Gender Inequality during the Antebellum Era was Prevalent and Glaring

Essay Instructions:

Reader's Choice:
One issue we have discussed extensively is that of changing concepts of race and racial roles in America from colonial times through the Ciil War.
Other issues we have discussed as they weave through many other themes are that of gender, and the experience of Native Americans.
These themes, race, slavery, and gender, are among those you may choose to address in your second primary source analysis essay.
If you prefer to choose another primary source and topic that we have read for the course, you may do so.
OPTIONS INCLUDE:
Sources we have read have argued that American freedom was built on American slavery. Nearly every aspect of antebellum America was rooted in racial and gender inequality. The exploitation of enslaved people fueled the rise of American capitalism, and white Americans, North and South, upheld a system of white supremacy that guaranteed the continuation of inequality. Few Americans truly believed that men and women should have equal rights, but gender inequalities took on an even more desperate cast for enslaved women. Understanding the experience of Harriet Jacobs, a woman who lived both as a free person of color and as an enslaved woman helps us understand the limits of American freedom.
Use Harriet Jacobs’s narrative Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl to answer the question, “What did it mean to be free in antebellum America?”
(You may use the short excerpt from this autobiography that is found on the American Yawp (https://www(dot)americanyawp(dot)com/reader/the-cotton-revolution/harriet-jacobs-on-rape-and-slavery/) or supplement this with other sections of your choice from the full book, found in the Primary Source Materials for Analysis Papers folder in the Course Materials folder.)
You may wish to address one or more of the primary sources that relate aspects of the experience of Native Americans in relation to European and, later, American power in North America. Some possibilities for this option include:
Chapter 2, "Colliding Cultures": A Gaspesian Man Defends his Way of Life, 1641
Chapter 12, "Manifest Destiny": Cherokee Petition Protesting Removal, 1836
FOR EITHER OPTION:
There is a Primary Source Analysis Guide in the Course Materials folder, which should help you think about some of the important elements to consider in your analysis papers.
Be sure to have a clear argument that you defend with relevant evidence.
Organize your paper with a logical structure and use clear topic sentences and transitions to help your reader understand the logic of your organization.
Edit your paper thoroughly to avoid errors and to improve readability.
Give your paper a title that reflects your argument.
Grading criteria:
Argument: 25% Does your paper have a clear, singular, specific argument that answers the question?
Evidence: 25% Do you use all of the relevant evidence to defend your argument?
Organization: 25% Does your paper have a logical structure and use clear topic sentences and transitions?
Clarity: 25% Is your prose efficient, crisp and polished, free of excessive passive voice or distracting spelling or grammatical errors?
Formatting:
12-pt., Times New Roman font, double-spaced
1” margins
Approximately 800-1000 words (approximately 3-5 full, double-spaced pages)
Chicago Notes and Bibliography style citations (see https://www(dot)chicagomanualofstyle(dot)org/home.html for guidance)
Due Thursday, May 12
For this assignment, use MAINLY the primary source you choose; you may also refer to the secondary sources we have read to support your analysis if you wish.
http://www(dot)americanyawp(dot)com/

Essay Sample Content Preview:

Gender Inequality during the Antebellum Era was Prevalent and Glaring
The Antebellum period, which came to a grinding halt at the beginning of the Civil War, was marked by slavery and gender inequality. Slaves were needed to provide cheap labor in the agricultural plantations that straddled the south. To many southerners, slaves were assets and as marketable as other livestock on the plantations. Gender inequality during this era was widespread, and women's opinions and rights were completely overlooked and violated. In this perspective, women watched helplessly as their husbands flagrantly engaged in gross immorality. Freedom guaranteed a range of privileges; therefore, being free in Antebellum America was a coveted prospect as far as gender, slavery, and race were concerned.
Gender inequality during the Antebellum era was prevalent and glaring, but it took a whole different tangent for enslaved women. Their dignity was trampled underfoot in the most brutal of ways. Slave masters overtly assaulted their female slaves sexually and without any scruples whatsoever. The sexual degradation that the black slaves were subjected to was wanton and unspeakable. The victims included young girls who could seldom comprehend the monstrosity of what was happening to them. According to Jacobs, many slave masters sired as many slave children were later sold away in the slave markets. The women endured all this silently because there was no one to tell, and there were no laws providing for their protection. Repeated death threats also deterred the victims from exposing the social ill. The masters did not expect less, for they regarded them as their property and therefore had to comply with their tyranny without raising a finger. What's more, many of these victims had to contend with jealous mistresses who would administer severe punishment to them whenever the jealous bug bit. Living with a vile master and a jealous mistress was the worst situation that any slave could envisage. The mistresses disapproved of their husbands' extra-marital exploits, but they lived in an era where women's rights were flagrantly violated. They would either watch in silence or vent their pent-up rage on the hapless slaves involved in the fiascos. Being free during this era meant being in a position to evade these exploitations and having the right to expression.[1 Harriet A. Jacobs. Incidents in the life of a Slave Girl (Global Grey, 1861).] [Jacobs, Incidents in the life of a Slave Girl, 73]
During this period, slavery was a rampant feature, especially in the south, where cheap labor was in great demand. In this regard, plantation owners acquired slaves to provide the labor, and most of them were captured in Africa and sold off in the many slave markets in America. Even though slaves were regarded as assets by their masters, they were subjected to the worst form of human degradation. They were taken through such traumatic ordeals that were impossible to describe. Besides being subjected to harsh and unforgiving working conditions, they were treated like low animals. They had no rights whatsoever and were expected to meticulously obey orders without raising any objecti...

Updated on January 26, 2024

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Gender Inequality during the Antebellum Era was Prevalent and Glaring

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