The Legacy Of Slavery And Welfare Summary
The Legacy of Slavery and Welfare
The justifications that white Americans made for this racial distinction was that the African race was inferior to the white race based on their rationalizations on the skin color, intelligence, and sexuality of the African people. The main focus of attack was the sexuality of the African woman. Incidentally, the Jezebel' woman directly caused the development of another stereotype upon the African American woman, "Mammy' who was the African American female slave considered the complete opposite of Jezebel'.
Collins observes, " the Black woman as welfare mother remains essential to White hegemony because the White culture blames the woman for her impoverished condition and again deflects attention away from White, racist, patriarchal structures. African American mothers were also subjected to "suitable homes"' rules in which states could deny benefits to mothers who were declared to be living immorality as stated by a judge "that having babies out of wedlock reflected weakness in the women's character" and such children were living in neglectful homes. The welfare queen image has continually been used to instill disgust for the welfare state. …show more content…
Mainly as the reproduction of African American children is no longer economically beneficial to the American people there have been many methods coerced upon African American to govern their reproductive habits. In August of 1619, twenty African slaves arrived in America in the colony of Jamestown via a Dutch warship. Upon their arrival, they were immediately sold by the captain for much needed ship supplies. Although it's widely believed that that these African slaves were treated as white indentured servants there isn't any clear and concise documentation regarding the treatment of them as slaves. It isn't until 1640 that the true nature of these African slaves is revealed through documented cases involving slaves such as John Punch and others. John Punch was an African servant sentenced to serve his master for a term of life for the crime of running away even though two white servants were sentenced only to an additional four years of service for committing the same offense There are even incidents of the sale of African servants for terms of life that included any possible descendants they may eventually have. The heredity status of slavery was made possible by a 1662 Virginia law that declared the status of children would no longer be paternally decided but decided maternally. At this point the clear distinction between African slaves and white slaves is made as the perpetual enslavement of African slaves also included their descendants. The justifications that white Americans made for this racial distinction was that the African race was inferior to the white race based on their rationalizations on the skin color, intelligence, and sexuality of the African people. White Americans believed that the African race was "destined by God" to serve them based on the blackness of their skin which they considered an abomination. A stance stated by Oliver Goldsmith in his 1774 volume History of the Earth, "that variations of human color"' are actual marks of the degeneracy in the human for; and we may consider the European figure and colour as standards to which to refer all other varieties, and with which to compare them."' The fact that African babies are born with a white complexion initially gives credence to this viewpoint. Another stance that is rationalized about the enslavement of the African people concerns the intelligence or lack thereof of the African people. It is believed that due to their savagery behavior that they didn't have the necessary intelligence needed to survive within society on their own and that in actuality their enslavement was a benefit that gave them much pleasure. This was declared by South Carolina Governor George McDuffie in 1835 in the following, "the Negroes were "destined by providence"' for slavery and that this was made evident not only by the color of their skin but also by "the intellectual inferiority and natural improvidence of this race."' They were "unfit for self-government of any kind,"' and "in all respects, physical, moral, and political, inferior to millions of the human race."' These beliefs helped to perpetrate the systematic enslavement of African Americans via the dehumanization of African American men and women by treating them as mere labor commodities rather than as citizens being that African American people were absolutely critical to the continuation of White economic power as they provided them free labor. Therefore, the attack on the sexuality of African Americans became essential as the basis for the supplement of slave labor was removed. It was during the time of the American Revolution that many northern states began to question the validity of the concept of enslaving people for economic gain; therefore, many northern states began the foundation of becoming a free nation. Vermont begun by outlawing the bondage of humans in 1777 in its state constitution, Massachusetts abolished slavery in 1783, New York abolished slavery in 1827, and all of New England had through either state constitution or legislation prohibited the enslavement of people; also, northern states began to end the importation of people, especially Africans, for the sole purpose of enslavement beginning in 1778 with Virginia prohibiting the importation of slaves and by 1787 South Carolina had closed for international and domestic slave trade. Unfortunately the enslavement of African Americans was to continue throughout the South by the failure of Thomas Jefferson recommendation