How Did African American Women In The Era Of Reconstruction

African American Women in the Era of Reconstruction
I. Introduction The historical analyses of the era of Reconstruction has provided many attempts to explain why the Southern Radical Republicans failed to revolutionize the US government and gain equal civil rights for African American men. Although some historians have claimed that racism was not the defining factor in the downfall of Reconstruction, as much as for example apparent special interest legislation “to afford [African Americans] the privileges for which other Americans had worked individually.”1 there is evidence to the contrary. Not only did racism play a vital role in diminishing Reconstructionist's efforts, anti-black misogyny made it near impossible for African American
III. Influence of African American Women in the Public Sphere African American Women's influence on the public after the Civil War was astounding considering the limitations and continued exploitation they were put under. While forced to largely remain in the domestic service and agricultural labor jobs they had performed during their enslavement8, freedwomen made a point of shaping their own working conditions and collectively resisting white employers' attempts to re-establish master-slave dynamics. They would, for example, refuse to work the fields with white overseers and to sign labor contracts.9 Domestic servants would dictate their own hours and split tasks to ensure only parts of the household work fell to them, as well as decline living in the servants quarters in the houses.10 These changes were reactions to the limited work opportunities, as African American women were excluded from about 86 percent of employment categories at the time11, to ensure their personal safety and stability for their own families in a society that made upward mobility for them near
“I wish woman to have her voice [in the courts] among the pettifoggers. If it is not a fit place for women, it is unfit for men to be there.”19
The influence of her speeches to the suffragette movement is evident by her continued invitations to women's rights conventions, as well as “Ain't I a Woman?” being her best known speech to date.20 Another famous female African American activist for women's rights of the time was Harriet Tubman, known for her role in the so called Underground Railroad21 and for being the first woman to lead a military raid in US history during the Civil War.22
V. Conclusion Taking these different aspects of African American women's lives during Reconstruction into consideration, it can be concluded that while the Emancipation Proclamation freed many of these women from chattel slavery, their struggle was far from at its end. Society and the law continued to ensure the majority of them would have to live as lower-class citizens with few chances to make their voices heard and their demands for equal treatment