“The Black Woman”

Different movements went on through segregation days where blacks and whites were separated. Some movements led to another. Such movements became very popular, and were moving fast towards freedom. However, some movements were not taking as serious as others. Such movements like the Black Feminist Movement, was not looked at as a major aspect to their black nation. Many had fail to realize that even women have strong voices to be heard in social, political, and economical parts of the nation. African/Black American woman have endured and have always fought to gain equality, respect, and the same rights as men. Women (of all races) have had to undergo years of sexism and struggle to obtain what we have today.
This struggle was even more difficult for us African/Black American women because not only have we had to deal with issues of sexism, but also racism. Many movements have helped black women during the past centuries to overcome sexism, racism, and hardships that were set against us. History tells us that movements such as the Feminist Movement helped empower all women, but this fact is not totally true especially for women of African descent. When the discussion feminism and the woman suffrage movement in particular, are mentioned- this movement and others had very “minimal” effects on black women rights.
In the early 1800s, most Black women were enslaved, but free Black women participated in the abolitionist cause. Some women like Maria Stewart, Frances E. W. Harper, and Sojourner Truth., et.alii have spoken out to others about Black women's rights. They were some of the female leaders that put the Black Women’s Rights movement into effect. Sojourner Truth was very active in the women’s rights movement, and her often quoted 1851 “Ain’t I a Woman” speech, nevertheless illustrates how gender oppression has unique repercussions for Black women living under a racist, economically “exploitive” capitalist system.
In this week’s reading by Patricia Hill-Collins