Newspapers / Bennett College Student Newspaper / Oct. 12, 1984, edition 1 / Page 3
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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1984 THE BENNETT BANNER PAGE THREE “Women, Race & Class” defines dilemma by Penny L. Hill Angela Davis’ Women, Race & Class is a fascinating his tory tracing the plight of women from the 19th century to the present in their at tempt to bring about political, economic and sexual reform. Drawing its strength from historical information and her own ideas, Davis’ book enthralls the reader page after page. Davis, like many others, believes that the women’s movement is in trouble. She supports her idea with the reason that “today’s femin ists are repeating the failures of the women’s movement a hundred years ago.” Davis states that “Once again it [the movement] has been defeated by the same is sues of race and class that split and dissipated it in the nineteenth century.” During the 19th century the middle- class women were fighting for the vote while lower-class women wanted unions. Today, women are still divided by race and class, and thev are still fighting for different rights. Middle-class white women agitate for legalized abortion while lower-class minority women are fighting against forced sterilization. Some things in life may change but one thing is for certain: society will always be divided by race and cla^s. Throughout her book, Dav is reflects on the relationship of women to racism and class. Her brilliant work begins with a look at the female slave. Unlike her white sister, the black woman has had to fight for an extra right, free dom. Disregarding her worth, a shady picture has been painted of the female slave, and therefore of the black woman. According to Davis, the female slave has been characterized as “a house- servant—either a cook, maid or mammy for the children in the big house.” However, she worked the fields and performed manv other laborious jobs which the stereotyped role does not account for. Davis reports that “Those of us who have anxiously awaited a serious study of the black woman during slavery remain, so far, disappointed.” Davis carries the reader through the struggles of women and the extra strug gles of the black woman be cause of racism and class. A case in point is the Woman’s Suffrage Movement which strived for emancipation. Elizabeth Cady Stanton pub licly showed her racist ideas in a letter to the Netv Ycrrk Standard. Davis states, “She was determined, it seems, to prevent further progress for black people, if it meant that white women might not enioy the immediate benefits of that progress.” This makes one stop and think about what kind of society she is living in when a person refuses to move ahead if it means that some one else will also move ahead or even beyond. Davis explores other con cepts as well. She makes her points clear to the reader by quoting such famous people as the Grimke sisters, Lucre- tia Mott, Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass. She captures the reader’s attention from the beginning and holds it to the very end. Davis’ enjoyable, magnificent and, most of all, rewarding work has something that ev ery woman, especially the black woman, can relate to. Therefore, it will be very much worth your while to read and grasp its meaning. “When and Where 1 Enter . . has heart by Christiana Tumaku Paula Giddings’ When and Where I Enter ... is a vivid and splendid history of the impact of black women on race and sex in America. The book gives “heart-throbbing” descriptions about the contin ued struggles and conflicts of the black woman from the days of slavery to the present. This history contains ac curate research about the sig nificant roles various black women played, and are still playing, toward the continued functioning of American so ciety. The active works of re nowned black women includ ing Mary Church Terrell, Ida B. Wells, Mary Ann Shadd Cary and Mary McLeod Be- thune, are featured. These women “labored” for the ad vancement of the black race. This book is divided into three parts. The first part concerns black women “in venting themselves.” The sec ond part describes the discov ering of the “new Negro” woman. The third part details the continuing of the unfin ished revolution by black women. In an attempt to invent themselves, black women had to “confront and redefine morality and assess its rela tionship to ‘true womanhood.’ For the prevailing views of the society had not only de based their image, but had also excluded them from the mainstream of the labor force and continued to make them vulnerable to sexual exploita tion,” Giddings argues. The picture that the black women were trying to por tray was that color, class or the experience of s’avery did not annul the moral strength of true womanhood. The discovery of the “new Negro” woman during and after World War I saw the emergence of Mary McLeod Bethune, the black brain- truster. She was not for once willing to give up the idea of equality for blacks, unlike some other black leaders. Mary Bethune believed that there were advantages to vol untary separation, a philoso phy that helped her reach her goals for providing opportu nities for blacks. Of great importance is the continuing of the unfinished revolution of the black wom an. The young black activists of the ’60s not only had role models but also strong beliefs, poise and self-assurance about what they were doing. Today, the role of the black woman needs to be reap praised because of the con tinued crises in black families described in The Moynihan Revort: “At the heart of the deterioration of the fabric of the Negro society is the de terioration of Negro family. It is the fundamental cause of weakness in the Negro community. Unless the dam age is repaired all the effort to end discrimination, pover ty and injustice will come to little.” The two major ideas that evolve from this excellent piece of writing are that the black woman was able through experience to under stand the relationship be tween sexism and racism and that the black woman rose above the perils of double