Slavery and the Life of Harriet Jacobs Essay -- Slavery Essays

Slavery and the Life of Harriet JacobsIt is well cognise that break ones backry was a horrible event in the history of the United States. However, what isnt as well known is the actual severity of slavery. The experiences of slave women presented by Angela Davis and the theories of black women presented by Patricia Hill Collins are evident in the spiritedness of Harriet Jacobs and show the severity of slavery for black women. The history of slave women offered by Davis suggests that compulsory labor overshadowed every other aspect of womens existence (Davis 5). This is quite apparent through examination of the life of Harriet Jacobs. All slaves were agonistic to do hard labor and were subject to cruel remarks by whites, in this sense they were genderless, except women endured much more foul treatment. Harriet Jacobs was forced to listen to the sexual berating from her master, Dr. Flint, as well as receive jealous scorn from her mistress, Mrs. Flint. Yet worse than the verbal vi lification was the physical, sexual abuse imposed on slave women. Naming or not naming the father of a child, taking as a wife a char who had children by unnamed fathers, and giving a newborn child the name of a father were all considered by Herbert Gutman to be everyday choices in slave communities (Davis 15). Not being able to name a father must have made slave women feel great pain from being a genderless tool and great isolation by forcing them to take care of bastard children on their own. However, the worst comes when the child is old enough to work and, in about cases, is auctioned off. By auctioning off a slave womans children slave masters not only dehumanized slave women but gave additional pain to slave women by taking their loved children away. Slave... ...brother. These past three points all serve as examples of the severity of slavery for women. The U.S. slave system has placed African American women at a disadvantage for hundreds of years. Its atrocious to think t his kind of thing could ever be allowed to happen. Even worse is to the reality that it wouldnt be that way if people very believed in equality. Women were owned in every aspect, not merely free labor. Their minds, bodies, and souls were pushed to the limits and Harriet Jacobs is an example of this being true.Works CitedCollins, Patricia. Black Feminist Thought Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. smart York, NY Routledge, 2000Davis, Angela. The Legacy Of Slavery Standards For A New Womanhood. Jacobs, Harriet, and Yellin, Jean. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Cambridge, Mass. Harvard University Press