The Oppressions and the Multiple Obligations of the African American Woman

American history has presented the African American woman with unique challenges and obstacles. In America the black woman is discriminated against twofold, once based on race and again based on gender. It seems society has taken an oath to place obstacles in her path, to make everything the black woman has worthless or beyond price. As a tool of oppression the African American woman has been told she is less than human, recognizing this for the insanity it represents, the African American woman perseveres. The African American woman has been told her skin makes her distrustful and distasteful to behold, these charges the world has proven false. The African American woman has been told she is ugly, her body without beauty. One look and this is proven wrong. The African American woman has been told it is worthless to fight, worthless to struggle, worthless to maintain and endure, that the price of freedom is too high, that she is not worthy. These are some of the tools of the oppression she has faced as a member of the black race.

As a woman, there has existed a dichotomy regarding the black woman. To strip her of her sex which unintentionally freed her from the oppression white women faced, she was forced to do manual labor and kept out of the traditional domestic sphere. As the property of her master it was impossible for her to maintain the virtues of a lady. Through out American history, whether she was free or enslaved, her daily responsibilities of child bearing, child rearing, field work, domestic labor and survival made such cares as the most fashionable corsets or high teas appear trivial, yet unattainable. Because of racism or reality, most black women were excluded from high society. They were busy trying to raise families on often meager wages. They were busy fighting racism and struggling to raise children who were strong enough to be free and strong enough to be enslaved.