Shared slave labor forged a gender solidarity black women could invoke over white women

Evidence

However, Lucy Smith could subordinate easily, almost imperceptibly, her feminist consciousness to that of race. On one such occasion she stated that educated black women held certain advantages over white women. She believed that the identical labor reality for male and female slaves created a solidarity not found in the white race, and she praised the black man of her day for continuing to keep his woman by his side as he moved into new types of work. Smith noted that the white woman “has had to contest with her brother every inch of the ground for recognition.” — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 662

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Cross-racial intimacy between black and white women was structurally impossible under segregation — bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress: Education as…, 184; Domestic service dehumanized black women as fully as plantation slavery did; White women’s affection for black servants coexisted with status domination they denied — bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress: Education as…, 191 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Enslaved women’s unpaid labor did not produce feminist consciousness but resentment at denied womanhood #contradicts (0.87) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 161
• Black slave gender roles replicated white patriarchal divisions of labor #contradicts (0.82) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 144
• Sexism and racism were twin oppressive forces in black women’s slave experience #complicates (0.79)
• Enslaved black women shared racial status with men but faced sexist subordination #qualifies (0.78) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 150
• White women allied with white men on shared racism against Black women #complicates (0.77) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 119
• Black women under slavery were doubly enslaved by race and sex #qualifies (0.76) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 26
• Rising racial solidarity among black Baptists ran parallel to rising gender consciousness among women #exemplifies (0.75) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 709
• White male sexual power over slaves redirected white women’s anger onto black women #complicates (0.72) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 451