Slavery
Slavery was a gendered process in which sexuality was used to oppress the black community. The most appropriate example to show this is the stereotype of jezebel and mammies. In Smith Lecture Part 1, it is clear that black women were considered sexually insatiable, justifying sexual harassment, and rape. This was the jezebel stereotype. Those stereotyped as mammies were taken in as housemaids to take care of their master’s families. From Butler’s work, we understand how black women’s fertility and mothering ability were abused for the benefit of the colonizers. Part 1 of the Smiths Lecture indicates that black women were forced to do sex to bare children. Butler (5) confirms that these children were taken in as slaves or sold to other masters for profits. By so doing, the colonizers made sure that the enslaved community was controlled; hence there was no chance of resistance.
European culture was based on a patriarchal system whereby men were always superior to women. This phenomenon played a crucial role in how slavery was shaped by gender. It is based on this establishment that we understand the intersectional experiences of gender and race. According to Glymph (149), although history presumes white women married to slaveholders to have been free women, they remained subservient to the husbands. Further, Glymph indicates that they suffered their own share of oppression and violence as women. Following these realities, the question of the role of white-slave owning mistresses comes up. White mistresses wielded so much power to become serious perpetrators of violence in the house. In essence, black women’s experiences in the house were not any different from those of the slaves in the fields. I think Glymph tries to bring home the fact that black women in all directions suffered intersectionally during slavery. The received the worst forms of abuse and treatment in the hands of mistresses who should have been considered subordinate to the master (Glymph, 151). This means that being black and female at the same time made the vulnerable.
Slavery and its effects have influenced America’s history adversely. From Badger’s article, it is fascinating how white Americans tend to ignore the existence of inequality between white and black communities in the nation. This alone makes the issue a detrimental one. It has been indicated that for every $100 earned by an average white family, a black family earns $57.3, which is merely half. Such a fact is indicative of how black society is neglected. As such, in as much as the nation wants to ensure equality, white privilege continues to hold. This is why, despite so many government policies and legislations geared towards protecting minorities, cases of racial violence and discrimination still exist. The mentioned wage gap is indicative of a discriminatory economy. To this end, America is far from healing from the wounds of slavery.