Caribbean Black Women Essay

Women, on a whole, bare the fruit of pain for many to witness, yet countless, even those with the same womb, turn their backs on each other forgetting one's inflicted pain, with the possibilities to thrive in the other demise. For centuries, black women carried the world on her back, enduring the pain of abuse, belittlement, and enslavement. Always the last in consideration, but the first to suffer at the hands of the master, regardless of gender, which did not differ for Caribbean black women. Black women played the most important role in the Caribbean; they reared life, maintained the land, and lead the revolution to take back control of life demanding their respect. Although enslaved, those women birth the way to freedom through their defiance

Initially during the slave trade, traders preferred men over women, for their capabilities to withstand hard labor surpassed that of a woman, however as the cost to purchase slaves increased, the woman's importance did as well. The black woman played an important role as the caretaker of the land. Enslaved women were drivers, house staff, stable keepers, and multitudes of other positions in every part of plantation operations (Shepherd 46). In addition, women's higher tolerance against diseases gave them an advantage over their male counterparts, which made them appear as threat (Shepherd and Beckles 983). Despite the ability to care for the plantation, childrearing deemed another dehumanizing role for enslaved women to breed the next generations of slaves the master did not have to purchase. Slave masters treated pregnant women like royalty, they were fed well, clothed, even gained special privileges for boring six or more children (Shepherd and Beckles 986). This gave many women another advantage to control their masters, for their refusal to carry child affected their profits. However, this factor did not hinder lawmakers from trying to hinder enslaved women's freedom and overall human rights (Shepherd