by one Congress vote that the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Alabama outlaw slavery after 1800. By this token, the South clearly makes known their stance on human enslavement. However, the attack on the sexuality of the African American people did not begin with these actions but centuries early. The main focus of attack was the sexuality of the African woman. She was deemed a "lewd, lascivious, and savage" woman based on the absurd notion that she readily engaged in copulation with the African ape as this belief allowed for the sexual exploitation of the African woman as stated by Winthrop D. Jordan, "For by calling the Negro woman passionate they were offering the best possible justification for the their own passions. Not only did the Negro woman's warmth constitute a logical explanation for the white man's infidelity, but, more important, it helped shift responsibility from himself to her. If she was that lasciviouswell, a man could scarcely be blamed for succumbing against overwhelming odds." This viewpoint was the rationalization behind the earlier stated 1662 Virginia law regarding heredity slave status and the deliberate rape of the African American woman as she was declared to "thoroughly debased sexually that they willingly gave their bodies to men, making rape a crime with which they were totally unfamiliar." These views concerning the sexuality of the African American woman lead to the stereotype of Jezebel. Incidentally, the Jezebel' woman directly caused the development of another stereotype upon the African American woman, "Mammy' who was the African American female slave considered the complete opposite of Jezebel'. Jezebel' was considered a African American woman controlled by her wanton sexual desire that she initiated the same behavior among men, especially among white men as she was the instigator in her own sexual abuse. The very institution of slavery gave further credibility to the myth of Jezebel'. For instance on the slave block, African American slave women were often unclothed and their sexual organs examined to determine their ability to successfully reproduce as they were often used as breeders for future slaves leading to the illogical statement that "no self-respecting woman would allow herself to be put on display in such a manner. As Kelly Brown Douglas states, "To that end Black women were ensnared in a system that labeled them Jezebels and then compelled them into a "promiscuous"' life." However, Mammy' was a stereotype that was more liked and acceptable to the white Americans as she was considered "both the perfect mother and the perfect slave: whites saw here as a "passive nurturer, a mother figure who gave all without expectation of return, who not only acknowledged her inferiority to whites but who loved them." Thus the both stereotypes symbolized "oversexed and asexual women respectively who shared in common neglect of their own children, in favor of having sex (the "Jezebel") or tending the master's children (the "Mammy")." These stereotypes eventually evolved into the stereotypes of welfare queen' and matriarch' respectively. Jezebel' became the foundation for the idea of the Black woman as a welfare queen' as like Jezebel', she is most suited for breeding children.
Welfare queens are attributed as being "promiscuous unmarried women who sit around, collect government checks, and gave birth to a lot of children." Collins observes, " the Black woman as welfare mother remains essential to White hegemony because the White culture blames the woman for her impoverished condition and again deflects attention away from White, racist, patriarchal structures. In essence, the welfare mother "represents a woman of low morals and uncontrolled sexuality, factors identified as the cause of her impoverished state." This stereotyped was the justification behind the racist welfare state that continues
today. During the early 20th century, mother's pension advocates fought for government financial support by arguing that "mothers should be allowed to stay home and care for their children rather than be forced to work outside the home: "Family life in the home is sapped in its foundations when the mothers of young children work for wages."' As a consequence of the Jezebel' image, only mothers of worthy character were given mother's pensions when it was legislated between 1911 and 1920, and when it incorporated into the Social Security Act of 1935 as Aid to Dependent Children, it created a racial division in the distribution of benefits since most of the initial ADC beneficiaries were white, widowed women with young children.
Unfortunately it was during the 1940s and 1950s that states became very brazen in their determination to keep the financial support of ADC from African American women through such rules as "man-in-the-house"' which disallowed the present of any male figure in the household if the mother was to receive welfare benefits otherwise she would be denied benefits for here children with the belief "the child was not "deprived of parental support."' To this effect midnight raids were frequently done to determine if welfare mothers were ineligible for aid due to a man residing or visiting the home. It was up the mothers to prove that there were no men residing within the home such as stated by welfare-rights attorney Edward Sparer, "The Georgia manual tells the mother how to prove the man is not a substitute father. Prove it by collecting affidavits from people who should know. The clergyman, the clergyman should know; get an affidavit from him. Get an affidavit from your neighbors. Get an affidavit from your relatives. They include among the list the groceryman, he should know."'
