The History of Black Women in America - Essay Example

Critiquing A Shining Thread of Hope Hine, Darlene Clark & Thompson, Kathleen. A Shining Thread of Hope. New York: Broadway Books, 1998. In Diane Clark Hine and Kathleen Thompson’s groundbreaking work A Shining Thread of Hope, the authors provide a revealing and often stereotype-busting view of what life has been like historically for the African American woman. Starting with the arrival of the first Africans prior to the arrival of the Mayflower and ending with a glimpse at life today and speculations as to what tomorrow may bring, this novel paints a picture of the black woman as oppressed but unsinkable, possessionless but full of resources, powerless to defend herself yet stronger than many white people would have believed or acknowledged. It is through this strength and the resulting bonds of family, community and faith, the authors argue, that both yesterday’s and today’s African American woman is beginning to be recognized for her significant contributions to the progress and development of the United States and the importance she continues to play in providing examples to live, work and raise a family in trying times with dignity, grace, love and success. The prologue of the book immediately captures the reader’s attention with a detailed description of a young African woman’s life in the earliest days of the colonies. This pattern is continued with further detail into this and other stories of African women in the early colonies as the book moves into its first chapter. The sense of immediacy is developed as the authors fictionalize to a degree in describing Lucy Terry Prince and other early African women brought to America. “A young woman stood on the shores of the New World. … We do not know this woman’s name, but we will call her Oni. She will be, for us, not a number – one of twenty slaves who were the first to be brought to North America – but the real woman she was” (8). Although they arrived on these shores as slaves, the authors demonstrate how these early slaves gained freedom, happiness, land ownership, scholarship and, at times, a degree of equality with their white neighbors. Yet there remain significant gaps to these stories as the children disappear or the family property is swallowed up by white invaders. “It is important to remember that other African Americans, women as well as men, were simultaneously creating a separate culture. Its development was not usually recorded, and few names have come down to us” (26). As they describe these stories, the authors also work to distance themselves from the stories, often switching back to the narrative scholastic voice of the present rather than the storytelling song of the past, allowing the distance of time and the silent spaces of the slave to interfere with the retelling, leaving unpleasant blank spaces that the reader wishes fulfilled. This type of opening artistry leaves the reader begging for closure, actively seeking the answers to their questions regarding these remarkable women, wanting to know how, why, what and receiving only fragments. But Hine and Thompson weave these fragments together with compassion, sympathy and understanding, taking a realistic look at additional factors and present as complete a story as anyone is likely to find in a way that serves to model the very flexibility that enabled these women to survive. This tapestry they present represents in literary form the action of how those early slaves, “weaving fragments of their African past with rags and threads from a new, alien world, they would dress themselves in dignity, love and even joy” (9). Although the authors tell as much as they or anyone alive or recorded knows about Mrs. Prince and these other early pioneers, they empathize with us in our frustration over the gaps. In an attempt to fill some of these holes, they promise to look into why we don’t know more about these lives, why we weren’t aware that African women in colonial America were afforded rights more equal with those of the white women and what happened that both took away these freedoms and enabled the African women to survive the deplorable conditions of slavery in the American south as we understand it today. From there, they promise to illuminate the various ways in which African American women’s natural talents, strengths and abilities combined out of necessity with innovation, resourcefulness and creativity to overcome and participate in the shaping of a new nation coming out of the Civil War to the present day. In this way, they string “a shining thread of hope” from those early days through the terrors of the American South’s version of slavery to the redefining of survival strategies of African American women to embrace as well individualism, equality and respect. The table of contents of the book reflects this same progression of events as well as tapestry of words that characterize the African American woman’s survival with the use of imaginative chapter names that provide a revealing look into how African American women faced the issues of their times. While explaining the extreme isolation, loneliness and disorientation experienced by the early slaves brought to the new world even before many of the white colonists had arrived in “A New and Alien World,” the authors outline how these women fell back upon the knowledge they’d brought with them to forge new relationships and families despite language difficulties and cultural differences as well as how they used their ingenuity to gain their freedom, education and success within this new framework. In Chapter 3, entitled “Survival and Other Forms of Resistance,” they reveal by their choice of title how survival itself can be seen as a form of resistance within the framework of the American South. This concept is illustrated throughout the chapter in a variety of ways and means that only provide a bare indication of the true innovation and challenges African American women faced in trying to maintain their identities while suffering through the most deplorable conditions of slavery known. “Free Women in Search of Freedom” indicates that while the Reformation signified a glorious time of freedoms as Federal troops ensured the southern states upheld the laws that permitted African Americans the abilities to work for themselves, vote, hold offices and own businesses, yet conspicuously left black women out of legislation extending the vote to all free men. This is followed immediately by “Blossoming