Southern Women: Black and White in the Old South by Sally G. McMillen - Book Report/Review Example

Southern Women: Black and White in the Old South by Sally G. McMillen Introduction Sally G. McMillen's Southern Women: Black and White in the Old South is considered as a synthesis of the history of the United States. The book offers a historical and critical look into one of the most important historical periods of the US. This book is considered as one of the critical efforts to recognize the impact which women from the South have on the overall social history of the United States. Book has comprehensively discussed various issues including family life, marriages, work, politics and role of women during civil war. The range of historical issues presented in the book about Southern Women has actually made this book one of the most important sources for understanding American History. This book has also made Southern Women and their historical role as one of the central themes of American history. The book itself is one of the best efforts to highlight one of the key historical facts about American society. The book also highlights the overall weaknesses of the research in this area and how further research can actually be directed towards those areas to further address the historical fallacies about Southern women. Above all, the book has been able to highlight the hardships, suffering and overall contribution of the black Southern women. This paper will discuss and review the content and scope of the book, review of topics covered, and general conclusions that can be drawn from this book. Review of Book One of the starting points of the book is the extensive coverage of some of the myths about the Black Southern Women and how these myths have actually contributed towards obscuring the real knowledge about the Southern Women. The book actually attempted to highlight the importance of the overall contribution made by Southern Women during an era which was troubling. The Southern Women showed the feminist strengths to sacrifice for family, work and other contributions for the region. The first chapter of the book actually discusses the families in the Southern region with a critical look at family structure, stability, courtships, and other related issues. Family has been described as one of the key sources of strengths for both black and white women. It was also the critical family values and strong family structure that held women together with the other family members and developed a cohesive society where women played active part in various social activities. The author has actually attempted to link the family issues their impact on the emotional as well as physical health of the women. Author has also highlighted how, due to balancing of sex ratio, slaves were actually able to form families and resultantly contributed towards the overall development of a vibrant and diverse society in the South. There have been regional variations in the overall structure of families, specifically those of slaves. These variations have also contributed towards the final description of the role of women, kind of support they received from their families and other related issues. One of the key issues discussed is the protection of the family by the male members. It has been highlighted that saving wives and daughters from being raped often resulted in risk of the lives of the male members. This has been particularly discussed in the backdrop of the interracial sex and love across different color lines. For slaves, the manifestation of this interracial sex has been mostly in the form of rape. Author has also attempted to actually discuss the differences in the courtships of the white and black men and women. She argued that many black men actually viewed black women as their conquests however; the concept of companionship was relatively different among white men and women. According to the author, this was mainly due to the rigid socio-legal structure of the South which actually put black and slave women in the disadvantage and gave relatively more privileges to white women though white women suffered, too. Inequalities in marriages between white couples have been critically discussed too, despite the fact that white women tend to be in control during the companionship period before marriage. The overall evidence presented in this chapter is mostly based upon the extensive review of literature and historical facts. Author has relied heavily on the previous literature, however, a different set of arguments has been presented in order to substantiate the overall structure and themes presented in this chapter. Chapter about the childbearing and reproduction contains some research about miscarriages, maternal mortality, infant death, healthcare issues etc. This chapter suggests that women not only labored hard caring of their children, but having children also offered them a kind of satisfaction. Author has also critically argued the different approaches to motherhood and, specifically the various approaches taken by white and black women as mothers: whenever possible, slave mothers put their children first. Slaveholding mothers had relatively more freedom to define their motherhood as compared to slave mothers. There have also been pointed out the future areas of research, especially in the domain of understanding whether maternal role actually provided women with the sense of self-worth and power. The author has actually discussed how both black and white women actually used motherhood as their point of strength, but he failed to provide any credible research on this. She has also left unattended certain sociological factors, which may have contributed to the issue of motherhood approaches by black and white mothers. The discussion mainly focuses on the impact of race and slavery and up to what extent their influence spread around motherhood. Author has critically discussed the education in the South and the role of institutions in educating women. Though education started to emerge during the era, the educational institutions at that time focused more on teaching women their home duties as householders and mothers. The overall influence of church was the primary exponent of providing education then. The church overall influence on social values, especially of white women in terms of their overall role in the society, has also been presented. Women also attempted to take refuge in the church against the tyranny of their husbands and relatives. Church served as the protection for women and enrolled young black women in studying and gaining necessary education and skills. There is the discussion of the social role of church in imparting education besides serving as the custodian of the overall value system of the Southern society. Author suggested that both white and black women were actually able to find strength in their faith to deal with the challenges posed by their daily lives. Author however, failed to discuss whether religion had been able to actually develop cohesiveness between blacks and whites or not. She did not suggest that religion and church had actually taken efforts to reconcile racial differences. The Southern women are shown in the book as really hard-working. There is a nice synthesis of how the illness, migration and pregnancy had created much of social as well as physical toll on the overall work of the women. Continuous movement, lack of health facilities and hard work had affected the women’s lives heavily. Compensation issues and unpaid work have also been discussed in the book. The author indicates that slaves were specifically not paid for the hard work they used to deliver. Though author has critically divided the work into domestic services and work beyond the ordinary household duties, she still manages to convince that the women were put through hard work. It is also critical to note that due to progress in the region, women also were able to achieve the paid work as factory workers, teachers and other new roles which emerged as a result of the progress which was gradually taking place in the region. It is also critical to note the existing deviation from the overall purpose of this chapter: here the author actually says that some free women actually became property owners during the same era. So, women actively took part in the plantation business as well as various social areas, such as joining American Colonization Society. This conclusion is however, relatively different from the overall discussion made in the chapter and the whole book. The last chapter discussed the impact of civil war on the Southern women and how it actually altered almost every aspect of their lives, right from social to political spheres. The author has also pointed the importance of the eroding support for confederacy by the white women due to constant suffering they had been experiencing. This conclusion however, is radically different from the conclusion made in general - the empowerment gained by black women due to their hardships had actually helped black women to end their slavery. The two radically different conclusions provide a sharp view of the changing roles and perceptions about black women. Author has also left some questions for future research, such as vulnerability of black women to rape, especially during the wartime. Conclusion The book is considered to be one of the most important pieces of history of the Southern women and how their fate changed over the period of time. Author however, has left many questions for the future research as they were mostly multi-dimensional in nature and required cross-section review of different disciplines to understand them completely. Family, children, mortality, work, role of church, education as well as impact of civil war issues have been discussed the chapter. The overall general conclusion would suggest that author has been able to determine the most important and critical issues affecting women in South. This book is significant contribution to better understanding of the American past and how it has shaped the America’s present life. Read More