Ar'n't I a Woman?: Female Slaves in the Plantation South (Revised Edition) | 
pickOnce again the #TBRtarot helped me get a book off my shelf that's been unread for too long. This is a remarkable piece of scholarship on Black women's lives during slavery in the plantation South. White synthesises a lot of primary resources & archival material to undercut the Jezebel vs. Mammy dichotomy that even popular culture continues to evoke. I appreciate that she restores agency to these women's lives without erasing the horrific reality.
batsy White shows how slave women were not beholden to the regressive moral values that held white bourgeois women in their domestic trap precisely because of the nature of slavery & the gruelling work that it entailed. They broke the gender mold, matching men in all aspects in terms of what they were capable of, but also suffered greater punishments because of it. White writes plainly & presents the facts with empathy. A difficult but readable book. 2y
batsy It also works for #nonficnov and one that I highly recommend! @CBee 2y
CBee Awesome 😊 2y
The_Book_Ninja Great review 2y
batsy @CBee @The_Book_Ninja Thank you! 2y
