Alice Walker

"You just can't keep a good woman down."

Harriet Jacobs, Frances E. W. Harper, and Anna Julia Cooper are three African American female writers who have greatly impacted the progress of "black womanhood." Through their works, they have successfully dispelled the myths created about black women. These myths include two major ideas, the first being that all African American women are perceived as more promiscuous than the average white woman. The second myth is that black women are virtually useless, containing only the capabilities of working in white homes and raising white children. These myths caused these women to be degraded in the eyes of others as well as themselves. In Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harper's Iola Leroy, and Cooper's A Voice From the South, womanhood is defined in ways that have destroyed these myths. As seen through these literary works, womanhood is defined according to one's sexuality, spirituality, beauty, identity, relationships, and motherhood.

Harriet Jacobs was born in 1813 into a slave family. Her father, a carpenter, was highly skilled in his trade. For the first few years of her life, Jacobs lived a happy, normal childhood. She was fortunate enough to live in the same household as her parents and her younger brother, William. When she turned six, her mother passed away, leaving her under the care of her grandmother. In her narrative, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet describes her life as a southern slave, calling herself Linda. She discusses the abuse she endured during servitude and how she managed to overcome it.

After twenty-seven years of servitude, Jacobs escapes to a life of freedom. She spent the rest of her days working as a reformer, a Civil War and Reconstruction relief worker, and an antislavery activist. She began her career by working among black refugees. In 1863, she and her daughter moved to Alexandria, where they supplied emergency relief, organized primary medical care, and established the Jacob's Free-school for the refugees. This school supplied education by African American teachers. After the war, they sailed to England and successfully raised money for a home for Savannah's black orphans and aged individuals. Upon moving to Washington, DC, she continued to work among the destitute freed people while her daughter worked in the newly established "colored schools." In 1896, she was involved in organizing the National Association of Colored Women.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a true account of Jacobs' life. In her preface, she assures us that it is not a fictional narrative and all the events, however incredible, are strictly true. The narrative begins with her background information, it is then that we learned that her mother passed away, leaving her behind when she was still very young. Six years later her kind mistress sickens and dies as well. After this sad occurrence, Linda is sent to work at the home of Dr. Flint, her late mistress' relative. This transition is the gateway to the hell of her enslavement. Dr. Flint harasses her for years; he wants more than just a master/slave relationship, he wants a sexual one as well. His wife is aware of his feelings towards Linda and treats her cruelly because of that. Her jealous attitude is conveyed throughout the story. Linda becomes involved with another man, Mr. Sands, to escape from Dr. Flint. Mr. Sands is a wealthy, prominent figure in her community, who is also attracted to her. He expresses his feelings towards her in many ways. When they first met, he promises to free her from the ball and chains of slavery. Linda has two children, Benjamin and Ellen, with Mr. Sands. This greatly angers Dr. Flint causing him to send her away to work on a plantation. Eventually, Linda hides out in a tiny crawl space in her grandmother's home for seven years when she is finally given the chance to escape. After twenty-seven miserable years, she ends up in the north with her children.

Jacobs defines true black womanhood through images portrayed in her narrative. She makes many references to God and Christianity, one example occurs when Mr. Sands leaves her son Benjamin up North. When Linda hears of this news, she immediately rejoices, "I knelt down and thanked [God] from my heart, that one of my family was saved from the grasp of slavery" (Jacobs 455). In another instance, when she reaches the north, she finds a woman to work for who was quite kind and generous, and again she gives all thanks to the Lord: "the heavenly Father had been most merciful to me in leading me to this place" (Jacobs 485). In both scenarios, she puts aside all thoughts and immediately gives thanks. The importance of Christianity in her life and her strong faith are shown throughout the entire narrative, and is tied to the definition of black womanhood.

Another manner in which Jacobs portrays the image of true black womanhood is through her pure and moral attitude. Her grandmother was her conscience, the only role model she has in her life. Every step that Linda takes she does cautiously, not wanting to disappoint her grandmother. When she becomes pregnant with her first child, she dreads telling her grandmother: "I knew I was the greatest comfort of her old age, and that it was a source of pride to her that I not degraded myself, like most of the slaves. I wanted to confess to her that I was no longer worthy of her love; but I could not utter the dreaded words" (Jacobs 386). In addition to teaching Linda's moral values, her grandmother is also her best friend. Jacobs loves and cherishes her grandmother and never wants to inflict pain upon her. Her grandmother at one point becomes very ill, and the thought of her dying upsets Linda, "the idea of losing her, who had always been my best friend and mother to my children, was the sorest trial I yet had. O, how I earnestly prayed she might recover!" (Jacobs 445). Jacobs, in addition, does not give any details about her encounters with Mr. Sands. She wants us to believe that she is an honest and pure woman. She does not want to conform to the stereotype that was given to African American women. Jacobs was not promiscuous, and she let her readers know that. In her narrative, Harriet makes it evident that she is pure, and her grandmother is her source of purity, morals, and values.

