View source for 328--Week 2 Questions/Comments

I found it interesting that the concept of a separation between freedom and suffrage that existed during the Post-Civil War period is very well upheld assumption today. --Justin Mattos

The gradual disenfranchisement and barring from political participation of black women seems to be an interesting example of white society's influence on black culture. --Justin Mattos

What were the similarities between the political participation of black women and political participation of the women of immigrant groups and other minorities? --Justin Mattos

I thought it was very interesting in the reading where the author discussed the concept of family being the "unifying thread" that bound African Americans together. She says that "the notion of family members as having a mutual and continuing responsibility to help each other and to prepare for hard times" (pg 125).  Wouldn't that have been true of any family during the reconstruction period, black or white? ~~Mary Beth C

I agree with Justin that it is interesting to see how the African American women were gradually pushed out of the political arena after having been so active and vocal.  I think it is funny how the women would "take sactions" (pg 135),such as abstaining from sexual relations, against men that voted for the Democratic party! ~~ Mary Beth C

The concept that I found most intriguing overall in the reading was the conflicting views of freedom and suffrage being an individual possession versus communal. This led to the different treatment of people who voted against the popular view. To someone who thought individuals were responsible to only themselves they would view hostility against other voters as opposing the libreal democratic process whereas in the African American community, where suffrage was viewed as a collective possesion, it was right to be hostile towards those who threatened the well being of the whole community. -Karly Kovalcik

Although the difference may be slight on paper, there is a huge difference between the African American woman's perspective that her husband votes for her in a way that represents her political beliefs and ideologies versus a white woman's perspective that her husband voted for her without consulting with her because he acted individually in a way that was best for his wife and children. -Karly Kovalcik

After reading the article I made a decision that I had previously I had been flip-flopping between.  I now believe that there needs to be subcategories of the women's history to include at least, but not limiting to, African American Women's history.  The history seems to be so different just from the article we had to read.  Such as, the black women feeling that they were equally part of the vote that the black men casted.  I don't remember ever hearing about that before, at least with white women, but then again I haven't taken a women's history course before either -- Ashley Wilkins

The other thing I found interesting in the article by Elsa Brown was just how the women and men viewed the 'sense of the vote' at first.  Such as the vote casted by the men was equally the women's vote, and how the black republican politicians were able to get (well, it seems like the article was meaning quite a few) many of the black women to reject black male democratic voters.  Also, just the fact the black women to fight to even get to vote in Richmond's First African Baptist Church astounded me with the way the article was talking about community earlier on.  It definitely feels like slowly, but surely, the women were losing the political say they had through their men.  -- Ashley Wilkins

In chapter 8, Brown gives examples of the freed African American trying to regain the importance of ''the family''. The church was impacted by the new seating integration, families lived together in support, and even none relatives were taken into homes that had room in racial solidarity. Single and widowed women lived together, sharing incomes and responsibility over child care. In a way, black women were improving and strengthening the idea of ''the family'' that white society held such virtue in. By living as sisters with none relatives, but former "fellow servants", African American women created an even stronger sense of female solidarity and sisterhood than white women. While many white women of the time looked down on excessive charity (even to single women with children), black women were united. I believe the lacking sense of sisterhood among all white women and failure to unite with African American women hurt them in the struggle for suffrage.--Jackie Reed

The experience of slavery created a need to embrace other African Americans, so it is not surprising that they reached out to the community of African Americans during the Reconstruction Era and beyond.  It was family and a sense of community that held African Americans together.  "Whether one eats or starves in this setting depends on the available resources within the community as a whole."(126)  This essay reminded me of a conversation that I had with a senior African American woman in Georgia, who told me that during the violence of the 1950s communities of African Americans posted neighborhood watches.  According to the story, white males, sometimes intoxicated, would drive through black communities seeking victims.  The men took on the responsibility of protecting the citizens within the community.  This women said that they seldom left the neighborhood due to potential violence, and there was no need to because school, church, and markets were all within the perimeter of the black community.--LisaM

The concept that the freedom and political liberty of U.S. citizens was not synonymous (130) seems a blatent contradition to present day eyes.  As we all know, the black codes in the Reconstruction Era disenfranchised large populations of blacks.  Brown's essay states that black women felt they had a stake in the man's choice in voting.  I recall in Georgia history, the sizeable female black population was considered a threat if allowed to vote; black women were inclined to vote Republican, and the South were Democrats.--LisaM