Richard Wright’s 12 Million Black Voices is important because while it focuses on Black people, it also gives great insight on the life a Black woman during that time. Wright observes the life of a Black woman compared to a Black man, how the Black woman’s stance in society changed over time, and if you read between the lines – he also tells a story about resilience.
In the early stages of slavery, the Black man and Black woman could easily be thought of as one. While on the Middle Passage we received, for all intents and purposes, the same treatment as Black men (Wright 14). But as we made our way onto plantations our situation changed. Many Black men began doing hard labor, while many Black women began making their way into the house. …show more content…
While in the South, White men had fetishized Black women and as result, many White men raped Black women. But, when Black people moved to the North and could not find standard housing they were forced to live in kitchenettes. Kitchenettes were apartments split into seven smaller apartments that had “…one small gas stove and one small sink…” in the seven smaller apartments (Wright 104). It was in these conditions that the amount of young Black girls being raped and becoming pregnant sky rocketed (Wright 111). As a result, instead of staying the kitchenette (which I assume they did not want to do anyway) Black women began to follow in the footsteps of their ancestors and went on to nanny little white children. While this part in the Black woman’s role in society had been consistent, there was a new element involved. They had their own children, and yes their ancestors too had their own children, but on the plantation taking care of those children was not a top priority because they would have jobs to do during the day that occupied their time. But in this new life in the North, little Black children did not have work to do on the plantation so the had free time, which led to poor decisions. It was among this series of unfortunate events that the role of the Black woman reformed; while she mothered the White baby (Wright 117) she was concerned about her own children. She was no longer the “Mammy” who contently cared for White children because her own were taken away from her, she was the Nanny who worked hard to provide for her own children even though she knew staying at home and teaching them morals would lead to a child with better character. But, a living well-fed child was better than a starved one with good
In the early stages of slavery, the Black man and Black woman could easily be thought of as one. While on the Middle Passage we received, for all intents and purposes, the same treatment as Black men (Wright 14). But as we made our way onto plantations our situation changed. Many Black men began doing hard labor, while many Black women began making their way into the house. …show more content…
While in the South, White men had fetishized Black women and as result, many White men raped Black women. But, when Black people moved to the North and could not find standard housing they were forced to live in kitchenettes. Kitchenettes were apartments split into seven smaller apartments that had “…one small gas stove and one small sink…” in the seven smaller apartments (Wright 104). It was in these conditions that the amount of young Black girls being raped and becoming pregnant sky rocketed (Wright 111). As a result, instead of staying the kitchenette (which I assume they did not want to do anyway) Black women began to follow in the footsteps of their ancestors and went on to nanny little white children. While this part in the Black woman’s role in society had been consistent, there was a new element involved. They had their own children, and yes their ancestors too had their own children, but on the plantation taking care of those children was not a top priority because they would have jobs to do during the day that occupied their time. But in this new life in the North, little Black children did not have work to do on the plantation so the had free time, which led to poor decisions. It was among this series of unfortunate events that the role of the Black woman reformed; while she mothered the White baby (Wright 117) she was concerned about her own children. She was no longer the “Mammy” who contently cared for White children because her own were taken away from her, she was the Nanny who worked hard to provide for her own children even though she knew staying at home and teaching them morals would lead to a child with better character. But, a living well-fed child was better than a starved one with good