Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women, Work, and the Family from Slavery to the Present

O’Brien, John F.; Jones, Jacqueline

doi:10.2307/25142876

Cited by 6 publications

(12 citation statements)

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“…Importantly, leading up to the creation of the Freedmen's Bureau, the South [6] implemented a slave impressment policy that forced enslaved Black men to join the confederate war effort (Jones, 2009). Forced conscription into the army involved taking highvalued male slaves, who tended to be the healthiest and strongest, from plantations and, more importantly in this case, from their families and placing them on the front lines.…”

Section: The Us Civil War and Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Between 1867 and 1872, 69 Black men served as delegates to the constitutional convention or as members of the state legislature (Drago, 2002). The Freedmen's Bureau applied a system of rewards and programs based on the traditional white American family (Jones, 2009), seemingly ignoring the systematic breakdown that occurred to the Black family due to chattel slavery and the impressment policy of the Civil War. The Bureau successfully reinforced patriarchal values on the Black family while maintaining the expectation that Black women work outside the home.…”

Section: The Us Civil War and Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Freedmen's Bureau's wage guidelines mandated that Black women and men receive unequal compensation based on their sex rather than their productivity output (Jones, 2009). Because most Black families had women as heads of householdsa common phenomenon due to the conscription of Black men into the Civil Warthe Bureau's land allotment policy meant an additional punishment.…”

Section: The Us Civil War and Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Agents would give less land to these families, making it more difficult for single Black women to economically survive. In 1870, more than 40% of Black married women listed their jobs as "field laborers"; in stark contrast, 98.4% of married white women said their primary job was "keeping house" (Jones, 2009). Black women were unable to stay at home and "keep house" because of unequal and unfair employment practices in addition to the social expectation that Black women should work.…”

Section: The Us Civil War and Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Heavy lifting: authentic talent development and leadership obtainment for Black women state legislators

Wrighten

2022

EJTD

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to apply a novel intersectional framework, the heavy lifter theory, to leadership attainability in state legislatures. It is a logical and unique way to examine the gender ascription of Black women. This work helps to shed light on the political behavior of Black women, the institutional obstacles they face, and the lasting power of ancestral talent development. Design/methodology/approach One way to examine this intersectional theory, as it relates to Black women and authentic talent development in a sociocultural context, is an examination of leadership attainment in state legislatures. The specific research question was: What is the probability that Black women will attain leadership in state legislatures in comparison to Black men and white women? This study used panel data that have individual-level data on state legislators from 2007 to 2014 and applied a logistic regression and a predictive probability. Findings Intersectionality, measured as the interaction term between sex and race, increases the probability of Black women earning formal leadership positions in state legislatures. In addition, Black women attain leadership positions at higher rates than both Black men and white women. Originality/value This research presents a historical context by which to understand and examine the gendered nature of the ascription process of Black women. Specifically, their experience as a marginalized group burdened them with the duty of the heavy lifter. Although being the heavy lifter is a burden, this focus on Black women’s ability to thrive under constant discrimination in the form of racism and sexism should give scholars pause. In looking at Black women legislators’ ability to gain leadership, the heavy lifter identity can potentially be a vehicle through which Black women legislators can find a sense of purpose and both psychological and social strength to forge their own unexpected path.

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Section: The Us Civil War and Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Us Civil War and Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Us Civil War and Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Us Civil War and Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Heavy lifting: authentic talent development and leadership obtainment for Black women state legislators

Wrighten

2022

EJTD

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“…Furthermore, they have typically reflected what Beauboeuf-LaFontant (2002) called "embrace of the maternal, political clarity, and an ethic of risk" (p. 71), which is part of black womanist caring norms. These guiding ethics are informed by knowledge and experience that come from facing racial, gender, and class oppression while lacking the male privilege that benefit men or the racial privilege that benefits white women (Collins, 2000;Guy-Sheftall, 2010;Jones, 2010;Robnett, 1997).…”

Section: Black Womanist Leadershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Starting the Bandwagon: A Historiography of African American Mothers' Leadership during Voluntary School Desegregation, 1954-1971

Wilson¹

2017

Advancing Women in Leadership Journal

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In this article, the author presents a historiography that considers the leadership that African American women, particularlymothers, played in U.S. school desegregation. Discussion moves beyond offering a political analysis of school integration politicsthat is male centered, bounded by a legalistic frame, or steeped within general discussions of the political clashes betweenintegrationists and segregationists to recast significant historical events through a more nuanced womanist lens. Literature isreviewed and archival data from 1954 to 1971 are marshaled to shed light on why and how African American motherscontributed to the school desegregation movement, particularly in Greensboro, NC. The author suggests what lessons can begleaned from the mothers' legacy to extend conceptualizations of transformative educational leadership.

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Reality matters: The shadow of trauma on African American subjectivity.

Gump¹

2010

Psychoanalytic Psychology

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Few psychoanalytic theories accord social, political, and cultural realities a role in the development of the psyche. This silence distorts and constricts our understanding of all subjects, but is particularly pernicious for the nondominant, as it renders significant aspects of their subjectivities invisible. African American subjectivity is an instance of such omission. The trauma of slavery critically shaped our subjectivity, yet this impact is rarely acknowledged. In fact, the subjugation, cruelties, and deprivations of slavery have given a traumatic cast to African American subjectivity. Through the intergenerational transmission of trauma this wounding has endured. This article examines the effect of African American historical reality on subjectivity. In particular, transmission of slavery's essential characteristic-a relationship of domination-is explored. A clinical case manifesting instances of these issues is discussed.

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Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women, Work, and the Family from Slavery to the Present

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

Heavy lifting: authentic talent development and leadership obtainment for Black women state legislators

Heavy lifting: authentic talent development and leadership obtainment for Black women state legislators

Starting the Bandwagon: A Historiography of African American Mothers' Leadership during Voluntary School Desegregation, 1954-1971

Reality matters: The shadow of trauma on African American subjectivity.

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