in Hard Soil” which details the difficult struggles of free African Americans as the South was left to govern itself, opening the doors for a new, more insidious kind of slavery in the form of Jim Crow laws. Although they were now free, the authors indicate the ways in which white bosses were still able to treat their black female workers as slaves, continuing to use sexual harassment and other fear tactics to affect the same type of control they’d once known under the rules of slavery. Their clever use of the Maya Angelou title “The Caged Bird Sings” as the title for their final chapter illustrates the various ways African American women participated in bringing forward and obtaining equal rights for women, civil rights for their race and the benefits of affirmative action even as they gained the ability to ‘sing’ of the abuses and mistreatments they were still suffering at the hands of white and black men. At times supporting common perceptions and at times refuting or criticizing the neglect or perspective of those same perceptions, the authors use existing literary evidence from the hands of African American women throughout history, court documents, censor counts and personal letters regarding and authored by these women to support their view. Throughout the work, they attempt to approach the issue from the hidden perspective of the women themselves, despite the lack of or complete reliability of direct evidence. These hands include Lucy Terry Prince, whose only surviving poem is analyzed to reveal how she retained her fully human status as a slave in the early 1700s, the voices of slaves as they were recorded in the Federal Writer’s Project of the 1930s, the words of Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth in rallying support for the Union Troops and sharing their stories of slavery, Pauli Murray who wrote about African American families in the early 1900s and Toni Morrison, Pulitzer Prize winner. Through these voices, the authors demonstrate the source of the underlying strength that ties all these women together as being a tremendous sense of community springing from the desperate need of African American women to protect their own identities as women throughout the many struggles. From slavery as a temporary condition of humans through slavery as a form of beast keeping, the semblance of freedom, oppression and a gradual freeing of the African American Woman who still is not, and can never be, completely free, these voices provide the unique perspective necessary for this type of work, convincing in its authenticity and illuminating in its direction. This format enlightens the reader as to how these women have been strengthened and supported by the unique beliefs and techniques that were forged as their ancestors met with and defeated the bonds of slavery, beliefs and techniques that, while having received some adaptation in recent years, would be well for others to follow. Critical reviews of the book praise Hine and Thompson for their thoroughness, use of exceptional sources and approachable tone in their collaboration. “A Shining Thread of Hope represents the first general history of African American women – an astonishing fact given the thirty-year existence of the field of women’s history … The bibliography and endnotes demonstrate that this is a solid synthesis of current scholarship.”1 By using the words of the women themselves, filling in the blank spaces with history reviews on social and economic scales, Hine and Thompson present a focused look at the specific lives of African American women by geographic region, primary occupation and time period. At the same time, “they focus on flesh and blood women whose stories of persistence, protest and progress flow together with famous and unfamiliar names sharing an unbreakable thread spun by faithful and industrious self-reliance.”2 The authors write in an easy, conversational style that blurs the line between scholastic history book and adventurous fiction novel as their ever-changing characters dance on an accelerating merry-go-round of pain and pleasure, oppression and equality, abuse and authority. This survey is an exemplary model of the new narrative history, which tries to connect with the nonprofessional, educated, general reader. It makes the gains of the historical profession’s emphasis on social science palatable by providing stories that highlight individuals whose experiences illuminate particular historical conditions, but it avoids the genre’s excesses where fact and fiction blur. The authors limit themselves to a few ideal types embodying the general circumstances of women in places where the historical record for individuals is thin, while focusing most of the narrative on women who deserve recognition.3 In addition to including excellent sources to support their perspective, the authors have impressive biographies of their own that attest to the probability of extensive and careful research. Hine, a John A. Hannah Professor of History at Michigan State University in 1987 and newly appointed Board of Trustee Professor of African American Studies and Professor of History at Northwestern University in Evanston and has held numerous other highly respected educational positions since receiving her PhD. From Kent State University in 1975. Prior to writing this book, Hine wrote several books focused on African American women in history including Hine Sight: Black Women and the Re-Construction of American History (1994), More Than Chattel: Black Women and Slavery in the Americas (1996) and “We Specialize in the Wholly Impossible” (1995).4 Honors she’s received since the publication of this book include the Otto Wirth Alumni Award for Outstanding Scholarship from Roosevelt University (1988) and the Special Achievement Award from the Kent State University Alumni Association (1991). “She has also been awarded grant support from the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Ford Foundation.”5 Kathleen Thompson’s background at the time of the publication of A Shining Thread of Hope included the publication of Against Rape (1974) co-written with Andra Medea. She was a large contributor to Black Women in America and is editor-in-chief of Encyclopedia of Black Women, which put her both in touch with Darlene Hine and revealed the gap in African American research that ignored or inelegantly skewed the perspective to shift attention away from women’s studies. Through her work on the book, Thompson indicated she “came to believe that the