As Malcolm X once said, “The most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman.” Black women in American history have been seen and treated as less than in many aspects of society. Being a woman in this world is already hard on its own, but being a black woman turns all odds against you in greater society especially in the United States. Black women in the United States have had to face and overcome double oppression, racism and sexism. Black women have dealt with oppression in many different ways in American history whether it’s stemming from slavery and the inhumane treatment they faced for over 200 years to the major wage
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Women in slavery were subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment beyond belief especially in terms of sexual abuse by their masters, which often resulted in pregnancy. The most infamous case of this is Thomas Jefferson’s slave Sally Hemming’s who Jefferson had a long-term sexual relationship starting from when Sally was only 14 years old; she even went onto bare six children by him. In those times, it was commonplace for masters to have authority over their female slave’s bodies; they viewed it as their right because slaves were merely just property. Rape was just another way white male masters enforced their power over black slave women. Black women slaves were stripped from the right to their own bodies and like Hemming’s; many women became pregnant as a result of these rapes. In Harriet Jacobs “Trials of Girlhood” she gave a first hand account of her experience being a slave in North Carolina and getting sexually abused by her master at the age of fifteen. She goes onto express the mistreatment she was subjected to while a slave recalling how her master treated her, she …show more content…
For the first time in American history, black people finally had freedom of speech and were allowed to openly use that, but at their own caution. In many places, especially in the South black people were still subjected to inequality and segregation and those who spoke out against it were seen as a threat, but many still took their chances. Many black women began protesting for their rights and even forming unions and movements to challenge racism and sexism and fought for equality. The primary source “The Neighborhood Union: Atlanta Georgia (c.1908)” is a great example of black women fighting for the rights of not only themselves but also others that were being oppressed. Lugenia Burns Hope formed a neighborhood union in Atlanta after noticing a social decline in Atlanta’s back neighborhoods. With the help of several other women she formed The Neighborhood Union in 1908 because of the lack of government support given to black people. Hope was determined to provide black families in Atlanta neighborhoods with sanitary homes, medical and dental care, educational and career opportunities as well as recreational opportunities. Her leadership and efforts during the early twentieth century laid the groundwork for the components of the Civil Rights Movement. Hope is just one of the many black women that used their voice and fought for social justice during the progressive era not only for themselves, but people of
Women in slavery were subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment beyond belief especially in terms of sexual abuse by their masters, which often resulted in pregnancy. The most infamous case of this is Thomas Jefferson’s slave Sally Hemming’s who Jefferson had a long-term sexual relationship starting from when Sally was only 14 years old; she even went onto bare six children by him. In those times, it was commonplace for masters to have authority over their female slave’s bodies; they viewed it as their right because slaves were merely just property. Rape was just another way white male masters enforced their power over black slave women. Black women slaves were stripped from the right to their own bodies and like Hemming’s; many women became pregnant as a result of these rapes. In Harriet Jacobs “Trials of Girlhood” she gave a first hand account of her experience being a slave in North Carolina and getting sexually abused by her master at the age of fifteen. She goes onto express the mistreatment she was subjected to while a slave recalling how her master treated her, she …show more content…
For the first time in American history, black people finally had freedom of speech and were allowed to openly use that, but at their own caution. In many places, especially in the South black people were still subjected to inequality and segregation and those who spoke out against it were seen as a threat, but many still took their chances. Many black women began protesting for their rights and even forming unions and movements to challenge racism and sexism and fought for equality. The primary source “The Neighborhood Union: Atlanta Georgia (c.1908)” is a great example of black women fighting for the rights of not only themselves but also others that were being oppressed. Lugenia Burns Hope formed a neighborhood union in Atlanta after noticing a social decline in Atlanta’s back neighborhoods. With the help of several other women she formed The Neighborhood Union in 1908 because of the lack of government support given to black people. Hope was determined to provide black families in Atlanta neighborhoods with sanitary homes, medical and dental care, educational and career opportunities as well as recreational opportunities. Her leadership and efforts during the early twentieth century laid the groundwork for the components of the Civil Rights Movement. Hope is just one of the many black women that used their voice and fought for social justice during the progressive era not only for themselves, but people of