discrimination. The strength of this book lies in the good bibliography and resource directory used by the author. This is a useful book for every black woman to read. It helps one under stand the approaches various women used in an attempt to clear up the misconceptions and stereotyped beliefs about the “Black Woman.” “Jubilee”: gritty heroine finds freedom by Karen Fisher Margaret Walker’s Jvibilee is a picturesque, emotion- provoking novel recounting the triumphant struggle of an enslaved black woman in gaining her freedom. The book, published in 1966, retells the actual ex periences of the author’s great-grandmother. It also of fers a new perspective on the Civil War period. The protagonist Vyry is the illegitimate daughter of a slave, Hetta, and Master John Morris Dutton. Vyry is de spised and abused by Dut ton’s wife. Big Missy Salina, because of Vyry’s resem blance to Dutton’s daughter Lilian. Working as a house slave, Vyry receives a terrible punishment from Salina: She is hung by her thumbs in a closet. Vyry is a strong-wil'ed woman who, although de feated many times, never quits until she obtains her freedom. She marries an equally strong man, Randall Ware, a free black who owns a blacksmith business and collaborates with abolitionists to free many salves. Ware inspires her to seek her freedom. Characterization is one of Walker’s great strengths. The author never indulges in stereotypes. Master Dutton is compassionate, a quality con sidered weak by his wife and overseer. Salina Dutton is the embodiment of hypocrisy. Considered “a first-class lady” and a perfect Christian, she is a cold-hearted woman who treats her slaves as if they are senseless animals. Mrs. Walker’s novel is also successful because of its straightforward plot and clear, crisp style. The au thor’s words flow smoothly and rhythmically. Walker describes the whip ping of Vyry after she tries to escape from the plantation in this way: “It [the whipl cut the air and her flesh and cried ‘zing’ and Vyry saw stars that were red and black and silver, and there were a thousand of those stars in the midnight sky and her head felt as if it would split open and the whip cut her like a red-hot poke iron or a knife that was razor sharp and cut both ways.” The novel contains many suspenseful events which ac celerate the reader’s heart beat as if she is actually ex periencing the situations. In addition, the plot involves the reader because it forces her to confront and question her self about the rightness and wrongness of the characters’ actions. Then, too, the narra tive brings the reader face-to- face with the cruelties that can exist in life. I enjoyed reading Jubilee immensely. This novel grasped my interest and nev er let it go. I strongly rec ommend it to everyone. % Belles want more from Fritz by Pamela Gary If the election was held today, Walter Mondale would get the Belles’ votes, but not because of their feelings of overwhelming confidence in the Democratic candidate. Support for Mondale is prevalent not because of his personality but because of his party affiliation. Although Mondale’s political experience as vice president qualifies him to seek the presidency, most students do not think that he has the momentum or strength of character to win. Junior S ta c y e Whyte, doesn’t think Mondale is strong enough to defeat Ronald Reagan. “His cam paign is based on trying to put Reagan on the defensive and he fails. He ends up look ing very insecure in his own abilities,” she says. One of Mondale’s major ob stacles is his lukewarm per sonality. Senior Valarie Reid feels that he lacks charisma: “I think Mondale is too pas sive. He needs to be much more outspoken.” Whyte feels that his personality has got ten lost: “His personality could be a definite aid if brought out. I think he has too many aides telHng him how to react to things totally out of his character.” Senior Yvonne Ashley says Mondale needs to be more forceful: “He always. strikes me as being on a tightrope emotionally. It is almost as if he’s afraid of letting the public see who he really is.” Just as students have very clear impressions of what they actually see in Mondale, they also know what they would like to change. Junior Toni Tyra would like to see Mondale develop a stronger alliance with minorities. “He seems to be taking the minor ity support that the Demo crats have traditionally re ceived for granted. He hasn’t taken any tough stands on minority issues yet in his campaign,” she says. Sophomore Aida Bennett agrees. “I would like to see him placed more in the mi nority eye than he is right now. I would like to see him directly address more major concerns of minorities,” she states. Reid feels that Mondale’s choice of a runningmate was too radical a move to make. “I would have chosen Jesse Jackson instead of Geraldine Ferraro because he has more experience on foreign policy. His campaign presented new ideas and he would not have been as controversial a figure as Ferraro has become,” she explains. Even though Mondale has not addressed minority issues to everyone’s satisfaction, he is not viewed as a racist. Whyte believes he has always supported minorities. Junior Constance Blackwell feels Mondale would not be as devastating to blacks as Reagan has been. “Look at what Reagan has done in the past four years. Blacks have not benefited from him unless they were previously wealthy or in the Army,” she claims. Bennett views Mondale as a more positive force for mi norities than the current ad ministration. “Mondale would be a help to blacks because he emphasizes . . .” she says. 937 Best Sellers The U.S. Government Printing Office has put together a new catalog of the Government’s bestselling books. Books like The Space Shuttle at Work, Cutting Energy Costs, Infant Care, National Park Guide and Map, Federal Benefits for Veterans and Depejidents, The Back-Yard Mechxinic, Merchandising Your Job Talents, and Starting a Business. Find out what Government books are all about. Send for your free catalog. New Catalog Post Office Box 37000 Washington, D.C. 20013
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