What kind of sufferings did African American women go through during slavery?
African American who were slaves were expected to work in the fields alongside the men, and when they finished they would go home and cook and clean and do the washing. often they were also expected to do a certain quota of spinning or weaving before they went to bed. Male slaves were not expected to participate in these activities. In ‘America’s women’ Gail Collins writes: Although field work was hard, many women slaves prefered it to being house slaves, which meant being under the close watch of an exacting mistress. House slaves had no downtime, even their meals had to be grabbed on the run. When white people were in the room, they had to remain standing (A spiritual from the era says “I want to be in heaven sitting down”). Residents of the Big House even expected slaves to sleep at the foot of their beds, in case they wanted something during the night. Angelina Grimke said she knew of a black woman who had been married eleven years “and yet has never been allowed to sleep out of he
