Colonial Women
In order to fully understand and analyze a period of time, a full examination of people's everyday life is quite necessary. Although inferior to men, the roles and status of women in eighteenth century colonial America, contributed to the prospering society. The role of the family and extended kinship ties in the lives of African Americans is seen as a unifying and supporting force in times of suffering. The role and status of an eighteenth century colonial woman was clearly an overlooked responsibility. She was required to be her husband's assistant, "not his equal", but an inferior. She was expected to show her husband "reverence" and be "Submissive to his demands". If a woman did not live up to these duties, there were often severe consequences to follow. For example, 128 men were tried for abusing their wives between 1630 and 1699. As one might expect, countless other cases never made as far as court. Women "for the most part, keep at home and seldom appear in the streets, never
Since slaves spent their whole lives in complete bondage, they resorted and depended on their family as a source of comfort and control. Slavery was a painful reality, which the African American men and women wished to escape. "Planters' records reveal how members of extended-kin groups provided support, assistance and comfort to each other." In addition to the hard work in the fields, slaves were often beaten in front of the faces of their relatives, which added more to the excruciating pain. They often protested the harsh treatment of those people in their family. Families of slaves often live on plantations for generations, which leads to the development of the strongest extended kinship ties. "If a nuclear family is broken up by sale, other relatives could help with child rearing and similar tasks". The significance of these kinship ties is best displayed during this sort of occurrence. The role of the family offered the little hope and unity that slaves had. Although colonial women had a distin
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Approximate Word count = 686
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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