Women of the Confederacy, Slaves and Freed Woman - Thesis Proposal Example

 The position of women in the confederacy is often difficult to analyze in-depth because of a lack of evidence. Recently, however, historians have sought a more balanced view by looking at those narratives written by slave and freedwomen which do exist, and evidence from newspaper and court records showing how women were treated, and how they reacted to this treatment.  Topic.

Two categories of womanhood in the period of the confederacy demonstrate some of the most acute tensions and paradoxes of the slave ideology: slave women and freedwomen. The former live their lives under the yoke of a racist regime with no knowledge of what it is like to be free. The latter makes the transition from slave to freedwoman and thus experiences the confederacy from two different perspectives. Paradoxically, the freedwomen found themselves still oppressed in a racist society. Thesis Slavewomen and freedwomen made their choices to resist slavery, or to work within it, but the experience of the freedwoman proves that the real problem was patriarchy, and from that, there was no escape.

Part II Women’s roles working within confederate ideologies. IIA Slaves’ roles within confederate ideologies. “Whether a white wife or a black slave, the ideal woman was happily nurturing, pious, loyal and subordinate to her husband or master” (Bynum, 1992, p. 36) Many slave women spent their whole lives resigned to slave status, making the best of their situation. They were strong in their societies, but for reasons to do with white racist structures: “If slave women seemed strong and held more power in the family than did black men or white women, it was because slavery stripped men of traditional forms of power.

And while slave women might be less beholden to black male domination, they, like white women, were always controlled by white men.” (McMillen, 2004, p. 197) Slave women bore the brunt of white male aggression, and white women were complicit in this since it allowed them to escape the violence from men and the drudgery of housework. (Roberts, 1993, p. 31) IIB Freed women’s roles within confederate ideologies. Dignity and respect were values that freed women coveted above all else.