Analysis of Glenda Gilmore’s Essay on Interracial Dynamics in the Jim Crow Era Glenda Gilmore, in her essay “Forging Interracial Links in the Jim Crow South,” attempts to tackle the charged concepts of feminism and race relations during the infamous Jim Crow era. Her analysis focuses on both the life and character of a black woman named Charlotte Hawkins Brown, a highly influential member of the community of Greensboro, North Carolina. Brown defied the odds given her gender and race and rose to a prominent place in society through carefully calculated interracial relations. Gilmore argues that in rising above what was expected of her as a black woman, Brown was forced to diminish her own struggles as a black woman, and act to placate …show more content…
And so, rather than try to reason with those who thought she was a lesser being, Brown appealed to their egos. She would create stories of helpless uneducated slaves and their white “protectors,” dismissing her heritage to appease whites. By acting “white”, and twisting the beliefs of white supremacists to her benefit, Brown rose to a prominent education position. To gain respect she was forced to give up part of her identity. She rebranded herself as a New Englander to distance herself from slavery. When taking students into the city, they “…did not mingle with Greensboro’s African Americans…” Brown taught her students the ideals she practiced, in hopes that they too might find a reputable place in the Jim Crow South. While attempting to transcend race boundaries, Brown is also forced to lose her femininity. If she showed vulnerability she would no longer be taken seriously by the community. By her nature she could not aspire to be the epitome of white womanhood, as she could not relinquish her place in the community for the sake of a husband or family. Gilmore describes her as a “diplomat,” a servant to the public. Brown’s life was unapologetically public and political, a fundamental difference between her and white women. However, this was not unusual for black women, especially in the South. Post-slavery, black men were unable to find public work, so women needed
Patricia Hill Collins’s work, Black Feminist Thought seeks to center Black Women into intersectionalist thought, addressing the power struggles that face them not only due to their race but also to the gender. Masculine rhetoric and powerful male leaders such as Huey P. Newton and Eldridge Cleaver have overshadowed Black Women’s stories, both in and out of the Civil Right Rights/Black Power
In Elise Johnson McDougald’s essay “The Task of Negro Womanhood,” she elaborates on the difficulties of being a black, working woman in society. In order to understand the struggles of a black woman in America, “one must have in mind not any one Negro woman, but rather a colorful pageant of individuals, each differently endowed” (McDougald, 103). This is because to be able to understand the problems they face as individuals one must think of black women as a collective unit. McDougald focuses on the women living in Harlem because they are more free and have more opportunity to succeed than in the rest of the United States. Though they are considered more
Patriarchy’s Scapegoat: Black womanhood and femininity – A critique of racism, gender inequality, anti-blackness, and historical exploitation of black women.
Starting her second education, she was forced to drop out to care for her ailing grandmother. With Jim Crow’s Law, heavily in affect, her childhood was greatly influenced by the segregation between white people and black people in almost every part of their lives.
However, she quickly began to realize that the racial-ideology espoused by white southerners was used as a means to oppress and subordinate the African American community. Although many blacks were content to accept discrimination, segregation, and disenfranchisement as the norm, Anne (from this moment on) refused to conform to her status as an “inferior.” Rather, she constantly questioned and criticized the treatment of African Americans, even as a young child. For example, she mentally chastised Raymond’s family for refusing to acknowledge her mother at church (pg. 61) and she refused to conform to Mrs. Burke unreasonable household rules (pg. 122). Ultimately, at this young age, Anne knew intuitively that the racial status quo in the south was morally wrong and unjust. In many ways, this awareness contributed to Anne’s tireless commitment to the cause of desegregation and racial equality later in
There was a heavy amount of contextual evidence demonstrated throughout this book, what with the minute print and informative words given. The perspectives of the South and the North were infused with the perspectives of people today, and how discrimination has been implemented throughout our society both then and now. With ‘the intent to introduce readers to individual African American working women’ [Preface, xv], she elicits such feelings and highlights the real struggle of those African Americans that were confirmed and transformed by giving examples from historical events such as The Great Depression, the American Revolution, Labor movements and reforms in both the North and the South.
The focus of this paper is detail commentary and evaluation of four different readings. The reviews will summarize the readings, provide authors arguments, and evaluate them. The readings are: An End to the Neglect of the Problem of the Negro Woman by Claudia Jones, Black Macho and Myth of the Super Woman by Michele Wallace, The Myth of Black Macho by Robert Staples and The Negro Family by Daniel Moynihan.
