Antebellum America

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how women and African-Americans represented two groups with limited rights in antebellum America. It looks at how, socially, both were considered to have a role and a place and how neither had complete rights when compared with white men in the same society. It also examines how both women and African-Americans were marginalized by both Northern and Southern society for the entirety of the antebellum period and how the marginalization of blacks and women allowed for a social hierarchy wherein every member of society had a clear place.

From the Paper:

"The availability of social function to white women was not unlike the availability of religion to African Americans. Even on slave plantations slave owners considered it important to impress Christian values on their slaves. In James Mars' exploit, he explains how the minister who had owner his parents had arranged and carried out their marriage so that they could live a Christian life (3-5). That the slave-owners felt any importance in this is particularly interesting, in that Mars' mother already had a child by a previous white owner (Mars, 4). Previous sexual relationships or children would have been unacceptable in a white women looking to marry; however, the sexualization of African American women allowed white individuals to look the other way."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Dorsey, Bruce. "A Gendered History of African Colonization in the Antebellum United States." Journal of Social History 34.1 (2000): 77-105. Academic Search Premier. 8 May 2007. http://search.ebscohost.com.
• Douglass, Frederick. "Independence Day Speech." Rochester, NY. 4 Jul. 1852. 6 May 2007 <http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/douglass.htm>.
• Mars, James. Life of James Mars: a slave born and sold in Connecticut. Hartford, CT: Press of Case, Lockwood & Co., 1865.
• West, Emily. "Tensions, Tempers, and Temptations: Marital Discord Among Slaves in Antebellum South Carolina." American Nineteenth Century History 5.2 (2004): 1-18. Academic Search Premier. 8 May 2007. http://search.ebscohost.com.

More papers on Antebellum America:

• Term Paper # 69048 : "Muslim Slavery"
• Book Review # 71009 : "The Incredible Oversight"
• Book Review # 95217 : "Slavery in America"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: