TY - BOOK AU - Dabel,Jane E. TI - A Respectable Woman: The Public Roles of African American Women in 19th-Century New York SN - 9780814720110 AV - F128.9.N4 D33 2008 U1 - 305.4889607307471 PY - 2008///] CY - New York, NY : PB - New York University Press, KW - African American women KW - Political activity KW - New York (State) KW - New York KW - History KW - 19th century KW - Social conditions KW - Community life KW - Racism KW - Sex role KW - Women's rights KW - HISTORY / United States / 19th Century KW - bisacsh KW - Tells KW - being KW - black KW - century KW - civil KW - despite KW - emerged KW - home KW - leaders KW - nineteenth KW - rights KW - stay KW - story KW - urged KW - who KW - women N1 - restricted access N2 - In the nineteenth century, New York City underwent a tremendous demographic transformation driven by European immigration, the growth of a native-born population, and the expansion of one of the largest African American communities in the North. New York's free blacks were extremely politically active, lobbying for equal rights at home and an end to Southern slavery. As their activism increased, so did discrimination against them, most brutally illustrated by bloody attacks during the 1863 New York City Draft Riots.The struggle for civil rights did not extend to equal gender roles, and black male leaders encouraged women to remain in the domestic sphere, serving as caretakers, moral educators, and nurses to their families and community. Yet as Jane E. Dabel demonstrates, separate spheres were not a reality for New York City's black people, who faced dire poverty, a lopsided sex ratio, racialized violence, and a high mortality rate, all of which conspired to prevent men from gaining respectable employment and political clout. Consequently, many black women came out of the home and into the streets to work, build networks with other women, and fight against racial injustice. A Respectable Woman reveals the varied and powerful lives led by black women, who, despite the exhortations of male reformers, occupied public roles as gender and race reformers UR - https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9780814785188 UR - https://www.degruyter.com/document/cover/isbn/9780814785188/original ER -