African American mothers were also subjected to "suitable homes"' rules in which states could deny benefits to mothers who were declared to be living immorality as stated by a judge "that having babies out of wedlock reflected weakness in the women's character" and such children were living in neglectful homes. However, many states just withdrew such accusations if mothers would agree to withdraw their applications for government aid. Mothers routinely had to sign affidavits that said, "I do hereby promise and agree that until such time as the following agreement is rescinded, I will not have any male callers coming to my home nor meeting me elsewhere under improper conditions. I also agree to raise my children to the best of my ability and will not knowingly contribute or be a contributing factor to their being shamed by my conduct. I understand that should I violate this agreement, the children will be taken from me."' Of course these children were rarely removed and sent to institutions or foster homes as these were not true incidents of child neglect as defined by law. In the decade of the 1950's, twenty-three states adopted suitable home rules. The Michigan law declared, "When the Bureau makes a positive determination that an ADC recipient is cohabiting with a person to whom he or she is not legally married, the home must be considered unsuitable;"' The Mississippi statute of 1958 said, "If promiscuity or the existence of a casual relationship is known to the county department at any time, the home shall be considered unsuitable, and the grant cancelled;"' The Florida law of 1959 provided that the home was unsuitable if there was "failure of the parent or relative to provide a stable moral environment for the child by engaging in promiscuous conduct either in or outside the home, by having an illegitimate child after receiving an assistance payment from the department or by otherwise failing to demonstrate the intent to establish a stable home."' African American women were also denied benefits during cotton-picking seasons as is were widely known that they were needed on the plantations as Robert Clark stated, "Should you be able to walk or crawl, then you don not qualify for such programs."' States went so far as to infringe upon the voting rights of African American as Jill Quadagno writes, "African Americans who engaged in civil rights activities or who tried to register to vote were systematically excluded from welfare. During voter registration campaigns, county officials cut off African Americans off the welfare rolls, suspended commodity distributions, and warned they would only be restore benefits when blacks "surrendered their uppity ideas about changing the local balance of power."' Eventually beginning in the 1960s, the Supreme Court addressed state man-in-the-house rules and suitable home rules declaring them illegal. Unfortunately this same mentality continues today with the new welfare reform. The image of the Jezebel' welfare queen' was and continues to be perpetrated as the root of all that is wrong within the African American community. This is based on the misguided belief that the majority of individuals receiving government financial assistance are young African American women with many children for the sole purpose of collecting a monthly check. The welfare queen image has continually been used to instill disgust for the welfare state. Mainly as the reproduction of African American children is no longer economically beneficial to the American people there have been many methods coerced upon African American to govern their reproductive habits. Beginning in the 1970s, it became widely believed that African American women were unknowingly being sterilization via the surgery procedure hysterectomy under the disguise of medical treatment as reported in the Boston Globe in April of 1972. One doctor routinely perform sterilization on African American women after they had given birth to their third child as a "measure to reduce the welfare rolls." "In 1958, Representative David H. Glass introduced a bill in the Mississippi Legislature entitled "An Act to Discourage Immorality of Unmarried Females by Providing for Sterilization of the Unwed Mother under Conditions of this Act,"' which provided for the chancery court to order the sterilization of single mothers, most of whom were Black." Fortunately the bill was dropped in the Senate after passing the House by a vote of 72 to 37. Dorothy Roberts reports that the states of Louisiana and Mississippi succeeded in passing laws making it a crime to give birth to two or more illegitimate children. The approval of the birth control Norplant in December of 1990 made it incredibly easier to govern the reproductive ability of African American women as poor African American women were not "fit for their duties," as mothers. Norplant has been seen as a technology that can remedy such misbehavior. Almost immediately after it approval, every state and the District of Columbia made Norplant readily available for poor women receiving Medicaid. Kansas Republican state representative Kerry Patrick introduced legislation that would grant welfare recipients a one-time payment of $500 to use Norplant, followed by a $50 bonus each year the implants remained in place. As the National Black Women's Health Project's newsletter asserts, "the line between incentive and coercion is fuzzy. The incentives are only being offered for one contraceptive-Norplant-to one class of women-poor, single, mothers on welfare-who are more likely women of color-what happened to choice?" Women on welfare receive incentives for temporary or permanent sterilization; slave women received incentives such as better rations for prolific reproduction. The legacy of slavery has continued to plague African American women as they are continually made as villains of the welfare state. Just as they were sexually exploited for the economic benefit of white America during the era of slavery they continue to be sexually exploited during the era of welfare. Without the continually image of the African American welfare queen sponging off of the backs of hardworking tax payers who refuse to work but instead constantly breed children then the issue of welfare reform would not have been as effective. The legacy of slavery continues only disguised as welfare reform and reproductive literacy. Only by learning our past can we be empowered to build a future.
