Black slave women were both accomplices in and victims of patriarchy

Evidence

Sex roles in the black slave sub-culture mirrored those of patriarchal white America. Within the black slave sub-culture, it was the black female who cooked for the family, cleaned the hut or cabin, nursed the sick, washed and mended the clothes, and cared for the needs of children. Black slave men regarded tasks like cooking, sewing, nursing, and even minor farm labor as woman’s work. — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 144 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

When I began the research for Ain’t I A Woman, my primary intent was to document the impact of sexism on the social status of black women. I wanted to provide concrete evidence to refute the arguments of antifeminists who so loudly proclaimed that black women were not victims of sexist oppression and were not in need of liberation. As the work progressed, I became increasingly aware that I could arrive at a thorough understanding of the black female experience and our relationship to society as a whole only by examining both the politics of racism and sexism from a feminist perspective. — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 47 (#expands, via linked claim)

Nanny’s importance as a fighter and leader raises some intriguing questions about the status of Maroon women. They are typically described as slaves or drudges, the hapless victims of plunder by marauding males whose very survival depended on seizing women from local plantations. As always, this view was based on accounts by European men who tended to believe their own hype. Their preconceived notions of Africans and the ‘dark continent’ tainted whatever they saw. Characterising African women as brutalised and debauched amounted to an act of self-exoneration, for it allowed them to present their own much greater crime against Africans as a necessary ‘civilising’ intervention.10 — Stella Dadzie, A Kick in the Belly- Women, Slavery and…, 397 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Nineteenth-century black women endured double enslavement by race and sex; Black women suffered quadruple exploitation as laborers, domestic workers, breeders, and rape targets; Black women’s anger at unemployed black men reflected their own embrace of patriarchy (+15 more)

Related

• Black slave gender roles replicated white patriarchal divisions of labor (similarity 0.90)
• Black women bore the brunt of slave-ship terror because they could not retaliate (similarity 0.88)
• Black women suffered quadruple exploitation as laborers, domestic workers, breeders, and rape targets (similarity 0.88)
• Nineteenth-century black women endured double enslavement by race and sex (similarity 0.87)
• Black women’s anger at unemployed black men reflected their own embrace of patriarchy (similarity 0.87)
• Black women themselves pressured men into the breadwinner role (similarity 0.86)
• Enslaved black people internalized their owners’ patriarchal sex roles (similarity 0.86)
• Sexism and racism were twin oppressive forces in black women’s slave experience (similarity 0.86)
• Enslaved women absorbed anti-woman violence that white women otherwise faced (similarity 0.85)
• Black women’s exploitation is better described as masculinization than black men’s de-masculinization. (similarity 0.84)
• Nineteenth century black women were the most sexist-oppressed female group in America (similarity 0.84)
• Black men asserted dominance over women to compensate for losing to white men (similarity 0.84)
• Sexual exploitation dehumanized black women more than labor exploitation did (similarity 0.84)
• Labeling black women as sexual savages enabled their rapes by denying their humanity. (similarity 0.84)
• Enslaved women’s unpaid labor did not produce feminist consciousness but resentment at denied womanhood (similarity 0.84)

Broader Connections

• Black slave gender roles replicated white patriarchal divisions of labor #exemplifies (0.70) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 144
• Black women experienced sexist oppression distinct from racism #expands (0.55) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 47
• European accounts falsely characterized African women as brutalized victims to justify slavery #complicates (0.50) — Stella Dadzie, A Kick in the Belly- Women, Slavery and…, 397
• Enslaved black men held higher status than black women under slavery #qualifies (0.40)
• Enslaved pregnant women were subjected to brutal treadmill labor and floggings #exemplifies (0.40) — Stella Dadzie, A Kick in the Belly- Women, Slavery and…, 251
• Enslaved women transmitted cultural knowledge to ensure survival across generations #exemplifies (0.35) — Stella Dadzie, A Kick in the Belly- Women, Slavery and…, 331