Deborah Gray White
Auteur de Ar'n't I a Woman? Female Slaves in the Plantation South
A propos de l'auteur
Deborah Gray White is Board of Governors Distinguished Professor of History at Rutgers University. Her books include Too Heavy A Load: Block Women in Defense of Themselves, 1894-1994, Let My People Go: African Americans 1804-1860, and Ar'n't l a Woman?: Female Slaves in the Plantation South.
Crédit image: from Rutgers University faculty page
Œuvres de Deborah Gray White
Freedom on My Mind, Volume 2: A History of African Americans, with Documents: From 1865 (2012) 13 exemplaires
Lost in the USA: American Identity from the Promise Keepers to the Million Mom March (Women in American History) (2017) 7 exemplaires
Oeuvres associées
Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader in U.S. Women's History [1st edition] (1990) — Contributeur — 291 exemplaires
Talking Gender: Public Images, Personal Journeys, and Political Critique (1996) — Contributeur — 11 exemplaires
Étiqueté
Partage des connaissances
- Date de naissance
- 1949
- Sexe
- female
- Nationalité
- USA
- Pays (pour la carte)
- USA
- Études
- State University of New York, Binghamton (BA ∙ Harpur College)
Columbia University (MA)
University of Illinois, Chicago (PhD) - Professions
- professor (History, Rutgers University)
Membres
Critiques
Listes
Prix et récompenses
Vous aimerez peut-être aussi
Auteurs associés
Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 9
- Aussi par
- 3
- Membres
- 762
- Popularité
- #33,391
- Évaluation
- 3.9
- Critiques
- 3
- ISBN
- 37
White begins by describing the twin stereotypes of Black women through which became part of the white justification of the slave system and endured well past emancipation. One was the stereotype of the wanton, highly sexualized Jezebel, which was used to help justify the common sexual abuse of female slaves by their white enslavers. And the other was Mammy, the benign, all-knowing raiser of the white children, who ruled the kitchen with a firm hand and identified, so went the stereotype, more with her white masters than with her own black enslaved community. In contrast to Jezebel, Mammy was generally portrayed as essentially asexual, and therefore non-threatening. Here as the personification of the benign aspects of slavery, the supposed strong ties between enslavers and enslaved. This stereotype remained on America's syrup bottles and pancake mix boxes until very shortly ago.
White delves in as detailed a manner as possible into the life of the female slave. Important factors were the value females had within the system for their ability to give birth to babies that had high monetary value to their enslavers, and the resulting pressure to continue reproducing. In the meantime, they were still expected to get their plantation work in, as well. Women were much less likely than male slaves to have the sort of plantation jobs and/or privileges that allowed them to travel between plantations. In addition, because of their value as baby producers, women were much less likely than men to be sold away. Because of this, female slaves' strongest bonds were often to be found within the community of enslaved women. It was to this community that women most often turned for support in times of troubles and for tending in times of illness. Most women's strongest identities were through their roles as mothers rather than as wives.
I've only touched on two of the many important main themes of this book. I will say that the writing style is a bit dry at times, academic in nature, but never to the extent that I was hindered in the reading. Also, when I ordered my copy of the book online, I didn't realize that there was a newer edition which features an additional chapter. So I would recommend anyone thinking of picking this book would want to pick that later edition.… (plus d'informations)