Paper 2 draft

The role of women in American society was in constant flux from 1890 to 1925. As Kathy Peiss observed, the ideal ‘new woman’ was beautiful and fun loving. These ‘new women’ were permitted to work but their primary roles were as wives and mothers. However, some women wanted more freedom and equality prompting them to seek out other representations. During this period the women’s suffrage movement resumed along with civil rights and reconstruction. Often times white American women and black men were seen as the spokespeople for these causes. African American men represented the typical black rights activist because they were the most visible in American society. White American women of middle and upper class were thought to embody the struggle of women’s suffrage. Immigrant women and black women may have been just as committed to social progress but they were often pushed aside to make room for more identifiable representations. Black men represented their causes because of their gender while white women gained appreciation because of their national identity. Not unlike white women, black women were also grappling with ideals of domesticity and newer ideals of independent womanhood. Both black women and immigrant women were more disenfranchised than black men or white American women. Anzia Yezierska wrote Bread Givers to chronicle one immigrant woman’s struggle for equality in New York. Similarly, “The New Negro” by Alain Locke implicates the role of African American women in society. Immigrant and black women were disrespected and marginalized by American culture. In spite of their demeaning significations, some black and immigrant women fought for equality by adopting the ‘new woman’ ideal to include themselves. In the early 20th century Black and immigrant women defied traditional ideals by educating themselves, wearing make up, and by proclaiming their rights to equality.

Black women had an especially difficult time assimilating into the ‘new woman’ ideal because of previous stereotypes. The cultural atmosphere for women is discussed by Kathy Peiss in “Making Faces: The Cosmetics Industry and Cultural Construction of Gender, 1890-1930.” Peiss’s document discusses how the advent and growing popularity of cosmetics led to the unequal standing between women. In particular, Black women were grappling with the dominant white beauty standard; nothing was too white, too lavish, or too much fun for the new woman. The flourishing advertisement industry shows how black women were supposed to attain higher status in America. For instance Peiss says that whites “featured light-skinned, refined looking, women” in their ads geared towards all black women. This choice not only created one standard of black beauty but also taught black women to reject their black heritage. The distinction between light and dark skinned black women represented the difference between the sophisticated and the mammy. Peiss supports this claim when she writes “stylishness and adornment were ideals cultivated by postbellum African Americans, signifying freedom and respectability. Although the issue of personal grooming for Black women centered more around hair care [and] some use of cosmetics.” Black women used skin-bleaching kits to essentially bread out their un-American or African features. This supports the claim that African American women made their presence known in the U.S. by utilizing feminine products more than in the past. The newfound products women used were ways for them to reinforce the roles they established for the new woman.

Black women exemplified the new woman by educating themselves. “The New Negro” by Alain Locke implies that black women shared in the Harlem renaissance with black men.

Not unlike Black women, immigrant women sought to improve their status in America through education, make-up, and assertive behavior.

Black and Immigrant women were all but invisible to the rest of America.