Thus, just as feminists differed in their pro-sex or anti-pornographic approaches (Minimizers vs. Maximizers), their was an innate disparity in the goals of wealthy white women and poorer black woman. This notion reaffirms our class discussion on why many black woman choose to remain in the civil rights movement and create equality between races before aiming for gender equality.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Sojourner Truth
Truth's speech "Ain't I a Woman?" is a particularly moving one because it outlines the differences not only between genders but also between races. She comments how men claim to treat women with respect and provide a comfortable setting for them yet she has labored and even been forced to sell many of her children into slavery. Clearly, all women during that era were considered subordinate as they had no voting rights and were thought of as having to please and succumb to men. However, when we think of the women's rights movement and their desired goals for equal working rights and the overall ability to be more than a housewife, these were not the primary concerns of black women. Black women, such as Sojourner Truth, had been working at crappy jobs and were not even able to fulfill the traditional role of housewife if they wanted because they couldn't afford to care for their kids, as evidenced by Truth selling her children into slavery.
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Interesting thoughts on the main themes for today's class, Daniel and John. You've done an especially nice job of connecting the issues that black women confronted in the 1960s with those that black women like Truth were facing a century earlier. One thing to remember: black women like Truth weren't just relegated to crappy jobs, but to slavery!
ReplyDeleteGenerally speaking, your posts would both be strengthened through a bit more engagement with the readings: how do the arguments of each author interface with those of other authors? What might these writers say to one another? Obviously, this was a hard week to thing this way because you were dealing with historical documents and relatively short ones at that, but keep it in mind for next time.