Conclusion

This is my conclusion post for this project. In my previous posts we have looked at Emily Tubman’s life through feminist lenses and examined how her life coincided or fulfilled the feminist terms we learned in Module 1 of this course: social construction of gender, privilege, heteronormativity, intersectionality, patriarchy, refusing to take the path of least resistance, and sexism. Emily Tubman worked within the patriarchal system (the founders of NOW would be proud) to enrich the lives of her fellow Augustans. She also worked against the patriarchal, legal and social systems of the early to mid-nineteenth century, when she fulfilled the mission of the colonization movement and freed all 144 of her slaves, granting them freedom in Africa or freedom in Georgia (the Redstockings and women of color groups would be proud of her). Emily Tubman was alive during the suffragist movement’s days of infancy. As an educated woman, she was probably aware of Stanton’s “Declaration of the Sentiments” and the Seneca Falls Convention through newspaper accounts. When Augustans learn about Emily Tubman, they probably don’t associate her with feminism, but her actions point towards the root cause of feminism: equality for all. 

                                             Emily's tree, located in the courtyard of the First Christian Church, Augusta, Georgia.

Emily Tubman and Sexism

                                                          Memorial plaque at the Emily Tubman monument

I saved the hardest post for last... When most Americans think of sexism they think of the "traditional sexism, where men are viewed as more legitimate than women" (Serano 1). (While taking my Into to Women's Studies course, I have learned there are multiple definitions and dimensions to sexism.) Did Emily Tubman experience sexism in her lifetime? While there is no documented proof that she did, sexism interlocks with patriarchy, privilege and classism, so there's a high probability that she did experience sexism at some point in her life. 

Sources: 
Serano, Julia. "Trans Feminism: There's No Conundrum About It." [Weblog entry.] Ms. 18 Apr 2012. 2 June 2014. <http://msmagazine.com/blog/2012/04/18/trans-feminism-theres-no-conundrum-about-it/>
 

Emily Tubman and Refusing to Take the Path of Least Resistance

                                              A closeup of the engraved script on the Emily Tubman monument
I have mentioned in previous posts that Richard and Emily Tubman owned slaves. The American Colonization Society and the ensuing "colonization movement" was formed in the early 1800s in an effort to return freed slaves to West Africa. After Richard Tubman's death in 1836, Emily Tubman freed all of her 144 slaves. Accounts about why she freed them differ. An Augusta Chronicle article from 1985 hints that Mrs. Tubman freed her slaves after becoming part of the Augusta branch of the colonization movement. A 1989 article from The Augusta Chronicle states that Emily carried out a stipulation of husband Richard's will by freeing their 144 slaves and allowing them to stay in Augusta or go to Liberia" (Sosnin). Whatever the background reason, returning slaves to Africa was against Georgia law, so Emily's action were risky and illegal but taking a stand against slavery was the right thing to do.

Sources:
Simmons, John D. "Emily Tubman was 'Queen of Industry,' Philanthropist." The Augusta Chronicle. 9 Jun 1985, 25. 
Sosnin, Betty. "Georgia, Augusta Supported Slavery." The Augusta Chronicle. 5 Feb 1989, 9C.

Emily Tubman and Patriarchy

Emily and Richard Tubman were part of the patriarchal system of plantation slavery. Allan Johnson, in his article, "Patriarchy, the System," defines patriarchy as "an arrangement of shared understandings and relationships that connect people to one another and something larger than themselves" (79). In the South, this "something" was slavery. Slavery fulfilled the definition of patriarchy in many ways: it was "male-dominated, male-identified, male-centered" and had the "core value of control and domination" (Johnson 84). Emily's participation in this system was beyond her control and so was her expected gender roles (wife, philanthropist, church attendee) in this system. In my next post, we will see how Emily defied the patriarchal system.

Sources:

Johnson, Allan. "Patriarchy, the System: An It, Not a He, a Them, or an Us." Chapter 4. The Gender Knot. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 1997. 75-92.

Emily Tubman and Intersectionality

Every person is a complex and multifaceted individual. Intersectionality is "the intersection of multiple social identity structures and is this subject to social advantages and disadvantages" (Gopaldas 91). The facets of identity that make up intersectionality in a person's life are: ethnic identity, ability, sports team, family, career, racial, identity, national origin, major, sexual identity, height, sex, class, age, gender identity, relational identity, religion/spirituality, sexual expression, body size (Drews 4). When we apply intersectionality theory to Emily Tubman, we can see the following facets of her identity: Caucasian, upper-class, Christian, American, heterosexual, widow, and philanthropist.
A person is not just their marital statues, job, gender or sexual identity, but a blending of all facets of his or her personality and life experiences. Emily Tubman was no exception to this; we tend to think about historical figures as flat or two-dimensional; we forget that people of the past were subject to intersectionality as well.

