With these words, we manifest: 19th century black women's literature as a lens to culture.
详细信息
文摘
It is my assertion that in order for there to be a more complete view of the lives of blacks, as well as the larger society, historians and others looking to illustrate nineteenth century America need to examine a wide array of sources and posit the notion that domestic literature written by black women of this time period can be used as historical texts. I explore how that literature, particularly Pauline Hopkins' Contending Forces, Mary Prince's The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave. Related By Herself, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's Iola Leroy and Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl can be utilized as an exploration for issues pertinent to contemporary youth, such as agency and identity, as a method to introduce students to the era. This work also provides a sound pedagogical theory and a modifiable curriculum to begin this process.