Enslaved black women worked as hard as men but were barred from supervisory roles

Evidence

On any plantation with a substantial number of female slaves, black women performed the same tasks as black men; they plowed, planted, and harvested crops. On some plantations black women worked longer hours in the fields than black men. Even though it was a widespread belief among white plantation owners that black women were often better workers than their male counterparts, only a male slave could rise to the position of driver or overseer. — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 62

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: African women’s accustomed labor made them ideal plantation slaves. — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 55; Enslaved black women shared racial status with men but faced sexist subordination — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 150; Enslaved black men held higher status than black women under slavery (+6 more)

Related

• African women’s accustomed labor made them ideal plantation slaves. (similarity 0.90)
• Enslaved black women shared racial status with men but faced sexist subordination (similarity 0.90)
• Black slave gender roles replicated white patriarchal divisions of labor (similarity 0.88)
• Black men asserted dominance over women to compensate for losing to white men (similarity 0.86)
• Sexism made the black female slave’s lot harsher than the male’s (similarity 0.86)
• Enslaved black men held higher status than black women under slavery (similarity 0.86)
• Black women’s exploitation is better described as masculinization than black men’s de-masculinization. (similarity 0.85)
• Enslaved women’s unpaid labor did not produce feminist consciousness but resentment at denied womanhood (similarity 0.84)
• Enslaved black women withheld the respect they granted white men from white mistresses (similarity 0.84)
• Nineteenth-century black women endured double enslavement by race and sex (similarity 0.84)
• Slavery forced black women into work independence, not voluntary choice (similarity 0.84)
• Sexism and racism together intensified black women’s oppression beyond black men’s. (similarity 0.84)
• Enslaved women absorbed anti-woman violence that white women otherwise faced (similarity 0.83)
• Enslaved women were no more sexually liberated than white women. (similarity 0.83)
• Enslaved Black men prioritized self-preservation over protecting Black women (similarity 0.83)

Broader Connections

• Enslaved black women shared racial status with men but faced sexist subordination #expands (0.75) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 150
• Enslaved black men held higher status than black women under slavery #expands (0.65)
• Black slave gender roles replicated white patriarchal divisions of labor #expands (0.60) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 144
• Sexism made the black female slave’s lot harsher than the male’s #qualifies (0.40) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 142