Sources:

Drews, Dr. Marie. "Intersectionality." Introduction to Women's Studies course. 21 May 2014. 24 May 2014. <https://lms.gru.edu/d2l/le/content/187802/viewContent/521130/View?ou=187802>

Gopaldas, Ahir. "Intersectionality 101." Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 32 (2013); 90-94.

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.

Emily Tubman and Social Construction of Gender

Social construction of gender begins with "an assignment to a sex category on the basis of what the genitalia look like at birth" (Lorber 277). Once gender is assigned, expectations regarding behavior, dress, language use, and even jobs will follow that person for the rest of his or her life. "Gender is so pervasive in our society we assume it is bred into our genes" (Lorber 276) but gender is actually made up by society and perpetuated by individuals in that society.
How does social construction of gender tie in to Emily Tubman's life? Emily Tubman lived in 19th century America and would have been subject to and a product of American society's expectations of gender. As a female,  Emily would have had gender roles ascribed to her at birth and ascribed to her due to her high social position.

Since the Tubmans were part of upper-class, Augustan society, Emily was expected and limited to certain "ladylike" activities , such as charity and church work. Emily participated in the gendered role of wife and was also instrumental in the work of several churches in the Augusta area.




The pictures in this blog are of First Christian Church, of which Emily Tubman was a prominent member. The church was originally called the Disciples of Christ and was the beneficiary of donations from Emily Tubman. The church building is located on the corner of 7th and Greene Streets in Augusta, Georgia, across the street from the Emily Tubman monument.


Sources:

Lorber, Judith. "The Social Construction of Gender." Inequality Reader: Contemporary & Foundational Readings in Race, Class, & Gender. Comp. David Grusky and Szonja Szelenvi. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2006. 276-283.

Emily Tubman and Heteronormativity

                                            Source: Augusta Herald
Hetero-what? If you're like me, you had to look at that word carefully. Before taking the Intro to Women's Studies course, I had never heard words such as, heteronormativity, intersectionality, or cisgender. Reading for fun is how I spend most of my leisure time, so it's rare to come across a word I have never heard of before.
Heteronormativity is the "assumption and expectation of heterosexuality... as a natural and biologically necessary for procreation" (Martin and Kazyak 316). And what are the requirements of heteronormativity? "Being married, monogamous, procreative... and intraracial" (Martin and Kazyak 317). Did Emily Tubman fulfill the "requirements" of heteronormativity? Yes and no. She married Richard Tubman on June 25, 1818. (The image above is their wedding announcement from The Augusta Herald.) Was she monogamous? Since there is no record of marriage infidelity, we can assume she and Richard were involved in a happy, monogamous relationship. Was she procreative? No. Richard Tubman died in 1836 and their marriage had produced no children. Was the marriage intraracial? Yes, both Richard Tubman and Emily Harvie Thomas were Caucasians.
Heteronormativity was the "norm" in the mid-nineteenth century (Emily's time) and is still considered normal behavior in our culture but that is slowly changing with greater acceptance of out-of wedlock relationships, common-law marriages, same sex marriages and greater awareness of the gender spectrum.

Sources:
The Augusta Herald. June 30, 1818.

Martin, Karin A. and Emily Kazyak. "Hetero-Romantic Love and Heterosexiness in Children's G-Rated Films." Gender and Society. 23.3 (2009): 315-336.

Introductions, please...

                                                        Image Source: New Georgia Encyclopedia


This blog is part of my Social Location Project for my Introduction to Women's Studies course that I am taking this semester. For this project, I had to choose a location that represents some feminist key terms we learned in the first week of class: social construction of gender, privilege, heteronormativity, intersectionality, patriarchy, refusing to take the path of least resistance, and sexism. I chose Emily Tubman's monument in Augusta, Georgia as my social location. Emily Tubman lived in Augusta, Georgia during the 1800s and is still looked on fondly for her philanthropic work and her connections to Liberia (more on that in a later post!). She has become somewhat of a heroine to me and I'm always interested in historical tidbits of my adopted hometown, and if the tidbit includes women's history than it's even more of a bonus.

The Emily Tubman monument is located on the corners of 7th and Greene Streets in downtown Augusta, Georgia:

                                                      Image Source: Author's photo

The monument is simple and elegant was erected on Emily's 200th birthday: March 21, 1994.

"Emily Tubman was born Emily Harvie Thomas on March 21, 1794, in Ashland, Va. Her family moved to Kentucky, and as a young woman Mrs. Tubman traveled to Augusta" (Varian). I will be briefly discussing Emily's accomplishments and how they tie into feminist theory in later posts.

Sources: 

New Georgia Encyclopedia. Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press. 2014. 3 June 2014 <http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/file/11682>

 Varian, Bill. "Monument to Honor- Emily Tubman's Life." The Augusta Chronicle 13 Mar 1994: C1.