Disfigured Images - The Historical Assault on Afro-American Women (Paperback)

"Much of the material unearthed by this book is ugly," states historiographer Patricia Morton who exposes "profoundly dehumanizing constructions of reality embedded in American scholarship" as it has attempted to render the history of the Afro-American woman. Focusing on the scholarly "literature of fact" rather than on fictional or popular portrayals, Disfigured Images explores the telling--and frequent mis-telling--of the story of black women during a century of American historiography beginning in the late 19th century and extending to the present. Morton finds that during this period, a large body of scholarly literature was generated that "presented little fact and much fiction" about black women's history. The book's 10 chapters take long and lingering looks at the black woman's "prefabricated" past. Contemporary revisionist studies with their goals of discovering and articulating the real nature of the slave woman's experience and role are thoroughly examined in the conclusion. Disfigured Images complements current work by recognizing in its findings a long-needed refutation of a caricatured, mythical version of black women's history. Morton's introduction presents an overview of her subject emphasizing the mythical, ingrained nature of the black woman's image in historiography as a "natural and permanent slave." The succeeding chapters use historical and social science works as primary sources and look at: "The Foundations of Sexism-Racism," "White and Black Stories of Slave Women," the writing of W. E. B. DuBois, 20th century notions of black women, current Black and Women's Studies, "New and Old Images of Motherhood," and more. The conclusion investigates how and why recentAmerican historiographical scholarship has banished the old myths by presenting a more accurate history of black women. This keenly perceptive and original study should find an influential place in both Women's Studies and Black Studies programs as well as in American History, American Literature, and Sociology departments. With its unusually complete panorama of the period covered it would be a unique and valuable addition to courses such as Slavery, The American South, Women in (North) American History, Afro-American History, Race and Sex in American Literature and Discourse, and The Sociology of Race.

General

Imprint:	Praeger Publishers Inc
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	May 1991
First published:	May 1991
Authors:	Patricia Morton
Dimensions:	230 x 156 x 13mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	192
ISBN-13:	978-0-275-93885-7
Categories:	Books > Humanities > History > Theory & methods > Historiography Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Ethnic studies > Black studies Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Gender studies > Women's studies > General Books > History > Theory & methods > Historiography Promotions
LSN:	0-275-93885-9
Barcode:	9780275938857

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