Summary Of Ar 'N' T I A Woman By Deborah Gray White

Imagine being one of the black female victims in the plantation south, and not having the voice to revolt against immorality experienced frequently because of White southerner males. The unthinkable feeling of white males having full access to a female’s body without her consent, and using her for their personal amusement reveals that discrimination and inhumanity existed in the era before slavery was abolished. For this reason, Deborah Gray White wrote the book known as Ar’n’t I a Woman? to highlight the brutal actions of these white southerner males that made miserable circumstances for black enslaved women population to survive. The way she brought forth the reality and the vicious mentality of the White southerner males manifested that

Initially, the book began with mentioning the horrifying incidents of rapes, whipping and auctioning of female black slaves, and contrasted the way of how white southerner females were shielded from becoming a subject of perversion. As supported by White’s words, “Southerner white women were kept free and pure from taint of immorality, because black women acted as a buffer against their degradation” (19). It has been proved by this statement that black women had been mistreated by the Whites Southerners and there was no law and order system to grant them justice. On the contrary, the manner of protecting their white women/ wives depicted that even White Southerners considered this as an act of humiliation. Later, the focus shifted to making motherhood as the primary goal for the young black women, and the author also disclosed some life details of the elderly women. Specifically, “The slave woman’s marital status, her work load, her diet all became investment concerns of slave holders” (White 68). It explains that slaveholders accounted these women and their capacity to bear children as a factor to maximize their profit margins. It is true that pregnant slaves were given some leniency in terms of reducing their work load to half over these crucial months; however, their lives again

Unlimitedly, it has affected the reader’s mindset in multiple ways such as informing his/her with the harsh reality of the U.S. history and guiding them to admire women and the decisions they make. In the beginning of the book, many readers might not like the book, because it presented some horrendous events of molestation that the reader could visualize. Nevertheless, it is very unlikely that any reader especially females will not fall in love with this book in my perspective by the end of the book; therefore, it is highly recommended that people should read this book. After reading this book, the level of reverence for African Americans women has immensely increased in my heart, and I learned that no matter how worse the circumstances are anybody can overcome them if they take necessary actions against it. In addition, this book is relatable to this course, because it educated the reader with the major events that had taken place before and during the Civil War in the federal U.S. history, and it revolves around the theme of equality, freedom and the end to oppression and enslavement. Each chapter of this book contain hundreds of short stories of black slave women, which made it complicated for the reader to keep with the