Bibliography
1.Pinkney, Alphonso, Black Americans, 5th ed.
2.Roberts, Dorothy, Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty
3.Horton, James and Lois, Horton, Slavery and the Making of America
4.Jordan, Winthrop, White over Black
5.Douglas, Kelly Brown, Sexuality and the Black Church
6.Gilens, Martin, Why Americans Hate Welfare
7.Fredrickson, George, The Black Image in the White Mind
8.Wallace-Sanders, Kimberly, ed., Skin Deep, Spirit Strong
9.Jewell, K. Sue, From Mammy to Miss America and Beyond Cultural Images and the Shaping of US Social Policy
10.Hancock, Ange-Marie, The Politics of Disgust: The Public Identity of the Welfare Queen
11.Quadagno, Jill, The Color of Welfare
12. Komisar, Lucy, Down and Out in the USA: A History of Social Welfare
13.Mink, Gwendolyn and Rickie Solinger, ed., Welfare: A Documentary History of U.S. policy and politics
The justifications that white Americans made for this racial distinction was that the African race was inferior to the white race based on their rationalizations on the skin color, intelligence, and sexuality of the African people. The main focus of attack was the sexuality of the African woman. Incidentally, the Jezebel' woman directly caused the development of another stereotype upon the African American woman, "Mammy' who was the African American female slave considered the complete opposite of Jezebel'.
Collins observes, " the Black woman as welfare mother remains essential to White hegemony because the White culture blames the woman for her impoverished condition and again deflects attention away from White, racist, patriarchal structures. African American mothers were also subjected to "suitable homes"' rules in which states could deny benefits to mothers who were declared to be living immorality as stated by a judge "that having babies out of wedlock reflected weakness in the women's character" and such children were living in neglectful homes. The welfare queen image has continually been used to instill disgust for the welfare state. …show more content…
Mainly as the reproduction of African American children is no longer economically beneficial to the American people there have been many methods coerced upon African American to govern their reproductive habits. In August of 1619, twenty African slaves arrived in America in the colony of Jamestown via a Dutch warship. Upon their arrival, they were immediately sold by the captain for much needed ship supplies. Although it's widely believed that that these African slaves were treated as white indentured servants there isn't any clear and concise documentation regarding the treatment of them as slaves. It isn't until 1640 that the true nature of these African slaves is revealed through documented cases involving slaves such as John Punch and others. John Punch was an African servant sentenced to serve his master for a term of life for the crime of running away even though two white servants were sentenced only to an additional four years of service for committing the same offense There are even incidents of the sale of African servants for terms of life that included any possible descendants they may eventually have. The heredity status of slavery was made possible by a 1662 Virginia law that declared the status of children would no longer be paternally decided but decided maternally. At this point the clear distinction between African slaves and white slaves is made as the perpetual enslavement of African slaves also included their descendants. The justifications that white Americans made for this racial distinction was that the African race was inferior to the white race based on their rationalizations on the skin color, intelligence, and sexuality of the African people. White Americans believed that the African race was "destined by God" to serve them based on the blackness of their skin which they considered an abomination. A stance stated by Oliver Goldsmith in his 1774 volume History of the Earth, "that variations of human color"' are actual marks of the degeneracy in the human for; and we may consider the European figure and colour as standards to which to refer all other varieties, and with which to compare them."' The fact that African babies are born with a white complexion initially gives credence to this viewpoint. Another stance that is rationalized about the enslavement of the African people concerns the intelligence or lack thereof of the African people. It is believed that due to their savagery behavior that they didn't have the necessary intelligence needed to survive within society on their own and that in actuality their enslavement was a benefit that gave them much pleasure. This was declared by South Carolina Governor George McDuffie in 1835 in the following, "the Negroes were "destined by providence"' for slavery and that this was made evident not only by the color of their skin but also by "the intellectual inferiority and natural improvidence of this race."' They were "unfit for self-government of any kind,"' and "in all respects, physical, moral, and political, inferior to millions of the human race."' These beliefs helped to perpetrate the systematic enslavement of African Americans via the dehumanization of African American men and women by treating them as mere labor commodities rather than as citizens being that African American people were absolutely critical to the continuation of White economic power as they provided them free labor. Therefore, the attack on the sexuality of African Americans became essential as the basis for the supplement of slave labor was removed. It was during the time of the American Revolution that many northern states began to question the validity of the concept of enslaving people for economic gain; therefore, many northern states began the foundation of becoming a free nation. Vermont begun by outlawing the bondage of humans in 1777 in its state constitution, Massachusetts abolished slavery in 1783, New York abolished slavery in 1827, and all of New England had through either state constitution or legislation prohibited the enslavement of people; also, northern states began to end the importation of people, especially Africans, for the sole purpose of enslavement beginning in 1778 with Virginia prohibiting the importation of slaves and by 1787 South Carolina had closed for international and domestic slave trade. Unfortunately the enslavement of African Americans was to continue throughout the South by the failure of Thomas Jefferson recommendation by one Congress vote that the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Alabama outlaw slavery after 1800. By this token, the South clearly makes known their stance on human enslavement. However, the attack on the sexuality of the African American people did not begin with these actions but centuries early. The main focus of attack was the sexuality of the African woman. She was deemed a "lewd, lascivious, and savage" woman based on the absurd notion that she readily engaged in copulation with the African ape as this belief allowed for the sexual exploitation of the African woman as stated by Winthrop D. Jordan, "For by calling the Negro woman passionate they were offering the best possible justification for the their own passions. Not only did the Negro woman's warmth constitute a logical explanation for the white man's infidelity, but, more important, it helped shift responsibility from himself to her. If she was that lasciviouswell, a man could scarcely be blamed for succumbing against overwhelming odds." This viewpoint was the rationalization behind the earlier stated 1662 Virginia law regarding heredity slave status and the deliberate rape of the African American woman as she was declared to "thoroughly debased sexually that they willingly gave their bodies to men, making rape a crime with which they were totally unfamiliar." These views concerning the sexuality of the African American woman lead to the stereotype of Jezebel. Incidentally, the Jezebel' woman directly caused the development of another stereotype upon the African American woman, "Mammy' who was the African American female slave considered the complete opposite of Jezebel'. Jezebel' was considered a African American woman controlled by her wanton sexual desire that she initiated the same behavior among men, especially among white men as she was the instigator in her own sexual abuse. The very institution of slavery gave further credibility to the myth of Jezebel'. For instance on the slave block, African American slave women were often unclothed and their sexual organs examined to determine their ability to successfully reproduce as they were often used as breeders for future slaves leading to the illogical statement that "no self-respecting woman would allow herself to be put on display in such a manner. As Kelly Brown Douglas states, "To that end Black women were ensnared in a system that labeled them Jezebels and then compelled them into a "promiscuous"' life." However, Mammy' was a stereotype that was more liked and acceptable to the white Americans as she was considered "both the perfect mother and the perfect slave: whites saw here as a "passive nurturer, a mother figure who gave all without expectation of return, who not only acknowledged her inferiority to whites but who loved them." Thus the both stereotypes symbolized "oversexed and asexual women respectively who shared in common neglect of their own children, in favor of having sex (the "Jezebel") or tending the master's children (the "Mammy")." These stereotypes eventually evolved into the stereotypes of welfare queen' and matriarch' respectively. Jezebel' became the foundation for the idea of the Black woman as a welfare queen' as like Jezebel', she is most suited for breeding children.
