For a white woman, her oppression greatly took place in the domestic and social sphere; her husband was head of the household and she was under complete control by all social and domestic standards. Black women undoubtedly faced unimaginable hardships but oddly enough, their source of oppression was not in the home, it was in the fields; it was in absolutely all other areas of life, but the home may have been a source of freedom and the only place they could explore and experience themselves as actual human beings (Davis, 40).

Among white men and women during this period in America, there are clear hierarchies and status that one may fall into or inherently have. In contrast, what made enslaved people so alike, regardless of sex, was solely their color.

Black women were completely stripped of their femininity; they were seen as genderless and as chattel (Davis, 10). The disregard for their gender was highlighted in two ways according to Angela Davis: women were expected to do the exact same amount of labor out in the fields as men and they were subject to just as harsh of a punishment if their daily quotas were not met (Davis, 13). While enslaved women were hardly “women” by the system of slavery, black men in turn held no special supremacy rank just for being male. All enslaved people were kept very equal regardless of age and sex out of fear for disruption to the owner’s relationship to his slaves.

Slavery did not occur without resistance and the occasional rebellion amongst enslaved men and women. According to Angela Davis, black women resisted sexual assaults from white men, participated in work stoppages, committed acts of sabotage such as poisoning their masters, and fled to the north for a chance of freedom (45-6).

The astounding story of Harriet Jacobs references a less common form of escape but an escape nonetheless. It is empowering to know that as humans, even if something so awful is all we have ever known, we innately know it is wrong and we know there are better days waiting for us. Those better days are all enslaved people could hang on to.

While we have made great strides in the direction away from such an atrocity as slavery, it has left its’ mark on America. One of the most evident forms of our country’s history of racism is our prison system. Dating back to when the 13^th amendment was written, a loophole for slavery was made. The constitutional amendment made it so slavery and involuntary servitude were illegal except for as punishment for crimes (13^th). This disproportionately affected the African American population. The documentary, 13^th, asserts that the incarceration boom for minor crimes after the civil war is what has led this country to the myth of “black criminality”. The “war on drugs”, as the Nixon administration called it, led to continued incarceration on an even larger scale that targeted blacks (13^th). As a nation, I don’t believe we have recovered from those ideas constructed decades ago. We are continuously heading in the right direction, while far from perfect. We still face challenges of police brutality and prejudice towards black criminality today though. We finally have people in positions of power who recognize this country’s history of oppression and that is the first step for anyone.

Repaying the people whose ancestors were victims of slavery in this country seems like the noble and right thing to do. We stole land from indigenous American people (on top of countless other heinous acts) and the country grants reparations in the form of sovereignty of land or simply being heard sometimes. While I do not think monetary forms of reparations for African Americans in this country will ever be realistic, I think education can make a profound impact. I hope for a thorough education on racial history in America in public schools in the years to come. Even when I was in grade school, we were not taught the extent in which Indigenous people and African Americans suffered throughout our country’s history; I feel as though I haven’t gotten a comprehensive grasp on things until just the last few years. That must change because not everyone goes to college to further their education; many people in the south are already under-educated in their grade school years. I would love to see education reform in this country; I would love to see American history be taught for what it really was. As children and young adults gain the necessary education, they can spread that knowledge to parents and grandparents. Even after watching the documentary, 13^th, I immediately told my mom she must watch it and she did. Little thing like that can propagate through a community or a family. It starts with the people, and the people can make the difference!