Jacobs helps to define true black womanhood throughout her narrative by her role as a mother. Jacobs bears two children by Mr. Sands, and she loves her children more than life itself. She never wants to inflict pain upon them; Jacobs wants more than anything for them to be free. She would rather have them die than see them be sold into slavery, "when my babe was born, they said it was premature. It weighed only four pounds; but God let it live. I heard the doctor say I could not survive till morning. I had often prayed for death, but now I did not want to die, unless my child would die too" (Jacobs 392). She describes her love for her children often throughout the narrative. She makes clear her desire to just flee, but she refuses to leave them behind. Finally, one day, after careful planning, she manages to escape, but hates herself for leaving her children behind. During the seven years she is hiding, she often thinks about talking to them and imagines reaching out to hold them, but knows that is impossible. On her first Christmas away from her children, she spends weeks busying herself by making new garments for them. She wants so badly to let them know she made the gifts and that she is miserable without them, "how I longed to tell them that their mother made those garments, and that many a tear fell on them while [I] worked!" (Jacobs 441). Jacobs tries to show her audience that she is a good mother with values and morals as true black womanhood demands of a woman.

There is light beyond the darkness,
Joy beyond the present pain;
There is hope in God's great justice
And the Negro's rising brain.
Though the morning seems to linger
O-er the hill-tops far away,
Yet the shadows bear the promise
Of a brighter coming day.
-(Harper,Iola Leroy,212)

Frances Harper was born on September 24, 1825, to free black parents. About her upbringing, Frances Harper wrote, "Oh, is it not a privilege, if you are sisterless and lonely, to be a sister to the human race, and to place your heart where it may throb close to downtrodden humanity." In 1854, the Maine Antislavery Society hired Harper, a radical and strong abolitionist, to lead boycotts and solicit donations for the Underground Railroad. She proved to be a leader in her fight to combat sexism. Following the abolition of slavery, she encouraged women to achieve high and meaningful goals. All of her personal stands and beliefs were evident in her writing. She spoke to people in the south and displayed her dedication to suffrage, women's education, and the welfare and elevation of newly freed African American women. As the organizer for the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the National Association for Colored Women, Harper held a national reputation. She was very concerned with the impact slavery had on women. She dedicated her life to the uplift of African American women. All of her attitudes about her people are seen throughout her novel Iola Leroy.

Harper's book, Iola Leroy, displays many images of womanhood. These images are seen on three major planes, one of beauty, the other of motherhood, and the final is that of identifying with her race. Marie is a biracial slave who has a fair complexion. She lives on Eugene Leroy's plantation. Leroy falls in love with his slave and decides to wed her. He promises to provide for her, take her out of bondage and to care for his children. Marie resists his persuasion for some time until she decides to marry Leroy. They have three children and all the while their true racial identity is kept a secret. Marie and Eugene talk about other white men who don't consider their children legitimate if produced by a black woman. Of this, Marie says, "He [Henri Augustine, a slaveholder] wronged their mother by imposing upon her the burdens and cares of maternity without the rights and privileges of a wife. He made her crown of motherhood a circle of shame. Under other circumstances she might have been an honored wife and happy mother" (Harper 60). Harper tries to display the importance of being a wife as well as a mother. Both of these roles are very important in defining a lady's "womanhood." Black women should not be the property of white slaveholders for them to do as their owners please. Through this, Harper expresses the importance of autonomy.

Another image of womanhood which is portrayed is one of beauty. In Harper's novel, beauty is viewed not by the color of one's skin, but for one's personality and intelligence. Harper writes that Iola "stood up before [Dr. Gresham] in the calm loveliness of her ripened womanhood, radiant in beauty and gifted in intellect" (161). Iola Leroy's beauty is counterbalanced by Lucille's; Iola is a fair skinned black woman who could pass for white, whereas Lucille is a dark skinned woman with all negro features. Harper describes the importance of both images. Therefore, a black woman is a black woman no matter what she looks like; her beauty comes from the inside.

