Ar'n't I a Woman?: Female Slaves in the Plantation South [Paperback]

Deborah Gray White (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 17, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0393314812 | ISBN-13: 978-0393314816 | Edition: Revised Edition

"This is one of those rare books that quickly became the standard work in its field. Professor White has done justice to the complexity of her subject."—Anne Firor Scott, Duke University

Living with the dual burdens of racism and sexism, slave women in the plantation South assumed roles within the family and community that contrasted sharply with traditional female roles in the larger American society. This new edition of Ar'n't I a Woman? reviews and updates the scholarship on slave women and the slave family, exploring new ways of understanding the intersection of race and gender and comparing the myths that stereotyped female slaves with the realities of their lives. Above all, this groundbreaking study shows us how black women experienced freedom in the Reconstruction South — their heroic struggle to gain their rights, hold their families together, resist economic and sexual oppression, and maintain their sense of womanhood against all odds.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This book challenges the myth of the Southern mammy and other myths and attempts a richer, more complex pic ture of the lives of black women in slav ery. Drawing on historical evidence, in cluding slave narratives and the diaries and autobiographies of white Southern ers, as well as on recent scholarship on the black family, the author examines slave women's daily life, occupations, family roles, and female networks. She finds strength and resourcefulness, but denies that female slaves played a dom ineering role in their families. Her view will be of interest to scholars, especial ly those studying comparative female social roles. For most readers, howev er, the story of slave women is better told in Jacqueline Jones's comprehen sive work on black women, Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow (LJ 3/1/85). Mary Drake McFeely, Smith Coll. Lib., Northampton, Mass.
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Original and balanced. . . . [A] splendidly written book. -- Carl N. Degler, Stanford University

This is one of those rare books that quickly became the standard work in its field. Professor White has done justice to the complexity of her subject. -- Anne Firor Scott, Duke University

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; Revised Edition edition (February 17, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393314812
• ISBN-13: 978-0393314816
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,276 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #16 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > History

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It Sheds light on the truth, FAIRLY, October 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Ar'n't I a Woman?: Female Slaves in the Plantation South (Paperback)

Debra Gray White has really done a fine job on this piece, she really tells the whole story of what slavery (Being a Black woman) is about. What I really liked about the author was that she wasn't one sided in writing her piece. She didn't totally demonize the white race, She just told what happened. She talks about how Black women are totally ignored when remeniscing about the act of slavery. I really liked her talk of Jezebel, Sambo, and Mammy as steroetype for Black women. After reading her piece I know see that black women were almost in a worse baot that men in the early years of the country. She talks about the things black women face like sexual harrasment they couldn't do anything about (Women were properties). She talks about a black woman (Mammy) raises a white kid, for the white kid to grow up to become a drunkered and blow off her head with a shotgun. One slaveowner said he'd rather "whip a slave woman than eat on an empty stomach". This novel really shows the intensity of negation black women faced.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Does a great deal to illminate the struggles of slave women, October 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Ar'N't I A Woman: Female Slaves in the Plantation South (Paperback)

I read this book recently for a college history class. Most interesting was the first chapter on the sterotypes of 'Jezebel' and 'Mammy'. Many works have focused on the stereotypes of male bondsmen, such as Sambo or the Nat Turner personalities, however few other works have focused on the misrepresented bondwomen. This gap in history is particullary because there seems to be a limited amount primary sources of the bondwoman's unique struggle to protect her children, herself from her master,mistress, and to assert herself as a women in a system that tended to androynize women. White tries to infer and collect as mnay relavent sources as possible.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ar'n't I A Woman?, October 15, 2006

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Cale E. Reneau "audiooverflow.com" (Conroe, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ar'n't I a Woman?: Female Slaves in the Plantation South (Paperback)

In the book Ar'n't I a Woman?, by Deborah Gray White, the reader is challenged by the author to set previous notions regarding American slave women aside to understand the truth, which has long been elusive to the majority of Americans. Over the course of the work, White shocks and appalls the reader in an attempt to inform her readers about the horrors and injustices that slave women were forced to deal with on a regular basis. In doing so, the author makes her point abundantly clear and leaves little question as to the authenticity of her research and work.

White begins her work quite firmly. She discusses two of the great myths of female slavery: Jezebel and Mammy. The author promptly exposes the lie that slave women were promiscuous, dirty women with an unquenchable lust for white men. She asserts, "The choice put before many slave women was between miscegenation and the worst experiences that slavery had to offer. Not surprisingly, many chose the former" (34). As a result, the act of the slave woman giving in to the sexual advances of her white owner branded her as unchaste, a Jezebel. The second stereotype discussed is that of mammy, the nurturing black woman who cares for the white children. Both of these stereotypes are important to note, not only because of their historical significance and their supreme effect on Caucasian beliefs, but also because White ties these ideas through the rest of her work.

After successfully debunking the myths regarding female slaves in America in the first chapter, White goes into great depth regarding the actual lives and hardships that slave women faced daily. For example, White paints a portrait of the female slave that depicts her as just as hard working, if not moreso, than her male counterparts. However, though her work in the fields was important, her true value was placed in keeping the male slaves sexually satisfied and reproducing new generations of slaves. As a result, most female slaves had families, though more disconnected than those of the American whites. The main reason for slave marriages, according to the author, was "to add to the comfort, happiness, and health of those entering upon it" (99). Indeed, even the supposedly sacred act of marriage was not off limits to Caucasian exploitation. As a result, the female slave trade did not highlight the hard-working nature of the slave, but rather her physical attractiveness, for the benefit of both the male slave and the slave owner. While all slaves were considered products, female slaves in particular were, quite literally, viewed as little more than sexual objects. This stigma did not immediately escape the black woman at emancipation either. White states, "From emancipation through more than two-thirds of the twentieth century, no Southern white male was convicted of raping or attempting to rape a black woman. Yet the crime was widespread" (188). Due to these injustices, the American people are too often subjected to an inaccurate portrait of the female slave and her female descendants, and therefore miss out on a truly inspiring individual.

In her work, Deborah Gray White tears apart the common misconceptions of female slaves and depicts a person that is loving, family-oriented, and hard-working. However, the book, though relatively brief in length can be a tedious read at times. Though White validates her assertions with just a few sources and anecdotes, she relentlessly re-asserts with numerous additional examples which come across as both unnecessary and excessive. As a result, Ar'n't I a Woman at times seems distractingly repetitive for the majority of its pages. In addition, the book could also present itself as an overtly feminist text, which has the potential to turn off many of today's readers of both genders. Though White places some of the blame for conditions and roles of slave women on Caucasian females, she undoubtedly places the majority of the blame on white men. However, it perhaps would have been more accurate and beneficial for her to blame Southern, and American, society as a whole, as Caucasian men were just a product of a long-standing tradition. Despite these obstacles, however, White cannot be discredited for her tireless pursuit to uncover the truth and discredit the myths that have haunted African-American women for centuries. Indeed, if she has accomplished anything, it is the true emancipation of America's most discriminated class.