African American Lit

Using Jacobs, Wells-Barnett, Hurston, and Walker, discuss black femininity and how it shaped the psychology of African American women.  Analyze the context of black femininity through the cult of true womanhood and projections of the black female body as dictated and described by whites.  Within the “cult of true womanhood,” white women were viewed as pious, pure, delicate, and in need of protection.  African American women were obviously excluded from this idea. Be sure to address whether the enslaved and free African American women accepted and/or resisted the assigned constructions.  Show the measures by which they exhibited their acceptance and/or resistance by using resourceful nformation