history of black women was not just another small part of the history of women in America. It was not on the margins but at the center of American women’s history. This was her very personal place to work from to gain a new understanding of the whole thing” (318). In addition, she has spent the past twenty years working in education and publishing and has written more than 100 books for students. “She has received numerous awards for her work, including Best Books for Youth from the ALA in 1974 and the Gold Camera Award from the U.S. Industrial Film Festival, but the one she treasures most is the ban on Against Rape by the apartheid government of South Africa.”6 Throughout their presentation and in every aspect of it, the authors have managed to capture my attention, challenge my intellect and encourage my understanding and appreciation of the brave journey taken. In tracing the evolution of slavery in this country, they illustrated several aspects of the practice that had entirely escaped my notice, such as the ability for early slaves to work their way to freedom and then enjoy a relatively equal life side by side with white neighbors. Although they illustrated how this was not the idyllic utopia one might envision, utilizing examples of how these people remained ostracized from the rest of the community, the idea that African American former slaves could and did own land in the years before the rise of King Cotton is often overlooked in the history classes. It was plausible that women arriving on the shores of the new world, completely separated from everything they knew, would have a primal need to quickly forge new relationships with those around her. The way in which the authors trace the creation of this new culture into something beautiful and world-changing makes it difficult to argue otherwise. Through the eyes of the women who lived it, as often as possible in their own words, it becomes difficult to believe that social progress such as emancipation, the extension of the vote to black men and then women, civil rights, the laws of sexual harassment and affirmative action would have ever taken place without the presence and persistence of the African American woman. Understanding their subtle and direct ways of participating in the various stages of American history, resisting slavery, undermining the Confederates, speaking out for civil rights, pushing equality among the genders and various others social gains illustrates a participation and determination level that wasn’t present in the associated white woman’s world. The way that the authors use their text, weaving narrative with fiction with fact with speculation to tell a story about oppression that sings about strength and unconquerable courage and ingenuity, beautifully emphasizes the artistry and creativity that is inherent in these women who have worked to shape history in whichever way they could. Within the context of our class, this book documents the various ways in which it was African American women who opened the doors into the workforce, who led the way into employment protection and equalization laws and who are finally breaking through the barriers of the past to achieve corporate success. By detailing the ways African American women have always managed to balance their household and other duties, this book demonstrates how this resourcefulness functioned to drive tremendous change in the health and welfare of an entire nation. By focusing on a continuous re-investment in their own communities, African-American women were both establishing their own identities as women within their re-defined and flexible new family structure of the community as well as affecting social and economic change from within when necessary and from without when possible. The ability to sell services and products of their labor on occasion enabled them to win their way to freedom. Their continued involvement in the community gave others strength and courage to keep trying. It was their voices that helped win international sympathy for the Union Army during the Civil War and it was with their support that African American men won the ability to vote. Without African American women brave enough to made a stand for equality among the races, the Civil Rights Movement might not have been as effective. Despite all these and further achievements, however, there are still many hurdles to jump before true equality exists between the white male worker and the African-American female worker. Perhaps the most useful argument within the book is the one contained in the end. Although African American women have had to shift their techniques in recent years to meet the new needs of the community, focusing more on individual accomplishment and advancement, the book indicates that it is important not to forget that the ultimate movement in doing so is to further benefit the community. Even as she climbs the upper reaches of the corporate ladder, the African American female executive should continue to stay focused on the betterment of the community as a means of benefiting not just the African American community of the future, but the national community as well. Because although they were fighting for their own rights and freedoms, it was with the leadership and examples of the African American women that women of other races and cultures throughout America gained those same freedoms. Footnotes 1 “Book Review: A Shining Thread of Hope.” The Journal of American History. Vol. 86, N. 2, September 1999. 2 Brock, Brenda M. “Book Review: A Shining Thread of Hope.” Library Journal. Reed Business Information. New York: University at Buffalo, 1998. 3 “Book Review”, September 1999. 4 Hine, Darlene. “Biosketch.” Department of History. East Lansing, MI: Department of History, Michigan State University, 2005. 5 Ibid 6 Children of the Cloth [book description]. Kathleen Thompson & Hillary MacAusten (Ed.). Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press, 2001. References “Book Review: A Shining Thread of Hope.” The Journal of American History. Vol. 86, N. 2, September 1999. Brock, Brenda M. “Book Review: A Shining Thread of Hope.” Library Journal. Reed Business Information. New York: University at Buffalo, 1998. Children of the Cloth [book description]. Kathleen Thompson & Hillary MacAusten (Ed.). Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press, 2001. Hine, Darlene. “Biosketch.” Department of History. East Lansing, MI: Department of History, Michigan State University, 2005. Read More