African American Women Have Suffered From Psychological...

For years, African American Women have suffered from psychological and physical oppression. During Enslavement, Black women were treated worse than men. They had no control over their bodies and were used as tools for the white slave owners’ enjoyment. Submission was expected, and therefore any form of resistance would have led to a series of whippings. Unfortunately, the abuse was not only received from the slave masters, but from the mistresses as well. Filled with envy, they would verbally and physically attack the female slaves and made it their goal to break them down mentally. Even after the abolition of slavery, black women still struggled to maintain their well-being. Jim Crow Laws prevented them from gaining any form of†¦show more content†¦Female slaves were subjected to cruel punishments, and rape. They were forced to remain intellectually inferior and bear their master’s children to increase the labor for the plantation. While enslaved, Jacobs endur ed many cruelties. She had to protect herself from her master s sexual advances and her mistress’s abuse. (Jacobs 30). Having faith as well as the values she received from her grandmother was indeed helpful in keeping her sane. However, that is sometimes not enough when your well-being is constantly threatened. The slave owners demoralized the female slaves and essentially turned them into tools. This as a result torn these women both physically and mentally. Not being able to control their bodies was devastating, but the fact that these enslaved women had no say over their own creation made things even worse. This is exemplified in Harriot Jacobs’s Narrative and Frances E.W Harper’s poem the â€Å"The Slave Mother†, for both reveal the pain of either having your child taken away from you and sold to another plantation far away; or in Jacobs case, not being able to touch your children despite them being so close. In the poem, Harper states â€Å"He is not hers, although she bore/for him a mother’s pains; /He is not hers, although her blood? /is coursing through his veins!† (17-20). Enslaved women were deprived of the ability to raise their own