Emily Tubman and Privilege

As an upper-class white woman in the pre-Civil War South, Emily Tubman automatically had white privilege (whether she was conscious of it or not). What is white privilege, exactly? White privilege is the belief that whites' "lives are morally neutral, normative, average and ideal, so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work that will allow 'them' to to be like 'us'" (McIntosh 3). As an upper class white woman, Emily wouldn't have had as much privilege as her husband, but she definitely had more privilege than the poorer residents of Augusta and the slaves her husband owned. Fortunately, for many citizens of Augusta, Emily Tubman used the resources available to her, because of her privilege, to help others. She established the Tubman School for Girls, housing for the elderly (located on Tubman Home Road), donated money and buildings to "seven churches, founded the John P. King Manufacturing Co., and was the overseer of the Widows House Society" (Staff Reports).

Sources:

McIntosh, Peggy. "White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences Through Work in Women's Studies." Working Paper #189, Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, Wellesley, Massachusetts, (1988).

Staff Reports."Tubman's Philanthropy Helped Many." The Augusta Chronicle. 29 Aug 2010: H18.