitionists were determined to have their opinions heard in a controversial political society dominated by men.

The Abolitionist Movement changed the course of the nation. In addition to the eventual emancipation of slaves, it transformed the role of women in American History. During the Abolitionist Movement, it was thought that the duties of women were confined within the home (Boylan 363). While most women of the time agreed with this statement, there were many who did not. This change of attitude started during the Great Awakening (Baker 623). Eliza Wilkinson wrote, “I won’t have it thought that because we are the weaker sex as to bodily strength we are capable of nothing more than domestic concerns” (Goldfield, et al. 171). During this time, society was against women leaving the home. Many of the men who were against slavery were also opposed

In 1619, when slavery first began it was clear early on that it wouldn’t be a positive experience for its victims. The victims, typically people of African American decent, were not afforded any rights as human beings. They were excluded from the political system (not allowed to hold offices or vote); they were excluded from holding jobs of quality and forced to be slaves. Even as slaves they were denied many of the basic needs that were plentiful for many of America’s Caucasian citizens. African Americans as a whole had a limited amount of options during that time but the African American female slave carried not only the burden of being black but also being a female. Many of the experiences that black females had during this time differed a small bit from what their male counterparts might have experienced. I’ll explore the life of the black woman during slavery and her fight to have a normal life.

Although it has been over 150 years since the abolishment of slavery in America, its effects are still present to this day. Racism lurks in the minds of many Americans whether they are aware of it or not. This negatively effects African Americans in many ways. An example of such is increased stress which leads to negative health outcomes in African Americans such as low birth weights, and low life expectancies. Since they have worse health outcomes compared to their racial counterparts, one would expect them to be seen by physicians more. However, they also have decreased access to healthcare because of these health disparities. In addition, once they are finally able to see the doctor, they again have to deal with racism. Although we as a society hold doctors to a higher value of expectations and morals, they are still average human beings. In consequence, they too can have unconscious racist bias towards their patients. This has been confirmed by numerous studies and could be why African Americans are less likely to go to the doctor when ill. For example, in a study done by Harvard University, it was found that African American patients with pneumonia were only 32% likely to receive an antibiotic within 6 hours of admission as opposed to 53% of other Medicare patients with pneumoniaINSERT SOURCES HERE. In a societal viewpoint, this issue must be addressed. We must find a way to decrease unconscious bias towards patients. One way this can be done is by having doctors

“Black in a white society, slave in a free society, woman in a society ruled by men, female slaves had the least formal power and were perhaps the most vulnerable group of Americans.” (Gray, 70) Deborah Gray White’s Ar’n’t I a Woman? is a much needed insight into the realm of the enslaved African-American woman, whose struggles transcended that of any other peoples. In her narrative, White explores the multifaceted identities of enslaved women in the South. She explains the prevalent images of the “Jezebel” and the “Mammy” that were designated to African American slave women. Each chapter in her text is accumulative, adding to the story and experiences of the archetypal enslaved African American woman.

During the war of Independence, the slaves of African descent were led in many different directions. British was promising to free them and were not fulfilling their end of the deal, “British was recognized as independent, yet they kept the salve-owning exclusive.” (Chasteen, 111); while in other places the slaves were being freed. In Brazil the emperor Pedro 11 freed his own slaves. Slaves of the African descent were said to know much more than other slaves, such as; they knew how to work with iron, they knew how to care and tend to farmlands and animals, overall, they had a lot of experience that they brought with them. Because of their worth the slave owners did not want give them up. Some of the slaves were even taught how to read and write,

Mark Henkal is the self-described National Polygamy Advocate. In his speech “The Emperor is Wearing No Clothes,” he argues the case of why Christian polygamy should be accepted. He uses four main points to get his opinion across: grace-law hypocrisy, polygamists in the Bible, the meaning of adultery and one flesh, and prohibitions of leaders in the Bible. An individual with little to no Biblical knowledge might find that his argument makes sense. Just listening to the speech, without any critical thinking involved, might even persuade those with slightly more Biblical knowledge. Although outwardly he may seem to make solid arguments, there is much more to the polygamy argument than he brought forth.