For your first paper please choose one of the following two topics. Your paper should be 2-3 pages in length, typed, double-spaced, 12 point font. No outside sources. I prefer a Word Doc, but Google Doc or PDF is also fine. The document must be made editable by me.
1. We have discussed the “Cult of True Womanhood (Domesticity)” in class. Please describe how the social pressure to follow the four virtues of womanhood (Piety, Purity, Submission, and Domesticity) placed an additional burden on enslaved women. Detail how the slave women who effectively resisted reconciled that resistance with the virtues.
2. We have spoken in class about the intended audience for Harriet Jacobs’ slave narrative. Who was she writing to? How did she try to persuade that group that her story was authentic? How did she try to convince them to support the abolitionist movement?
Book:
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs
