Belabored Professions

Narratives of African American Working Womanhood

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Black, Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, African-American Studies, Gender Studies, Women&
Cover of the book Belabored Professions by Xiomara Santamarina, The University of North Carolina Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Xiomara Santamarina ISBN: 9780807877005
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press Publication: May 18, 2006
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press Language: English
Author: Xiomara Santamarina
ISBN: 9780807877005
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication: May 18, 2006
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Language: English

According to nineteenth-century racial uplift ideology, African American women served their race best as reformers and activists, or as "doers of the word." In Belabored Professions, Xiomara Santamarina examines the autobiographies of four women who diverged from that ideal and defended the legitimacy of their self-supporting wage labor.

Santamarina focuses on The Narrative of Sojourner Truth, Eliza Potter's A Hairdresser's Experience in High Life, Harriet Wilson's Our Nig, and Elizabeth Keckley's Behind the Scenes. She argues that beyond black reformers' calls for abolitionist work, these former slaves and freeborn black women wrote about their own overlooked or disparaged work as socially and culturally valuable to the nation. They promoted the status of wage labor as a mark of self-reliance and civic virtue when many viewed African American working women as "drudges." As Santamarina demonstrates, these texts offer modern readers new perspectives on the emergence of the vital African American autobiographical tradition, dramatizing the degree to which black working women participated in and shaped American rhetorics of labor, race, and femininity.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

According to nineteenth-century racial uplift ideology, African American women served their race best as reformers and activists, or as "doers of the word." In Belabored Professions, Xiomara Santamarina examines the autobiographies of four women who diverged from that ideal and defended the legitimacy of their self-supporting wage labor.

Santamarina focuses on The Narrative of Sojourner Truth, Eliza Potter's A Hairdresser's Experience in High Life, Harriet Wilson's Our Nig, and Elizabeth Keckley's Behind the Scenes. She argues that beyond black reformers' calls for abolitionist work, these former slaves and freeborn black women wrote about their own overlooked or disparaged work as socially and culturally valuable to the nation. They promoted the status of wage labor as a mark of self-reliance and civic virtue when many viewed African American working women as "drudges." As Santamarina demonstrates, these texts offer modern readers new perspectives on the emergence of the vital African American autobiographical tradition, dramatizing the degree to which black working women participated in and shaped American rhetorics of labor, race, and femininity.

More books from The University of North Carolina Press

Cover of the book Land Reform in China and North Vietnam by Xiomara Santamarina
Cover of the book The Quest for Citizenship by Xiomara Santamarina
Cover of the book Building a Housewife's Paradise by Xiomara Santamarina
Cover of the book Hot Peppers by Xiomara Santamarina
Cover of the book Writing the American Classics by Xiomara Santamarina
Cover of the book Soldiering in the Army of Tennessee by Xiomara Santamarina
Cover of the book Persons of Color and Religious at the Same Time by Xiomara Santamarina
Cover of the book On the Temper of the Times: Jack Bass by Xiomara Santamarina
Cover of the book America Is the Prison by Xiomara Santamarina
Cover of the book Laws Harsh As Tigers by Xiomara Santamarina
Cover of the book Carolina Cradle by Xiomara Santamarina
Cover of the book Latino City by Xiomara Santamarina
Cover of the book America's Secret War against Bolshevism by Xiomara Santamarina
Cover of the book Workers' Control in Latin America, 1930-1979 by Xiomara Santamarina
Cover of the book Crossroads of the Natural World by Xiomara Santamarina
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy