Myths Of The Balck Family
...definitions that have altered the scale of equality in the home and the work force. Ironically it is these same issues and other social and cultural variables that continued to divide us from one another.
In pre-industrial times, the United States was an agricultural society and the home was the center of production for all of the families needs. White Women did spinning and weaving making lace, soap candles and shoes and could be found doing jobs that consisted of hard physical labor such as farming, pitching hay, tending the livestock, hunting and trapping. Single women worked in the domestic trade also as assistant homemakers. If the husband owned a shop or were fortunate enough to be married to a prominent businessman, land or store owner, your life may consisted of supervising slaves or servants, managing the plantation or farm, as well as managing a family. Women were not excluded from work in colonial America; it was found that some owned shops, saloons, and they were innkeepers, teachers, nurses, and even doctors. Times were hard and everyone worked if they wanted to survive.
African American Women were slaves and did most of the domestic work for the more affluent white families as well as the hard physical labor in the fields. Black woman were not considered as weak as white women instead they were looked on more like a work horse and not human. They suffered horrible sexual and physical abuse by their slave owners; and they were culturally controlled, and alienated from there own families. Wives of slave owners benefited from this type of labor and shared in the oppression of women of color.
Native American women, depending on the tribe and region they were in played a big role in their communities. Native American women were responsible for using every part of the environment. They gathered nuts, berries, and wild plants for food, herbs...
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