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Abstract The progression of the woman’s identity incorporates the multifaceted levels of sexism and racism. The Black woman, especially, has suffered and overcame stratification in all settings. This piece intends to further review the progression of the Black woman and to demonstrate how collaborative efforts ignite a sense of identity and evolution. It aims to display the social sanctions placed upon women for centuries and to mitigate the social objectification of women by uplifting the woman as a necessary. This was influenced by When and Where I enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America by Paula Giddings. Discussion A world of crisis notions the ideal concepts of ignorance. In understanding the rational dynamics of history, there lies an instrumental narration that determines the preface of the manifested labels upon the arbitrary of the unknown. Whether it is justifiable to matriculate race and gender in any notion of when and where to enter, it is unreasonable but thoughtless. The essence of existence within the constraints of social constructs derails conditions in which it limits the progression of individual identity. The exclusion of women from the industrial labor force, politics and any realm created a legacy that continued for more than a century and arguably happens today. Men and women have co-existed for centuries; however, within all conditions of existing, men have had advantage and privilege in all circumstances. By the eighteenth century, there existed an incredibly social, legal and racial structure where women became extremely stratified in their roles, specifically, Black women were “chattel”.[1]A white man could impregnate a Black woman with impunity, and out of wedlock. The child is instantly a slave. As a matter of fact, the identity of being black constituted a permanent “labor force and metaphor that were perpetuated through the Black woman’s womb.”[2]The forceful acts upon black women derailed injustices to the children and horrific experiences in which psychologically, and physically tormented the children and black women. Existing requires collaboration, purpose, and results, and with that said, the reality of being a woman in this world, a black woman in America, constitutes a life of living under a certain presumption of struggle and insufficiency in progress. However, the objectivity of self requires an understanding of finding mechanisms to progress your identity. For women, the challenge has been engrained in the structures of their daily existence, inhibiting their navigation and growth into society. Operating laws of capitalism and psychological impacts, consequently created an existence between two subjects to objectify each other to a variation of the same theme. It is not saying that only black women suffered, women, in general, have experienced hardships. However, the black woman was degraded to elevate the white woman. For instance, white women endangered the lives of black women because they were jealous of the attention their husbands gave the black women. By 1643, Blacks were viewed and treated less than human, and it came with the plummeting status of Black women.[3]At the same time, children born to a Black woman, no matter who the father was, would inherit her status – which was rapidly becoming synonymous with that of a slave. A woman’s role in the forthcoming of our modern history illustrates how the subject of the woman is objectified and perceived as being dismissive and inferior, especially the Black woman. Through battle and perseverance, women have demonstrated their right to equal opportunity, and freedom, despite a lack of being appreciated and cultivated into the social well-being. As both race and feminist issues intensified in the 1840s and 1850s, Black and White women began to collaboratively work to abolish the indecencies of racism, and sexism.[4]The dismissiveness of Black women had proven their inherent strengths-both physical and psychological. They had undergone a baptism of fire and emerged intact. Therefore, their convictions concerning the rights of women were deeply rooted in experiences as well a theory. Women such as Sojourner Truth and Frances Ellen Harper constituted similar views on the rights of Blacks and women. In 1866, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Fredrick Douglass founded the American Equals Rights Association. The purpose of the organization was to effectively congregate abolitionists and feminists to advocate and agitate for Black and woman suffrage. Additionally, the impacts of men distributed strength in empowering women because the collaborative efforts stimulated the urgency and need for women to gain their equal treatment and justifiable means of living. To empower and inspire Black women well-being, women saw the status of their men as part and parcel of many of the goals they were trying to achieve. For example, Fannie Barrier Williams, married to a Chicago attorney, once wrote, “Colored women will never be properly known and the best of them appreciated until colored men have become more important in those affairs of life where character and achievements count for more than prejudices and suspicions.”[5]In 1926, Suzanne La Follette said, “The mass of legislation and regulation designed to protect women from the fatigues and hazards of industry would seem…to have been animated more by chivalry than by scientific knowledge; and while chivalry may be all very well in its place, it can hardly be expected to solve the industrial problem of women.”[6]It is transparent that marrying men of achievement became an embraced integral part of women’s determination to fulfill themselves while also expanding upon emotional appeal and attraction. Elizabeth Cady Stanton once said, “Your laws degrade, rather than exalt woman! Your customs cripple, rather than free; your system of taxation is alike ungenerous and unjust.”[7]The coerciveness of women and men premiered progression for an individual’s identity. Rosa Browser wrote in The Women’s Era, “Race progress is the direct outgrowth of individual success in life. The race rises as individuals rise…and individuals rise with the race.” [8]There is no question whether men have had the upper hand in our social well-being for centuries; however, it is vital to assert that collaborative ideologies enhance and mitigate social sanctions. “A man with money can do more for his country, his race and himself than one without this necessary adjunct.” – The Women’s Era. During the 19thand 20thcentury, many of the conflicts were submerged by the larger racial struggle between Black men and women. However, Black men and women worked together effectively to advocate for the issue of woman suffrage. The experience of the Black women in the suffrage movement enlightened several lessons.[9]Additionally, war and politics have influenced the notions of men and women. It is significant to understand the collaborative efforts of men and women, but also essential to grasp that both genders desired to be content in their daily existence. “I hope women will not copy the vices of men. I hope they will not go to war; I wish men would not. I hope they will not be contentious politicians; I am sorry that men are. I hope they will not regard their freedom as a license to do wrong! I am ashamed to acknowledge that men do.”[10] For as long as the ‘race problem’ and gender equality within politics has existed, Black and white women have pursued similar goals with different motives. As we develop, inspire, and manifest our destiny, the confusion of social constructs impedes upon our free thought; however, it is up to the individual determination to find that purpose, that drive, and that will to stir an ability to maneuver and navigate through the nuances of existence. It was once said, “They tell us that women are not fit for politics. This may be true; and as it is next to impossible to change the nature of a woman, why wouldn’t it be a good idea to so change politics that it shall be fit for women.”[11] Conclusion The political climate has been dominated by man; thus, women have had to fight for their space in an institutional setting, in which it demonstrates the past arrangements of society, and the forthcoming of the present society. If the will of the present arrangements of society will not admit a woman’s free development, then it is justifiable and should be validated that society must and needs to be remodeled, and structured to adapt to the great desires and wills of all humanity. The struggle for women has been a century long battle in politics, economics and social well-being. All women have suffered from the injustices of social structural dynamics. Black women have endured a road full of misery, misogyny and agony. It is not to say that they are the only women to have suffered, but looking at the progression of women, Black women have proven to have pride, and power in advocating for their identity. References Paula, G. (1984). When and where I enter: the impact of Black women on race and sex in America. New York, Bantam. [1]When and Where I enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America [2]When and Where I enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America [3]When and Where I enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America [4]When and Where I enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America [5]When and Where I enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America [6]Suzanne La Follette, Concerning Women, 1926 [7]“Address to New York State Constitutional Convention” 1867, History of Woman Suffrage, II, 1882 [8]When and Where I enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America [9]When and Where I enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America [10]Mrs. Elizabeth Jones, Woman’s Rights Convention, 1860, History of Woman Suffrage, I, 1881 [11]Arkansas Ladies Journal, n.d., but after 1868, History of Woman Suffrage, III, 1887
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