Welfare queens are attributed as being "promiscuous unmarried women who sit around, collect government checks, and gave birth to a lot of children." Collins observes, " the Black woman as welfare mother remains essential to White hegemony because the White culture blames the woman for her impoverished condition and again deflects attention away from White, racist, patriarchal structures. In essence, the welfare mother "represents a woman of low morals and uncontrolled sexuality, factors identified as the cause of her impoverished state." This stereotyped was the justification behind the racist welfare state that continues
today. During the early 20th century, mother's pension advocates fought for government financial support by arguing that "mothers should be allowed to stay home and care for their children rather than be forced to work outside the home: "Family life in the home is sapped in its foundations when the mothers of young children work for wages."' As a consequence of the Jezebel' image, only mothers of worthy character were given mother's pensions when it was legislated between 1911 and 1920, and when it incorporated into the Social Security Act of 1935 as Aid to Dependent Children, it created a racial division in the distribution of benefits since most of the initial ADC beneficiaries were white, widowed women with young children.
Unfortunately it was during the 1940s and 1950s that states became very brazen in their determination to keep the financial support of ADC from African American women through such rules as "man-in-the-house"' which disallowed the present of any male figure in the household if the mother was to receive welfare benefits otherwise she would be denied benefits for here children with the belief "the child was not "deprived of parental support."' To this effect midnight raids were frequently done to determine if welfare mothers were ineligible for aid due to a man residing or visiting the home. It was up the mothers to prove that there were no men residing within the home such as stated by welfare-rights attorney Edward Sparer, "The Georgia manual tells the mother how to prove the man is not a substitute father. Prove it by collecting affidavits from people who should know. The clergyman, the clergyman should know; get an affidavit from him. Get an affidavit from your neighbors. Get an affidavit from your relatives. They include among the list the groceryman, he should know."'
African American mothers were also subjected to "suitable homes"' rules in which states could deny benefits to mothers who were declared to be living immorality as stated by a judge "that having babies out of wedlock reflected weakness in the women's character" and such children were living in neglectful homes. However, many states just withdrew such accusations if mothers would agree to withdraw their applications for government aid. Mothers routinely had to sign affidavits that said, "I do hereby promise and agree that until such time as the following agreement is rescinded, I will not have any male callers coming to my home nor meeting me elsewhere under improper conditions. I also agree to raise my children to the best of my ability and will not knowingly contribute or be a contributing factor to their being shamed by my conduct. I understand that should I violate this agreement, the children will be taken from me."' Of course these children were rarely removed and sent to institutions or foster homes as these were not true incidents of child neglect as defined by law. In the decade of the 1950's, twenty-three states adopted suitable home rules. The Michigan law declared, "When the Bureau makes a positive determination that an ADC recipient is cohabiting with a person to whom he or she is not legally married, the home must be considered unsuitable;"' The Mississippi statute of 1958 said, "If promiscuity or the existence of a casual relationship is known to the county department at any time, the home shall be considered unsuitable, and the grant cancelled;"' The Florida law of 1959 provided that the home was unsuitable if there was "failure of the parent or relative to provide a stable moral environment for the child by engaging in promiscuous conduct either in or outside the home, by having an illegitimate child after receiving an assistance payment from the department or by otherwise failing to demonstrate the intent to establish a stable home."' African American women were also denied benefits during cotton-picking seasons as is were widely known that they were needed on the plantations as Robert Clark stated, "Should you be able to walk or crawl, then you don not qualify for such programs."' States went so far as to infringe upon the voting rights of African American as Jill Quadagno writes, "African Americans who engaged in civil rights activities or who tried to register to vote were systematically