In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries imprisoned black women faced wrenching forms of gendered racial terror and heinous structures of economic exploitation. Subjugated as convict laborers and forced to serve additional time as domestic workers before they were allowed their freedom; black women faced a pitiless system of violence; terror; and debasement. Drawing upon black feminist criticism and a diverse array of archival materials; Sarah Haley uncovers imprisoned women's brutalization in local; county; and state convict labor systems; while also illuminating the prisoners' acts of resistance and sabotage; challenging ideologies of racial capitalism and patriarchy and offering alternative conceptions of social and political life.A landmark history of black women's imprisonment in the South; this book recovers stories of the captivity and punishment of black women to demonstrate how the system of incarceration was crucial to organizing the logics of gender and race; and constructing Jim Crow modernity.
#931476 in Books 2014-09-15Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.75 x 6.75 x 1.25l; .0 #File Name: 1469617773320 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Four StarsBy Dennis F. MillerShould be read by everyone.28 of 29 people found the following review helpful. Good study of the memory of Sherman's MarchBy WabashAdamThis book focuses on memories of Sherman's March rather the March itself. It is an academic study more interested in social history rather than military history; and the author is very up front about this. Rubin's goal is to "unpack the many myths and legends that have grown up around the March; using them as a lens into the ways that Americans' thoughts about the Civil War have changed over time." She is less interested in historicity than the memories themselves and how they evolved amongst different social groups - former bummers; African Americans; Confederates; and the Southern survivors.The book's chapters focus on the different social groups she studies; with the exception of the first chapter; which is a very cursory summary of the March. Rubin shows how impressions of Sherman; his army; and the destruction associated with the March changed from group to group as well as over time. For example; Sherman was not hated by some Southern proponents of the New South in the immediate aftermath of the War since they saw his "urban renewal efforts" as allowing for the birth of the New South. However; a backlash against the New South put Sherman in a less favorable light later. Additionally; former slaves sometimes saw him as a savior figure for freeing them while at other times they remembered how he often left them behind to fend for themselves with angry slave owners and Confederates (not to mention the Ebenezer Creek incident). Rubin takes her study of memory to the recent past; discussing Gone with the Wind; the Civil Rights movement; and Confederates in the Attic. Throughout her study; Rubin unearths interested gems that remind you that perceptions of the Civil War have often changed - especially in the South.The major weakness of the book is that it aims for breadth rather than depth. Rubin attempts to bring to light so many examples that she fails to make the most of her material. Many of the subsections are only two or three pages in length. For instance; her discussion of the controversy at the Bentonville battlefield concerning a proposed Union monument is fascinating; but she devoted only a page (generously defined) to it. The same is true about the Civil Rights movement; where she tells about Sherman's March was going to be referenced in a speech at the March on Washington. She relates the story in two pages. This is unfortunate; since there are so many interesting stories in Rubin's book that cry for further unpacking by the author.All that said; as long as you know what you are getting - an academic study of the memory of the Civil War - you won't be disappointed by this book.1 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Four StarsBy Bob .P.Mostly a Southern view of W.T. Sherman's march.
