Black Womanhood and the Cultivation of "Respectability"

[Here is the Introduction for the Final Paper addressing Black Female Identity and Womanhood at the turn of the century.]

Historians have characterized the late 19^th and early 20^th century as the “Nadir”, a period of time in which African-American identity was characterized by racial segregation, increased violence and lynching of Black men and women, and vile attacks on black womanhood and character.[1] The racially based justifications for slavery translated into the post-bellum, in which black womanhood existed within a social purgatory, neither perceived as man or “true woman” in a societal context. As historian Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham emphasizes, during this period of time, “’womanhood’ did not rest on a common female essence, shared culture, or mere physical appearance”, but rather found its “proof” in race relations and social etiquettes and understandings.[2] Social perceptions and understandings of “femininity” and “womanhood” expressed white male agendas to not only assert patriarchal domain, but also to establish gender and racial superiority in opposition to the ideals of said patriarchy. As Gail Bederman explains, the white middle-class and elite males began to differentiate themselves and their families by stressing their gentility, respectability and adherence to Evangelical Christian values. Whereas “civilized manliness” became to be defined by strength, action, work, and the public sphere, “civilized womanhood”, in opposition, was molded around family life and responsibility, domestic duties, purity, demure character, Christian virtue, and the private. For black women, having been dehumanized for rape and sexual violation throughout slavery, the white patriarchy perpetuate an enormous division between black and white: “carnality as opposed to intellect and/or spirit; savagery as opposed to civilization; deviance as a opposed to normality; promiscuity as opposed to purity; passion as opposed to passionlessness.”[3] In essence, black women represented the white patriarchal perceptions and definitions of not only femininity and womanhood, but also humanity and civilization.

At a time immense discrimination, violence, conflicting societal definitions, how did black women fit into the social fabric? How did black female figures combat the degrading sexualized stereotype? How did black women not only see their society and their place within society, but also understand their own identity and womanhood in juxtaposition to white male patriarchal understandings? Though victims to oppression during this era, many prominent black female figures, activists, and social groups immerged. Looking at the activism, writings, speeches of leaders like Mary Church Terrell, Ida B. Wells, and many other important black female voices, we can further explore and understand the complexities of the history of black female identity. Though actively outspoken and against the oppression of white society for blacks, females, and black females, these immensely important figures not only worked outside of the patriarchal system, but also worked within it, cultivating an image of public “respectability” to achieve racial and gender goals. For these black female figures and many black women at the time, attention to image made them leaders and ambassadors of their race.

[Sources: Hine, Darlene Clark, King, Wilma, and Reed, Linda. ‘We Specialize in the Wholly Impossible’: A Reader in Black Women’s History, Brooklyn, NY: Carlson Publishing, Inc., 1995
Terrell, Mary Church. A Colored Woman in a White World. Washington, D.C.: Ransdell Inc., 1940.
Sterling, Dorothy. Black Foremothers: Three Lives. New York, NY: The Feminist Press, 1988.
Booker, Christopher B. "I Will Wear No Chain!": A Social History of African American Males. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2000.
Waters, Kristin and Conaway, Carol B. Black Women's Intellectual Traditions: Speaking Their Minds. Burlington, Vermont: University of Vermont Press, 2007.
Higginbotham, Evelyn Brooks. Righteous Discontent: The Women's Movement in the Black Baptist Church, 1880-1920. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992.
Cooper, Anna J. A Voice from the South. reprint of the 1892 ed. published: Xenia, OH: Aldine, Printing House, 1892.
Gilmore, Glenda. Gender and Jim Crow: Women and the Politics of White Supremacy in North Carolina, 1896-1920. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1996.
Gutman, Herbert. The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750-1925. New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1976.
Jones, Jacqueline. Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women, Work, and the Family from slavery to the present. New York, NY. Basic Books, 1985.
Da Costa, Mariam. The Memphis Diary of Ida B. Wells. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1995.
Giddings, Paula. When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America. New York, NY: William Morrow, 1984.
Logan, Rayford. The Betrayal of the Negro: From Rutherford B. Hayes to Woodrow Wilson. New York, NY: Collier Books, 1965.] 

---

[1] Logan, Rayford. The Betrayal of the Negro: From Rutherford B. Hayes to Woodrow Wilson. New York, NY: Collier Books, 1965. Also in, ‘We Specialize in the Wholly Impossible’: A Reader in Black Women’s History, Brooklyn, NY: Carlson Publishing, Inc., 1995, p. 433, 488.

[2] Higginbotham, Evelyn Brooks. African-American Women’s History and the Metalanguage of Race, in Hine, Darlene Clark, King, Wilma, and Reed, Linda. ‘We Specialize in the Wholly Impossible’: A Reader in Black Women’s History, Brooklyn, NY: Carlson Publishing, Inc., 1995, p.7.  

[3] Ibid, p.11.