From my standpoint as a caregiver for children, I believe that the “possessed” girls were simply playing a game. Children have a tendency to repeat information that they hear from the adults in their lives, and that information somewhat colors the way that they play together. Consider the religious climate of Salem; Puritans followed a very strict religious code. Positive events were viewed as blessings from God, while misfortune was seen as punishment for their wrongdoings. Additionally, Puritans deeply feared the Devil, a figure they believed to be physically real, and witchcraft.…
In this book, 2 women accused 9 African American teenage boys of raping them on a train. Their sentences ranged from imprisonment to the death penalty. The young men eventually won their case only after one of the women professed to selling sex to young men on the train. Ida’s main claim is that very often, white women enjoy the company of black men just as many white men enjoyed the company of young black women. However, most of the time, the “shame” that these women experience either from the surrounding community, or from society itself for their attraction forces them to make claims of rape or to leave their communities altogether.…
I blame the American History section of my local library for instilling in me a fear of Caucasian women. Go ahead, pick up Robert A. Gibson's "The Negro Holocaust: Lynching and Race Riots in the United States,1880–1950". After reading how the rhetoric surrounding lynchings frequently suggested they were to protect the virtue and safety of white women, you'd be scared too! I am not even going to mention Lisa Lindquist Dorr's White Women, Rape, and the Power of Race in Virginia, 1900-1960. It doesn't stop there....…
Therefore, when summoned into the homes of white people, he associates with the sexual and intelligent overindulgences of white females, a character that was forbidden in the white community and perceived as a…
Nevertheless, a more critical reader might find that this characterization is at odds with the author’s earlier depiction of “whites”, especially as he addresses America’s racial history in page 134. In said section, Rodriguez is unafraid to assert that racial segmentation was born in whites’ insistence to uphold notions such as the “one-drop theory”, which determined that anyone and everyone within a spectrum of color would be labeled “black” (134 ). By this point, readers might be confused by Rodriguez’s seemingly contradictory descriptions on the matter of “white innocence”. Knowing this, a conscientious reader can make better sense of Rodriguez’s poetic account of “white innocence” if he interprets it to be a stylistic device whose goal is to underscore the cynicism behind the author’s…
By Irene’s strict standards, Clare’s promiscuity is not representative of proper conduct for middle-class black women. Jenkins notes that while Clare exhibits such behavior when “passing” as white, “it is precisely her affiliation with ‘blackness’ which makes her behavior threatening” (149). Clare’s sexual availability to both black and white men only plays upon the stereotype that black women are promiscuous and ultimately discredits her race. By living as freely as she does, Clare Kendry dares to violate the black moral codes upheld by Irene, insulting herself and the race. Clare’s “passing” allows her to experience, with ease, the middle-class success that Irene has worked so hard to attain.…
Throughout history, minority groups such as women and blacks have often been treated as “monstrous” outcasts. In The Wonders of the Invisible World, Cotton Mather’s account of the Salem witch trials, women are depicted as witches. In Coleman’s In the Beginning there was White Zombie, we see that first-hand accounts of Haitian culture written by a white man created the image of the zombie. When studying these accounts, we notice that when depicting minorities as monsters, the oppressor seems to feel a need to cite "reliable" sources and enhance the credibility of his ideas and experiences.…
Black women have been oversexualized throughout their existence. Since black women were taken from their homeland of African and brought to this country of America, there has been a constant oppression of black women through the stereotypes that have been created. Stereotypes with different meanings and connotations have been designed to explain and justify the behavior of black women. This ideology of oversexulization falls under the stereotype of the “Jezebel complex” which is the modern-day equivalent of a “freak” currently in today’s society. In Salvage the Bones, Esch’s character portrays characterization portray the Jezebel stereotype among black women and her “situationship” with Manny displays this phenomenon of black girls searching for intimacy through sex.…
In the novel “Sula” by Toni Morrison, allows us to see the life and relationships of two similar yet very contrasted African American women living in Medallion, Ohio in the early twentieth century. Readers saw a glimpse of the obstacles the two main characters Sula and Nel and the women around them went through. Morrison took us through affairs, murders, friendships, and betrayal. Reoccurring themes throughout this novel include loyalty, pride, friendship, and betrayal. Sula lives with her grandmother Eva, mother Hannah, her uncle Plum, and 3 adopted little boys.…
Hunting Witch Hunters In the Crucible by Arthur Miller, the author implies that there are multiple reasons that Danforth, Hathorne, and the other authorities choose to believe Abigail and the other girls, Rather than choosing to believe more respectable townspeople like Proctor and Giles. The Crucible is a story of mass hysteria in the town of Salem Massachusetts in the 1690s, where many people are accused of being witches, and many were even hanged for the accusations. The reason for Danforth and others choosing to believe the girls over Procter and other elders changes throughout the story, from the hysteria taking hold of the town at the beginning, to the simple reasoning that they couldn’t believe that these little girls would go as far…
The perception that these images establish of African American women should be eradicated. She claims that these images, validate and provide excuses for social problems such as racism, poverty, and discrimination. An example that makes her argument stronger includes the jezebel. This image justifies a white master’s rape. Because of the jezebel’s hypersexuality, the white master is seen as a victim for being “seduced”.…
Witch-hunting in Early Modern Europe The infamous witch hunting which took place in Early Modern Europe is a fascinating and recently contested event of significance to New Zealanders. From around the time of the mid-15th century to that of the 17th, the European continent was plagued by what is now known to be ‘The Great Witch Craze’. Many were put to trial under the belief that they had been practising Satanic rituals that did not align with conventional Christianity. Now, as historians look back to the witch hunts, there is much horror in reflecting on the torture and numerous deaths that ensued from successful prosecution, as the witch trials became a leading event in Early Modern European history.…
The white women that appear in the novel represent the taboo of…
Meanwhile in reality, if one receives the title of a lady, it doesn’t mean that they have earned a spot in the white society, it only enforces the fact that a colored women has to try harder to be ‘white’ and only to continue to be the ‘other’. Black women have enough of a battle when it comes to the stereotypes that white society labels them with. A black women is usually associated with being sexually active, too sexy, pregnant and not married, exotic, loud and the list goes on and on. Harris used Beyonce and Eryah Badu as examples of respectable and not respectable. Badu had children outside of marriage with several fathers which was immediately deemed as a ‘ho’ which made her a example of a bad example of respectability.…
“Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.” ~Rosa Parks. The roots of racism have passed down through generations because parents force their children to follow racial traditions in order for them to continue those norms for future generations.…