Women during the American Revolution - Essay Example

Many Indian women favored a British victory since they knew a new American nation would usher in: “land speculators and settlers into Indian territories and governments that backed unfavorable treaties with threats of military force.” 1 Enslaved women faced an unstable family life and often faced having their children or husbands sold from them. Both the British and Americans viewed slaves as chess pawns rather than genuinely believing in their freedom. In seizing loyalist camps, black women were sold for profit.

Black women who served the rebel camps were treated as slaves, used for manual labor, and they were also sold to rebel armies. 2 Many black women also faced fraud and trickery by so-called emancipators who promised freedom. Black women faced assault and starvation from the confusion and chaos of the revolutionary war. Those who were fortunate enough to escape were still bogged down by discrimination and lack of advancement. Those who were not fortunate enough to escape, or remained behind due to fear of their children being hurt or reprisal from British and American camps, remained in perpetual bondage in the south and parts of the north.

Free, black women n usually worked as domestic servants and were barred from establishing their own households. In European tradition, a woman's place was in the home, but she retained power and respect in running the home. Through racial and economic oppression, free black women would have no such role in having any measure of power or authority. Such status was traditionally reserved for white women. 3 For white, American women, their roles took a slight shift from strictly domestic house maidens to working in the fields and helping in the shops of male family members.

In times of conflict, especially in the outskirts of far settlements, women protected their families and communities when their husbands were away or to simply contribute to protecting their homes.