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Women in the south after the civil war
Women in the south after the civil war
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Although some of the masters mistress were well taken cared of, there were times were the African American women was forced into having sexual relations with the master or his children and were still forced to work outside with the others. The role of an African American women compared to the role of a white women were very different. In antebellum because of their sex most women were assumed to be weaker, and believed to be intellectually and physically suited for only domestic work.
For this project, my group researched the Southern colonies. These colonies were divided into two regions, the Chesapeake colonies, which included Virginia and Maryland, and the Southern colonies, which included the Carolinas and later Georgia. These Southern colonies emerged around the early 1600 's when the Europeans came to the New World and later had an abundance of cash crops which allowed their economy to thrive. The Europeans, specifically the British, arrived in the New World in the 1600 's. They made relations with the natives who helped them to survive.
During their teenage years, white elite women focused on finding a suitable husband with wealth and status (Weiner, 1998). Unlike the white women, black marriages were not recognized. Nevertheless, it was acceptable and valid in the black community. Also, for white males they desired a white woman with an education. “An educated southern woman reflected well on her family name and social class” (McMillen, 2002, p. 91).
The Southern Colonies, complete with beautiful plantation houses, and indigo and tobacco fields for as far as the eye can see. It sounds like a truly great and majestic place to settle in the New World -- and for some, it was. However, it was not as glamorous for some as it was for others. It all depended on a person’s social class. There are three main social groups found in the Southern Colonies.
The Portrayal of Slavery in Antebellum Louisiana in Solomon Northup’s Twelve Years a Slave In his memoire Twelve Years a Slave, illegitimately enslaved Solomon Northup does not only depict his own deprivations in bondage, but also provides a deep insight into the slave trade, slaves’ working and living conditions, as well as religious beliefs of both enslaved people and their white masters in antebellum Louisiana. Northup’s narrative is a distinguished literary piece that exposes the injustice of the whole slaveholding system and its dehumanizing effect. It is not a secret that the agriculture dominated the economy of antebellum Louisiana (Louisiana: A History 183). Therefore the Southern planters needed relatively cheap workforce to cultivate
Isaac Ober Mr. Petrich Honors English, 9 22 December 2022 The Appeals of the Southern Belle code: a Look into the Past Through her primal imagery and employment of substories in To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee conveys that the institution of racism is perpetuated by the Southern Belle code; this code yields even more power to the already immensely powerful patriarchy by degrading women to pure beings that need protection from the outside world, reducing women to only their opinions and making it impossible for them to take action, thereby increasing the prominence of racism in the south. Through her clever word choice, Lee expresses that young girls are pressured to conform to the Southern Belle code through female role models, who heavily
The culture, history, economy, and politics of the Southern states have been studied extensively. Yet, one element of life in the South has received much less attention: women 's experiences during childbirth (Simon, Richard M. "Women 's Birth Experiences and Evaluations: A View from the American South" no. 1, 2016, pp.1-38). Childbirth plays a substantial role in enslaved woman 's lives positively and negatively. During slavery, enslaved poor women who were wet-nurses were forced to give up their milk just to feed another women’s child. Feeding another woman 's child with one 's own milk constituted a form of labor, but it was work that could only be undertaken by lactating women who had borne their own children (West, E. and Knight, R. "Mother 's Milk: Slavery, Wet-Nursing and Black and White Women in the Antebellum South" no. 37, 2017, pp.
The Old South had required a better understanding of the power of social myths. That had involved recognizing the dreadful dimension of the region's history. This was when the white southerners had won short-term economic gains that over time, that had damaged the soil and awakened the moral indignation of parts of the world. They had a focus on agriculture, as well as the growing dependence that was on the slaves at the expense of the urban development. Slaveholding South had caught a ride on the wagon, but they also done it for the demand of cotton.
Specifically, southern white women used this period to elevate their social status so that they could climb the social tower to gain power and compare to men. Southern women wanted to get out of the ideal that women should only be housewives, so they used slaves to relieve themselves of house chores, which brought them away from just being housewives. This elevated them socially because instead of being ridden with housework, they were give leisure time and time to focus on their husbands and wives. Slaves were thought to benefit because slave owners would take care of the slaves and that they would be better off being a slave than running around Africa. Slave owners would give slaves food, shelter, and clothing, take care of their children, and teach them christianity (Jones, 102).
The Antebellum period was a time of growing opportunities in education for women. However, women’s roles in society remained plagued with the ideology of domesticity (Katz, 389). Domesticity centered around the idea that a woman was required to be submissive in society, and does not need education, because her role in the world was defined by her domestic life. These theories contributed to the schooling of women and how education was structured. Dame schools, inexpensive, informal schools were educational systems that women could attend during this time.
In 1887, Thomas Nelson Page published In Ole Virginia, a collection of short stories about the Old South, focusing on the time period immediately pre- and post-American Civil War. Throughout literature, the Antebellum South has been depicted as a place of sprawling plantations, Southern belles, chivalry, and glamorous balls. Following the Civil War, the South is often still depicted as quaint small towns characterized by Southern hospitality, but is far less romanticized. In his stories, Thomas Nelson Page supports these notions, and attempts to illustrate both the glory of the Old South as well as the view that the Civil War was ultimately an unnecessary bloodbath.
The idea of southern hospitality permeates the entire culture. People tend to think only those of higher class show southern hospitality, but those of lower status economically can demonstrate hospitality equally as well. In the book the following passage shows this clearly: “The kitchen table was loaded with enough food to bury the family… Calpurnia said ‘This was all ‘round the back steps when I got here this morning. They-they aren’t oversteppin’ themselves are they?’” (286).
The lesson or subject was poorly taught. The education standard was low. After high school, women have nowhere to go. They had no jobs, no income, no opportunity for higher education. The future for them was unpredictable.
During this time, people believed that women were only good at cooking, cleaning, or nurturing their children and couldn’t do much else. Because people thought this way, women were uneducated unless they were in the upper class. Wealthy women would sometimes have private tutors that would teach them.
The education for girls during that time would include of “reading, writing and arithmetic, governesses often taught foreign languages, like French and Italian, and the humanities, like history and geography” (Jones Kayes). Sometimes the governesses even teach the girls skills such as “…drawing, playing piano, dancing and deportment…all designed to attract an eligible suitor” (Hughes Kathryn). The educational is unequal to girls as all they do is help them attract a possible husband. Since all the education is only for the girls to make themselves appeal to the eyes for the man. This clearly shows that the education is irrational and questionable.