history revision

Muqaibal5

Pastory

History 172

Slavery in America

Instant Thesis

Although men and women were both subject of brutality and inhumane treatment at the hands of their white masters nevertheless women faced more hardships than slave men because they were subject to both racial discrimination and gender discrimination. The racial and gender stratification was evident in the wok allotment to women, the resistance showed by them for their ill-treatment and the punishment inferred on women for their resistance.

Types of work

The division of labor between men and women slaves was gender-based. Men were mostly assigned the task of working on fields. The planation was their primary work domain. Southern colonies of America had the kind of climate which was suitable for agriculture and for agriculture, a lot of physical work was required. The white Americans were not used to working hard especially they were not trained for psychical work. For this very reason they traded slaves form coasts of Africa in 1619[footnoteRef:1] and then the tradition continued for years to come and eventually became the darkest patch on American history. Black African Americans were psychically strong with large build up bodies so they were assigned the psychically tough tasks like working on fields for long hours or working on shipyards and even there the heavy lifting was assigned to black slaves. [1: 20 slaves were imported in 1619]

Gender stratification was very evident in the division of labor for women. Slave women worked on plantations farms as well as in white households. The duties of sewing, cooking, cleaning and sweeping, child bearing, and quilting were all assigned to slave women. Back in 18th and 19th century there was no sign of any advanced household equipment’s so all physical work was given to slave women. Not only physical work, the emotional burden of white families was laid down on their black slaves as well. African American women were ‘used’ for keeping the house of their white masters in order. They worked hard in their masters houses from dawn till dusk and then did all the work for their families as well. Slave women had no homes but they had children born from their relation with white masters. They had to take care of every aspect of lives of white masters and then take care of their own families for which they became strength of each other as Deborah Gray put in her book AR’n’t I A woman “the supportive atmosphere of the female community was a buffer ... against the depersonalizing ... [and] dehumanizing nature of slavery” (White).

Types of Resistance and Rebellion

The resistance put by African American slaves against brutalities of white masters varied among men and women slaves. Before looking at the differences between resistances it is important to recall how slaves were treated and penalized. An army of white Americans was created to keep check on black slaves and if there was slight resistance by slaves to their masters, it was crushed by use of force. Slaves worked for long hours and when they got exhausted and could not work more, they were beaten up and whipped and killed in worse scenarios. They were provided with little food as compared to their hard work, less clothing than their needs and no beds for sleeping. Even after all this torture men slaves had the psychical strength to fight their masters back and gain some independence like Douglas did with his master Covey[footnoteRef:2] (Douglass). [2: Covey was known as “Slave Breaker” and he first broke Douglas but Douglass eventually gathered his courage back and fought with Covey for two hours and gained his partial independence ]

Mistreatment of women slave was worse than their counterparts because not only were they born with black skin but also they were born as women. They had to live both women and black identity to which there was no escape. Women did not only did the household work of entire families from morning till evening. They were supposed to be perfect at every task there was to be done in any family. Some women were also made to work at fields and plantations. But most importantly almost all women were subject to sexual labor of their white masters. They were not treated as humans. They were slaves not only for work but also for sex. Black women lack families’ because they had conceived children from their sexual relations with white masters and white masters never owned their children from mixed races so black children were born without identities. Women were in worse condition but they had less resistance in them against their masters because physical abuse might leave some strength to fight against brutalities in men slaves but sexual abuse break the spirit of women now and back then so active rebellion and resistance by women was less intense as compared to men.

Types of punishment

Despite the modern values of humanity in America today, they slaves of 18th and 19th century were not considered as humans and there was no concept of human rights for prisoners. When slaves showed little resistance against their white masters they were beaten up, whipped and shot in plantations without any consequences. White masters “owned” their slaved and they had the authority to treat their slaves in whatever manner they found suitable.

Women were punished in severe manner than men. Their punishments were generally sexual in nature. They were stripped naked and were asked to stand in certain positions where they were beaten naked and this way their spirits were broken. As Gray said “If she is rescued from the myth of the Negro, the myth of the woman traps her. If she escapes the myth of the woman, the myth of the Negro traps her” (White)

Conclusion

In conclusion, women were subject to both gender and racial discrimination and it made their lives more miserable than their counterparts. Women suffered more because they were made to work more, they were abused psychically and sexually to break their spirits and leave no resistance in them. Their sexual punishments left them in shatters. In a nutshell the lives of both black men and women was in humane but women of African American origin had to live both women and black identity. Hence the experiences of male and female slaves was different in the nineteenth-century south based on the brutalities imposed on them.

Works Cited

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass . Boston: Anti-slavery Office, 1845.

White, Deborah Grady. AR'n't I A Woman. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1985.