The final image of womanhood seen in Iola Leroy is one of identity, which is a major issue throughout the novel. In the beginning, Marie hides the true racial identity of her children. Because of the fairness of her skin, they pass for white. When Iola realizes her true heritage, she embodies it fully. She can never imagine the idea of passing for a white woman again. Dr. Gresham is a white doctor who expresses his love for Iola. When she informs him that she is black he reassures her that it must be kept a secret. His prejudice turns Iola away from him because she was not going to deny her true identity anymore. Iola says, "I do not choose my lot in life, but I have no other alternative than to accept it" (Harper 87). In her mind, her identity is much more valuable than a relationship with a well-off man.

Born on August 10, 1858, Anna Julia Cooper was a prominent educator, writer, scholar, feminist, Pan-Africanist and activist of her time. She was the daughter of a slave named Hannah Stanley. At the age of nine, Cooper received a scholarship to St. Augustine's Normal School (now St. Augustine's College) where she studied the history of ancient Greece and Rome. This was the beginning of her career in education. After attending St. Augustine's for fourteen years, she eventually started teaching at the institution. She also married a fellow teacher by the name of George A.C. Cooper who died two years later in 1879. In 1881, she entered Oberlin College where she was awarded a master's degree in mathematics. She taught modern languages at Wilberforce University for a short period after her graduation then returned to St. Augustine's in 1885 to teach math, Latin, and German. In 1887, she accepted a teaching position in Washington, DC at the Preparatory High School for Colored Youth (renamed Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in 1916). She was also the principal from 1902 until 1906 at that same school. At the age of sixty-six, she was the first known African American woman to earn her Ph.D. from the University of Paris, and the fourth in the world. Cooper died on February 27, 1964 in Washington, DC

Throughout her life, Cooper was a strong advocate for women's rights and racial equality and pride. Often called the "Mother Of Black Feminism," her life had a great impact on the progress of black womanhood. She was a vital element in the organization of the Colored Woman's League of Washington, DC and had an active role in the women's suffrage movement. Her concern for women's rights were a product of her own experiences throughout life and the discouragement she received from others throughout her pursuit of education. One of her most prominent works, A Voice from the South, which was written in 1892, discusses black women's education, social roles and responsibilities, and relationships.

Cooper believed that the education of black women is the key to uplifting our society. In her essay, she pleads with the teachers of the time who claim an interest in the race. She asks of us to "give the [black] girls a chance...Let us insist then on special encouragement for the education of our women and special care in their training. Let our girls feel that we expect more of them than that they merely look pretty and appear well in society" (Cooper,Voice, 78). Cooper wanted young girls to be praised for their ambition just like the boys were and not be pushed away from their dreams of higher education. She says that when she expressed her desire to attend college, it was unapproved of, but when a boy showed interest (insincere, shallow interest) he was given tremendous approval and support.

Cooper, in the essay "Womanhood a Vital Element in the Regeneration and Progress of a Race", wrote "Only the BLACK WOMAN can say when and where I enter, in the quiet, undisputed dignity of my womanhood, without violence and without suing or special patronage, then and there the whole Negro race enters with me"(Cooper 31). This shows her view of the social role and responsibility of the black woman. She believes that the black race is a collection of individual families that need to grow from within. She uses the Turks as an example of how important the woman's role is to life. They have their great men and brilliant minds, but "these minds were not the normal outgrowth of a healthy trunk... The homelife is impure"(Cooper 11). This proves that progress begins with the mother's role in raising her children. She says that the black woman must take on this "Herculean task" (Cooper 28) and start working.

Cooper shows her desire for the positive image of black womanhood by how she discusses the relationship of the race. In society, she hopes that man will have respect for women. Her goal is that they will have a "reverence for woman as woman regardless of rank, wealth or culture"(Cooper 14). She also says that after years of degradation and oppression, every black man and woman should let go of selfish aims and "not fear leaning to lend a hand to a fallen or falling sister"(Cooper 32). She believes that the response of every woman should be "I am my Sister's Keeper!"

Through their literary pieces, Harper, Jacobs, and Cooper have successfully dispelled the negative images of black women. Their works are powerful and positive displays of the strength black women have mentally as well as physically. Their involvement in various Women's Groups has also helped to create a better image for black women. Throughout their lives, they have shown that whatever obstacles a good black woman may face, you can never keep her down!

Harper, Frances. Iola Leroy. New York: Penguin Books, 1992.

Hutchinson, Louise Daniel. Anna J. Cooper, A Voice From the South. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981.

Jacobs, Harriet. "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl." The Classic Slave Narratives. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. New York: Penguin Books, 1987. 333-513.

Pellow, David W. H. "Anna Julia Cooper." Notable Black American Women. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1992. P. 218-224.