Title: Women in Chains
First published: November 1999
Description: "Using writers such as Harriet Wilson, Frances E. W. Harper, Pauline Hopkins, Toni Morrison, Sherley Anne Williams, and Gayl Jones, the author highlights recurring themes and the various responses of black women writers to the issues of race and gender. Time and again these writers link slavery with motherhood - their depictions of black womanhood are tied to the effects of slavery and represented through the black mother.

Patton shows that both the image others have of black women as well as black women's own self image is framed and influenced by the history of slavery. This history would have us believe that female slaves were mere breeders and not mothers. However, Patton uses the mother figure as a tool to create an intriguing interdisciplinary literary analysis."--BOOK JACKET.
Subjects: History and criticism, American fiction, African Americans in literature, African American families in literature, Women and literature, African American women, Intellectual life, Motherhood in literature, African American women in literature, Women authors, Mother and child in literature, African American authors, Slavery in literature, History, American literature, african american authors, history and criticism, American literature, Roman américain, Auteurs noirs américains, Histoire et critique, Femmes et littérature, Histoire, Familles noires américaines dans la littérature, Noires américaines dans la littérature, Mère et enfant dans la littérature, Noirs américains dans la littérature, Maternité dans la littérature, Esclavage dans la littérature, Écrits de femmes américains, Noires américaines, Vie intellectuelle, LITERARY CRITICISM, American, General
Places: United States
Time periods: 20th century
LC classification: PS374.N4 P38 2000