Paper Example on History of Mary Prince

Introduction

Mary Prince is a black slave woman who was born in Brackish bond in Bermuda. Both her parents were also slaves and she led a slavery life from a young age. At age 11, she was sold to a brutal mistress who treated her with all manner of illness. She was overworked, and whenever she made a simple mistake, she could be beaten to death. Once her fellow slave died due to the brutal beatings during her pregnancy died, all her chores were bestowed upon Mary Prince; the duties included milking eleven cows daily every morning and before sunrise, sitting among the damp weeds taking care of the cattle and the children. One day when she accidentally broke the water jar, the mistress stripped her naked and flogged her with a cows skin until she could no longer do it ("Mary Prince. The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave. Related by Herself. With a Supplement by the Editor. To Which Is Added, the Narrative of Asa-Asa, a Captured African"). The experiences of Mary Prince portray the barbaric nature of gender stereotypes existing in the society and which are severely directed towards the black women; however, Black women have rebelled and fought back against these forms of sexual oppression and regained their dignity through black women feminism movements ("Mary Prince. The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave. Related by Herself. With a Supplement by the Editor. To Which Is Added, the Narrative of Asa-Asa, a Captured African").

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Women suffer under the male chauvinists who always treat them as objects rather than people with equal potentials as men. Mary Prince was sold from one master to another after the current one felt that they had had enough of her. The masters mistreated her including working all day and night irrespective of whether she was sick or well., sometimes she could be hired to go work by his masters and all the pay given to them. Other times, his old master would strip himself naked and ask her to wash him. Mary prince has endured slavery all her life, in 1928, she went to the anti-slavery society to help her and grant her freedom to reunite with her husband, but all that was in vain. She lived a poverty-stricken life after her services were no longer needed that she could even borrow food.

Families were broken up bizarrely, for instance, Mary princes family, they were all sold off to different masters. Their parents had not ownership for them. After their children were sold off to slavery, they could return home without anything, empty-handed. The women returned home depressed and full of sorrow as they had nothing to do about it. The female slaves were abused sexually and physically by their male masters. They had no one to help them, so the masters controlled them as they wished. Severe beatings coupled with sexual abuse were their daily routine. For instance, about the story of the slave girl, his old master had treated her so cruel and swore by the heavens and the earth that he will make sure that she submit to her. He was always around her, even when she went out to get a taste of fresh air the old man's shadow will always be there with her, during the times she went to mourn on her mothers grave and everywhere the old man could follow her. As much as the other slaves knew much about what was going on, they would do nothing as punished would be imposed on them as well ("Mary Prince. The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave. Related by Herself. With a Supplement by the Editor. To Which Is Added, the Narrative of Asa-Asa, a Captured African").

Female subjectivity has been defined by men rather than the females themselves. As a result, films made by African women and men are attempting to rehumanize portrayals of women and to reassert their identities. However, there are a couple of challenges as the self-definition and self-presentation of women was severely distorted. New social and political awareness are involved in accomplishing these goals. The hegemony of colonialist ideologies and Hollywood domination has had a major effect on the portrait of complex ethnic and cultural questions. Question about cultural differences has been neglected by a dominant cinema and cinema practitioners thus discouraging the accurate and dominant black identity. As a result, some critics have risen as African women seen in international cinema today as-as a media creation (Robin 129). The efforts of black cultural producers to forge a distinct identity and implement a positive representation have been in vain. Throughout the history of filmmaking, filmmakers have resentfully attempted to force the psychic transformation of Afrocentric traditions, values and roles exemplified by the western cultures (Robin 129). Other African male directors such as Sembene have delighted woman's involvement with the independence movement and the resistance to colonial aggression. For instance, Sarracenia the queen becomes heroic by using her manoeuvring tactics to substantiate her role as a commander in a war unlike in western movies which they could have used their beautiful bodies to display that.

Faces of women have been used to postulate the notions of feminism and feminists. Some filmmakers have interpreted the nude sequence as a feminist squeal or phallocentric construction in which the woman's body no longer holds the significant male desire since the social and cultural implications bounce against the two genders. In the ''In silence all seasons'' film, the song appears melancholic. The mood and the song reflect the vast cultural and political problem the filmmaker's experience. The song lyrics keep reverberating in the viewer's mind, not only serving as a woman's experience but also as one that invites the audience to share the sorrow. It is rejuvenating to see that black females, who were once a doubly marginalised group, take control in an exceptional manner, eloquently confronting the silence that has eclipsed their lives. In most movies filmed, women and children have been portrayed as the ones who easily die due to malnutrition.

