Oppressed African-American Women in the United States

Oppressed African-American Women in the United States

Part 1: Group and Area

The chosen cultural group is the oppressed African-American women in the United States in the 20^th and 21^st centuries.

Part 2: Identity

African American women are doubly disadvantaged within the economic, social, and political structure of the United States. According to grassroots activists and black feminist scholars, black women are status deprived because of their gender and race (Simien 315). Thus, the consciousness of black feminism is due to the understanding of the intersecting patterns of discrimination. Most African American women identify as homemakers, as they been active in labor domains due to inequalities if family income; therefore, black women have had to be hard workers in order to take care of their families. When compared to White women, they dominate the decision making capacities in their households (Siemen 318). African American women are nationalistic as they have always responded to the cause of fighting for either their gender or race (Siemen 318). Having been oppressed due to racial and gender and racial inequalities, the African American experience has resulted in multiple burdens – victims of domestic violence, illiteracy, early pregnancy, and poverty (Siemen 532). Gender inequalities have stretched deep into the black church where black women only possess minor roles, Black women are unrelenting, and many have broken away to establish their own churches  (Siemen 534).  African American women identify as strong women; however, this myth has been more than a cultural trope, more than ever. However, Manke argues that African American women feel pressured to act like superwomen free of emotion to be able to cope with societal racial and gender bias (Par 1).

Part 3: Material Culture and History

Several objects can be identified with the African American struggle for gender and racial equity. First, groups were used in the agitation of the right of black women workers. Between 1940 and 1950, from experiences with community organizations, African-American women in the United Packinghouse Workers of America established interracial alliances that called for the end to gender and racial discrimination within the meatpacking industry (Fehn 45). Secondly, Black women’s language and cultural experiences, as portrayed by Black females writers about the ‘Black female,’ bring about a phenomenally rich mixing object of structure and content and takes their composition a long way past the bounds of white/male scholarly structures (Carby 753).  The Black women’s activist pundit would discover incalculable shared characteristics in works by Black females (Singh 37). Thirdly, the wave of feminism emphasized the idea about women equality in the social, economic and political aspect of the society (Suresh 95); however, African American women would later establish the Black feminism movement to cater for the rights of African American women who remained at the bottom of the social ladder (Suresh 96). Finally, the Civil Rights Movement will remain as one of the most iconic elements that called for racial and gender equality with personalities such as Rossa Parks, Ella Baker, and Daisy Bates playing major roles (Gyant 630).

Part 4: Origin and story

The impacts of classism and racism (Shorter-Gooden 410) in relation to the oppression of African American women were felt by black women all over the United States. The negative and damaging impacts of classism and racism were experienced in areas such as employment, education, housing, and economic power among African American women (Howard-Hamilton 19). Classism between the whites and the black women resulted in the exclusion of black women in their rights, such as voting and exclusion from public policy-making; thus, most of their basic needs were not met, which had devastating results. Classism created an ideology and instilled beliefs in African American women in the society, thus leading to acceptance and rationale for these inequalities (King 37). It had internal impacts on the black women as it created low self-esteem, low expectations, and discouragements and led to a lot of bitterness, thus divisions among communities.

Gender inequality led to gender stereotypes whereby women were designated to occupations that only required skills that were domestically related and not economically valued, thus wage disparity. This is in comparison to black men who were given economically valued occupations that had higher wages (Setzer 174). Black women have been referred to as Jezebel, relating to the sexualization of African American women. It has long been assumed that an African American woman is a seductress and comfortable in their sexuality. This has left black women as victims of sexual abuse and harassment from both White and Black Americans (Jacobs & Davis 209). These ideas have been sustained in the media, movies, and music. Culturally, it has always been assumed that the needs of White women were secondary to the wishes of White men. For instance, Black women in powerful positions in society have the pressure to remain in their position due to the ‘powerful’ status despite having the feelings of job dissatisfaction due to racism experienced in their daily work duties. In most cases, White men will ignore or downplay the role of these Black women. Thus, the African American woman’s need is invisible to both their African American friends and White men (210).

Part 5: Heroism and Hope

During the post-slavery period, questions related to gender, race, and the work of reconstruction during the 19^th century were posed by many activists such as Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (Collins 33, 35). These activists led the war in fighting for black females in the US. They were involved in fighting for suffrage, giving public lectures, and assisting the ones who needed help after reconstruction. Harper suggested that black women needed suffrage more for protection as compared to the whites who needed it for education.

The 1920s to 1960s was considered as one of the most important times in history for the development of black feminist activism even though the period of time has been left out by many researchers. Communist parties and union activism experienced the joining of some black women during this period to work on intersectionality (integrating gender, race, and class) (Chavez et al. 104). Some women such as Esther Cooper wrote an MA thesis called “The Negro Woman Domestic Worker in Relation” in the year 1940 (McDuffie 203)

In the 1960s and 1970s, black women’s discontentment with the feminist movement, as well as the civil rights movement brought about the rise of black feminism as a movement that was both social and political. This was because the civil rights movement dwelt mostly on the rights of black men and ignored those of black females who were faced with severe sexism within those civil rights groups (Early 31). Betty Friedan led the emergence of the 2^nd-wave feminist movement in the 1960s, which left some black women with the feeling of alienation as it did not fully satisfy the wants that they had. The 20^th century also experienced the rise of sub-sects of black feminism, such as ‘Womanism’ which was led by Alice Walker and it mainly emphasized on the oppression treatment of black women went through when compared with the American white women (Collins 38).

The 1990s experienced the emergence of various groups that fought against oppression towards African American women and their voices marginalized continuously with the formation of those groups. The 21^st century brought about a new face in the fight against oppression against African American women. This is due to technological advancements all over the United States that fostered the development of a new kind of feminism that was digital. Social justice and gender quality could be discussed openly on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, youtube, and other electronic forms of social media.

Conclusion

In conclusion and from a critical perspective, African American women were historically subject to harsh discrimination and oppression from the White Americans and used this to keep African Americans under their control. African American women as a whole gradually developed as years passed by from the post-slavery period to the 21^st century. African American women were involved in permanent struggles of their civil rights and equality in American society. Gender discrimination led to the birth of feminism; however, gender discrimination was customized for African American women by the advent of Black feminism. Black feminism broke the idea that women were working as a single entity against gender discrimination. Despite the struggles, African American women were able to achieve several milestones along the way.

Formation of different organizations contributed to their voices being heard, and authors started writing on the issues that the African American women were facing to draw massive attention from the White Americans. Due to intense pressure from the black women, the White Americans were forced to reduce restrictions and oppressions that they had set for the African American women. The black women started to be treated equally, and their civil rights were taken care of. Even though few cases of oppression in terms of gender discrimination, sexism, classism, and racism towards African American women still persists in the present day, critically analyzing the gradual development of the African American women in the course of United States history, there is open evidence that traces consistent improvements that have occurred to the position of African American women in the American society.