Gohar Blog #7

GOHAR BLOG #7
1. The years before and during the civil war were pretty harsh for African American women, because they still had to work for their owners. There were always arguments between the white women and their slaves. During these times white women were very dependent on black women, because they did not do any of the work. Soon the Women Suffrage Movement started taking place and this did not help the African American women, because they still did not have any freedom and they wanted to be free and be able to raise their families and children on their own.
2. The “New South” had a great impact on women, both on White and the African American. The White women lost the most, because their slaves were not there anymore to the chores and do their jobs. The slave owners were also hurt financially, because the slaves were assets for them, but now that they were free and not working for them, it was a great loss, because they could not sell or buy slaves. This pushed the white women to start working and earning their money. At the same time African Americans were glad to be free, but it was difficult for them also. It was hard for them, because they were separated from their families, children and husbands. During the times away from each other, some of the husbands were remarried; the children could not recognize their parents. This was hard for the African American women, but at the same time they had been granted the ability to own their own lands and work for themselves and their children, instead of their old owners.
3. Thomas Moss was shot to death, because it was believed that he had raped white women. Ida Wells did not believe this and knew that he wasn’t killed because of the rape; he was killed because he and two other black men were operating a grocery store for black people across from a white grocery store. White men wanted to get rid of black people who were making money and were able to support their families. Since they could not do anything about it, they started to accuse successful black people for rape and they said, “black men were sexual predators” (Wells 306). This was not true in all cases, sometimes, black men and white women were sexually involved by choice and they were not rapes, but white men did not care about that and wanted to keep their supremacy.Wells was trying to challenge the fact that black men were not supposed to be blamed for the rape of white women and children. The truth was that in some cases there were mutual attraction between the white women and black men, but white men ignored this and therefore they always blamed the black men for the rapes.