excluded from welfare. During voter registration campaigns, county officials cut off African Americans off the welfare rolls, suspended commodity distributions, and warned they would only be restore benefits when blacks "surrendered their uppity ideas about changing the local balance of power."' Eventually beginning in the 1960s, the Supreme Court addressed state man-in-the-house rules and suitable home rules declaring them illegal. Unfortunately this same mentality continues today with the new welfare reform. The image of the Jezebel' welfare queen' was and continues to be perpetrated as the root of all that is wrong within the African American community. This is based on the misguided belief that the majority of individuals receiving government financial assistance are young African American women with many children for the sole purpose of collecting a monthly check. The welfare queen image has continually been used to instill disgust for the welfare state. Mainly as the reproduction of African American children is no longer economically beneficial to the American people there have been many methods coerced upon African American to govern their reproductive habits. Beginning in the 1970s, it became widely believed that African American women were unknowingly being sterilization via the surgery procedure hysterectomy under the disguise of medical treatment as reported in the Boston Globe in April of 1972. One doctor routinely perform sterilization on African American women after they had given birth to their third child as a "measure to reduce the welfare rolls." "In 1958, Representative David H. Glass introduced a bill in the Mississippi Legislature entitled "An Act to Discourage Immorality of Unmarried Females by Providing for Sterilization of the Unwed Mother under Conditions of this Act,"' which provided for the chancery court to order the sterilization of single mothers, most of whom were Black." Fortunately the bill was dropped in the Senate after passing the House by a vote of 72 to 37. Dorothy Roberts reports that the states of Louisiana and Mississippi succeeded in passing laws making it a crime to give birth to two or more illegitimate children. The approval of the birth control Norplant in December of 1990 made it incredibly easier to govern the reproductive ability of African American women as poor African American women were not "fit for their duties," as mothers. Norplant has been seen as a technology that can remedy such misbehavior. Almost immediately after it approval, every state and the District of Columbia made Norplant readily available for poor women receiving Medicaid. Kansas Republican state representative Kerry Patrick introduced legislation that would grant welfare recipients a one-time payment of $500 to use Norplant, followed by a $50 bonus each year the implants remained in place. As the National Black Women's Health Project's newsletter asserts, "the line between incentive and coercion is fuzzy. The incentives are only being offered for one contraceptive-Norplant-to one class of women-poor, single, mothers on welfare-who are more likely women of color-what happened to choice?" Women on welfare receive incentives for temporary or permanent sterilization; slave women received incentives such as better rations for prolific reproduction. The legacy of slavery has continued to plague African American women as they are continually made as villains of the welfare state. Just as they were sexually exploited for the economic benefit of white America during the era of slavery they continue to be sexually exploited during the era of welfare. Without the continually image of the African American welfare queen sponging off of the backs of hardworking tax payers who refuse to work but instead constantly breed children then the issue of welfare reform would not have been as effective. The legacy of slavery continues only disguised as welfare reform and reproductive literacy. Only by learning our past can we be empowered to build a future.
Bibliography
1.Pinkney, Alphonso, Black Americans, 5th ed.
2.Roberts, Dorothy, Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty
3.Horton, James and Lois, Horton, Slavery and the Making of America
4.Jordan, Winthrop, White over Black
5.Douglas, Kelly Brown, Sexuality and the Black Church
6.Gilens, Martin, Why Americans Hate Welfare
7.Fredrickson, George, The Black Image in the White Mind
8.Wallace-Sanders, Kimberly, ed., Skin Deep, Spirit Strong
9.Jewell, K. Sue, From Mammy to Miss America and Beyond Cultural Images and the Shaping of US Social Policy
10.Hancock, Ange-Marie, The Politics of Disgust: The Public Identity of the Welfare Queen
11.Quadagno, Jill, The Color of Welfare
12. Komisar, Lucy, Down and Out in the USA: A History of Social Welfare
13.Mink, Gwendolyn and Rickie Solinger, ed., Welfare: A Documentary History of U.S. policy and politics