Mary Ann Shadd Cary was one of the most influential African-American, female leaders during the Antebellum era. As an advocate for equality and integration, Cary contributed an immense amount of effort towards establishing the foundation of black livelihood. Though labeled inferior on the basis of ethnicity and gender, she was a fierce, headstrong, successful activist in a political world dominated by white males. This essay will analyze Cary’s approach to solidifying African American safety and nationalism during the 19th century.
By expressing this with the African American society of women who are continuously torched by the demanding words of men, McLune appeals strongly to all American women’s intellect of equality and respect. Women should not have to be judged by men and expect to be treated as if they owe anyone something, let alone have to be mistreated and belittled, if that were to be the case then men should be treated the same, therefore McLune’s audience, should understand that that is not how you define a black woman in any terms.
Throughout a life that stretched from slavery into her civil rights movement, Anna Julia Cooper defended the rights of all people to dignity, education, and respect. As an educated, competent, independent woman, she faced the double challenge of being African American and female in a society that was deeply racist and sexist, but with confidence and elegance, she challenged society’s assumptions about her. Her life was dedicated to the education of all people, but especially to taking care of the minds of black girls. “Throughout her activist adherence to her ideals, she provided an example of individual excellence rendered incandescent by service to the human community” (Berson, 1994).
Deborah Gray White’s Ar’n’t I a Woman? details the grueling experiences of the African American female slaves on Southern plantations. White resented the fact that African American women were nearly invisible throughout historical text, because many historians failed to see them as important contributors to America’s social, economic, or political development (3). Despite limited historical sources, she was determined to establish the African American woman as an intricate part of American history, and thus, White first published her novel in 1985. However, the novel has since been revised to include newly revealed sources that have been worked into the novel. Ar’n’t I a Woman? presents African American females’ struggle with race and
Everyone faces challenges; however, not everyone faced the two pronged sword that the New Negro Women faced during the Harlem Renaissance. Not only did they have to find a way to define New Negro Woman to the New Negroes in the facially masculine Harlem Renaissance, but they also had to find a way to participate and connect with her new womanhood throughout discriminatory New Woman movement. Many New Negro women wanted to be able to have a private and public part of life - have a family and be able to work. However, they both had to face the trials of gender inequality and the tribulations of racial discrimination in the workplace. This question of “allegiance to race or gender” became a common theme in the works of the New Negro women.
In her book Freedom’s Daughters, Lynne Olson acknowledges the bold women who were vital to the success of the Civil Rights Movement. Although they were excluded from a number of noteworthy events such as the March on Washington in 1963, both black and white women played key roles in publicizing the struggle for racial equality in the United States during the mid-1900s. In addition, it is evident through several stories that one of Olson’s main goals was to illustrate how black and white women were divided even though they were fighting for the same cause. In the preface of the novel, Olson describes three ideas that are prevalent in the lives of the women that are documented in the book. Primarily, she argues
I’ll be honest; this was definitely a hard read personally. I had to read several things more than once to understand what the author was saying. I have come to the conclusion that her thesis is simply concerning how racism and slavery came into existence in the New World. She has a lot of points concerning gender roles and gender in general. Dr. Brown states, “I have tried to surmount this difficulty by writing not just a social history of women in Virginia… but a history of gender broadly construed to include masculinity” (3). I believe she is trying to say that instead of just talking about women when talking about gender, she wants to include the man’s role in deciding or establishing gender roles. Her main points have to do with how gender
Similar to the author Kimberle Crenshaw, the author of “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics,” I would like to start my critical review essay by mentioning the Black feminist studies book entitled “All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave.” Having this idea of problematic predisposition to treat race and gender as mutually exclusive entities in mind, I would like to review Angela Davis’s book entitled “Women, Race, and Class”, and compare my findings to Kimberle Crenshaw’s groundbreaking article that we have read in class, where she famously terms the idea of “intersectionality.” I will start with the examination of similarities between Davis’s and Crenshaw’s arguments regarding the erasure of the Black women’s experiences in social sciences and feminist writings, and will also point out the additional consideration of class that Davis brings to the idea of intersectionality of race and gender initially suggested by Crenshaw, and further discuss the triple discrimination that Black women face on the fronts of race, gender, and class. My main aim in the review of the two author’s texts is to reveal the prevalent problematic notion in Black societies of viewing race implicitly gendered as male, and recognizing gender mainly from the white women’s standpoint.