Lack of female leadership in most companies and workplace has had its major implication on how the black woman is viewed at the workplace. One of these major causes is that women work is highly judged along with other intangible elements. This included embracing a dominant culture with the coworkers and for instance, switching to a more authentic self when around friends and family. Being judged about you work versus your mentality performance, one gets a second guess about themselves, and that affects the overall confidence and the way you perform your duties. It is outrageous trying to live a professional life created to strife rather than support diversity. A black woman offered a job at the Obama White House passes it on, the reason being she felt inhibited by the stereotypes, she was judged because of her race, gender and everything. Her ideas also were judged, and she felt different than the other white guys ("How Black Women Describe Navigating Race and Gender in the Workplace").

Secondly, black women are tied to other people of colour. For instance, in a cooperate company, you can meet five people utmost, out of this five, four are white from a generational rich family. For the black person, one person is living in poverty or has below high school education, that's the experience of most black people, in general, being tied to other people of colour who are poor. This gives a brief statistics about race in black women who have to go to work daily. Black women who have had a chance to live in corporate America are not immune to such hardships facing their counterparts. This forced separation between hardship facing the black community and the lack of access ss to lack of white collar jobs can be mentally taxing and make it hard to perform well at the workplace (Hooks 120).

Gloria Steinem, a black woman who has led the feminist movement of the 60's and 70's before the Massachusetts women's conference about the ''Me too movement and the importance of defining sexual harassment''.Black women and women of colour have actively fought for the rights and livelihoods of women for more than two centuries ("Africans in America/Part 4/Harriet Jacob's Autobiography"), yet their stories and contributions are often sidelined in the mainstream narrative of the feminist movement. The efforts of these women to fight management abuses and racial and sexual abuses in the workplace have affected the lives of many black women at the workplace. Women of substance have fought hard to ensure that this kind of slavery id sone away with, for instance, Sojourner Truth, who was born into slavery, was the first woman to articulate the divide between black and white womanhood in America. Her Speech,''Aint I a Woman'' which is one of the most famous women's rights speeches ever told. She states that she has had to do carriages, or over mud puddles, her arm has been able to plough and plant, gather into barns and no man has been able to help her. Secondly, Mississippi's first labour union, a group of newly freed black women who worked as laundresses in Jackson. Together, the women sent a resolution to the then, MayorD.N Barrows that demanded a uniform rate for their labour ("Africans in America/Part 4/Harriet Jacob's Autobiography"). This inspired other freedmen to write their resolutions petitioning for fair wages all in a place where white planters and politicians were trying to re-enslave them through notorious black codes legislation. Lucy Parsons is believed to have been born into slavery though much of her documentary is unavailable.

The Atlanta Washerwomen strike whose main agenda was to lobby for higher wages and better working conditions including greater control over how their work was organised. This included higher pay, respect and autonomy over their work and established a uniform rate at 1 U.S dollar per wash. After over three weeks of striking there, demands were met. Ida B Wells was a ballot and fought for women's rights. Like many feminists, her advocacy was met with open racism from white feminists. During the women's Suffrage Parade in Washington, D.c, white organizers demanded that black women march at the back of the demonstration. When Wells was informed about the idea, she refused unless she should match under the Illinois banner. Luisa Moreno, a Guatemalan, travelled throughout the South of California to call attention to the poor working conditions in sweatshops, canneries and agricultural fields. She also brought awareness to the abuse of Latina workers in these industries. These are among the many other women who fought against slavery ("Africans in America/Part 4/Harriet Jacob's Autobiography").

Conclusion

The story of Mary prince gives us an insight into how dreadful it was for the female slaves and slaves at large and the hostility created by gender stereotypes against black women. They wished for death at the expense of these undesirable experiences. However, women have risen and come up with ways in which they can fight against this form of ill-treatment.IT has so far been fruitful, but the struggle is still on to ensure that women get to their right space in the society. Therefore, women should be supported in all ways that are specific to being a woman of colour. So that even if they are an alone team, they realize they are not alone at all.

Works Cite

"Africans in America/Part 4/Harriet Jacob's Autobiography." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2924t.html.

"How Black Women Describe Navigating Race and Gender in the Workplace." Harvard Business Review, 26 Mar. 2018, hbr.org/2018/03/how-black-women-describe-navigating-race-and-gender-in-the-workplace.

"Mary Prince. The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave. Related by Herself. With a Supplement by the Editor. To Which Is Added, the Narrative of Asa-Asa, a...