A Study On The Employment Status Of Black Women In The South American In The Late 19^TH Century

African Americans obtained freedom and rights after the enforcement of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1868. Black women played an important role in their families, and some even had to raise their families. Black women sustained their families through solving the employment problems. In the countryside, black women became farm laborers and tenants under the tenancy system; most black women in the city became servants of the white families, and a few middle-class black women engaged in education, medical care. Due to racial discrimination and gender discrimination black women faced in the employment and with the limitation of their own abilities, they achieved limited success in the area of employment. But compared with the situation before the Civil War, Southern black women have made great achievements in the late 19 th century both in the choice of occupation and on wages. The nature of their work shifted radically from working for slaveholders to individuals and families, and they looked for work actively. In order to pursuit the freedom and equal rights, black women launched uphill struggle. They played a crucial role in improving living conditions and developing feminism movement.This paper starting point with a study of Southern black women who were in rural and south employment situation after Civil War analyzes the progress and limitations of the black women made in the area of employment of the Southern United States in the late of 19 th century. And thus we can understand the social status of black women.The paper includes six parts including introduction and conclusion:The introduction points out the significance of this article, the current research status, the main content and the innovative point.The first chapter describes the labor situation of black women during the slavery period. This part clarifies the status of black women during the slavery period by analyzing the labor situation of them in the plantation economy.The second chapter discusses the employment status of the black women in the southern countryside after the Civil War. This part indicates the characteristics of employment and the status of Southern black women in the rural through analyzing the black women employment in the sharecropping.The third chapter discusses the employment status of the black women in the southern cities after the Civil War. In order to clarify the characteristics of employment and the status of urban black women, I analyzed their types and wages of jobs.The fourth chapter analyzes the progress and the limitations the black women made in their employment situation, so we can have a comprehensive understanding of the social status and the employment situation the southern black women faced in the late 19 th century.The conclusion notes that southern black women made limited progress in the employment area for the racial discrimination and gender discrimination. But compared with the situation before the Civil War, they had more freedom to choose occupations and get more pay. Black women play more and more important role in society and their families, and they lay an important foundation in Feminist Movement.