Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment

Chapter 3 addresses Black women’s work in the labor market and in family networks. Before slavery, African women combined work and family by raising children while working in the fields and conducting business in markets. Rather than detract from mothering, working on behalf of the family was an integral part of motherhood. Enslavement not only shifted the benefits of Black women’s work to white enslavers, but also changed the nature of this work by stripping women of control over their time, choice of workmates, and the amount and type of work they performed. Slavery shaped gender roles by assigning similar tasks to Black women and men. It also racialized work by relegating Black people to dirty, manual jobs. Slavery forced Black mothers to rely on outsiders to care for their children. Enslavers controlled Black women’s bodies and commodified their fertility to expand their labor force.

Emancipation led to changes in Black women’s labor and family networks. Migrations away from the countryside to Southern cities imposed a new model of community on Black people. Black solidarity grew in response to racial segregation, pervasive racial violence, and the extreme individualism fostered by capitalism. Black men earned low wages, forcing Black women into the workforce.