Short, disjointed first-person accounts of black women in slavery
and freedom - compiled by a veteran author and anthologizer of
similar material for young people (Lift Every Voice, Speak Out in
Thunder Tones). Though the reminiscences of slavery provide seine
evidence for all the great theories (Genovese's patriarchy,
Gutman's black family), they are most interesting as women's
distinctive recollections of everyday events (childhood
infractions, work loads, courtships) and of violence and
resistance. One slave father instructed his daughter: "Fight, and
if you can't fight, kick; if you can't kick, then bite." The
companion section on free women from 1800-1860 shows how, while
white women were organizing missionary and temperance societies to
help others, black women were organizing mutual benefit societies
to help themselves. One of these, Philadelphia's Daughters of
Africa, had over 200 working-class women as members. The war years
yield stories of first encounters with Yankees, of following the
army camps, of hearing the news of freedom. "I was in the kitchen
getting breakfast. The word came - 'All the darkies are free!' I
tan 'round and 'round the kitchen hitting my head against the wall,
clapping my hands and crying, 'Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!'" In
their first years as freedwomen, former slaves met with
disappointments ("freedom ain't give us notin' but pickled hoss
meat an'. . . crackers an' not hall enough of dat") and with Klan
violence. Though most Northern black women struggled to find work,
the documents included mainly represent the exceptional women:
social leaders, political activists, and pioneer professionals
(among them a small group of doctors). The epilogue supplies the
diaries of four black women - one is Ida B. Welles - but this
effort at integration does not overcome the choppy feel of the
rest. A sourcebook for those already in the know, a potential
jumping-off-point for others. But by itself, somewhat confusing and
not necessarily representative. (Kirkus Reviews)
Reissued in a new trade paperback format and design, "This richly
researched, sensitively edited, annotated volume portrays
indelibly, in their own words, the lives of American black women
before, during, and immediately after the Civil War. . . ".
Following a successful run in New York, an acclaimed stage
adaptation of this work is touring nationally in 1997. Photos.
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