A Respectable Woman : : The Public Roles of African American Women in 19th-Century New York / / Jane E. Dabel.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter New York University Press Backlist eBook-Package 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Dabel, Jane E.,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : New York University Press, , [2008]; ©2008
• Year of Publication: 2008
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

In the nineteenth century, New York City underwent a tremendous demographic transformation driven by European immigration, the growth of a native-born population, and the expansion of one of the largest African American communities in the North. New York's free blacks were extremely politically active, lobbying for equal rights at home and an end to Southern slavery. As their activism increased, so did discrimination against them, most brutally illustrated by bloody attacks during the 1863 New York City Draft Riots.The struggle for civil rights did not extend to equal gender roles, and black male leaders encouraged women to remain in the domestic sphere, serving as caretakers, moral educators, and nurses to their families and community. Yet as Jane E. Dabel demonstrates, separate spheres were not a reality for New York City's black people, who faced dire poverty, a lopsided sex ratio, racialized violence, and a high mortality rate, all of which conspired to prevent men from gaining respectable employment and political clout. Consequently, many black women came out of the home and into the streets to work, build networks with other women, and fight against racial injustice. A Respectable Woman reveals the varied and powerful lives led by black women, who, despite the exhortations of male reformers, occupied public roles as gender and race reformers.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. “I Resided in Said City Ever Since” -- 2. “We Were Not as Particular in the Old Days about Getting Married as They Are Now” -- 3. “I Washed for My Living” -- 4. “Idle Pleasures and Frivolous Amusements” -- 5. “They Turned Me Out of My House” -- 6. “We Should Cultivate Those Powers” -- Conclusion -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the Author