Out The House Of Bondage Analysis

Though it might appear, as Thavolia Glymph suggests, in certain histories the relationship between enslaved women and slaveholding women and later freedwomen and ex-slaveholding women was unchanging and perhaps without power struggles this is certainly not the case. In her book, Out of the House of Bondage, Glymph explores the relationship of black and white southern women and how their relationship transitions from slavery to emancipation. From this analysis it becomes clear that the home, in which these women live and work, must be seen as political. Otherwise their roles and relationship will remain “ahistorical” within historic memory. And once the home is recognized as political, the changes released by emancipation are visible. Glymph’s
Emancipation unveiled former slaveholding women to the reality that their intimate relationships with black women in their homes were not what they believed they were. These women as well as slaveholding men did not realize that the relationships they had with their former slaves were often relationships developed in times of survival and resistance. Glymph notes several ex-slaveholders who were completely shocked when they found their freed slaves leaving without even a goodbye. She quotes Augustin L. Taveau, a former slaveholder in saying that, “…the conduct of the Negro in the late crisis of our affair, convinced me that we have all been laboring under a delusion. Good masters and bad masters alike, shared the same fate- the sea of Revolution confounded good and evil... I believed for a season that those people were content, happy, and attached to their master.” Glymph also includes Mary Jones, and ex-mistress, “The word home has died upon my
This meant that in the context of the relationship between black and white women, black women could refuse employment and additional labor if they wanted. Glymph discusses how these changes in power dynamics changed the perception of work refusal from white woman’s perspective. What was once seen as insubordination was now a “menace” in the age of emancipation. If a slave woman managed to refuse additional labor prior to emancipation a slave mistress could still feel comforted in the fact that that woman was still her slave. However during emancipation a black woman could refuse labor she was not hired to do, as Glymph spends a lot time discussing. This ability to refuse their demands was seriously concerning for white women. And because of this they became very demystified with hiring free labor. For the first time white women found themselves doing household work that had been previously assigned to enslaved black women And in wanting to avoid the whole process because of humiliation many white women resorted to doing house work themselves rather than be dependent on a black woman’s availability. This was the case for Lizzie Roper who needed a wet nurse for her child that was to be born soon. When Roper realized she would have to worry about how much she would pay for the services of Mary Jones, a