The Strength of the Black Woman

In the essay, Going Against the Grain, there is a strong emphasis on the empowerment of the Black woman. Black women have improved as a result of the negative images and stereotypes that we were faced with during slavery. Last semester, I read Angela Davis’s essay entitled, “Reflections on the Black Woman’s Role in the Community of Slaves.” Davis’s ideas were cited in Going Against the Grain. These ideas reinforced the images of Black women as it relates to our history and future. Davis discussed our roles as slaves and emphasized the value of being a Black woman. In the slave community, she notes that the Black woman had a strong influence over her family and the slave master’s family. Although she represented strength and power, she was often exploited and degraded. Davis discussed that female slaves had both male and female roles. Black women were “females” when they were being raped or forced to have more children, and they had "male" mentality when they endured intense struggles. In Davis’s essay, she also notes that because female slaves had “male roles” as the leader of their family, they were not treated as real women like their Caucasian counterparts. As a result, we were dehumanized and the image of the Black woman was tarred.
In effect, Black women were very valuable in slave society, but their value was overlooked. They represented strength, power and intelligence. These attributes were commonly ignored by slave masters and people of power. I strongly believe that these images ultimately helped us become empowered; starting in slavery. During slavery, Black women had a strong desire to become literate, but did not have this opportunity. Going Against the Grain truly emphasized the importance of literacy in the Black community and notes how it started during slavery. Over time, Black women became more aware of education and the importance of being intelligent. We fought the negative images associated with being Black and female. Davis suggested, “they were indeed beaten down, but they were not broken, and they actually managed to accumulate strengths and to re-create themselves under the lash, such that they emerged from slavery more whole than anyone could have expected (4).” Through these dark images, Black women learned to persevere and battle through racism during slavery and today. We continue to improve ourselves through literacy and education.

-Lauren Tripplett