Political consciousness and resistance among black antebellum women

The socioeconomic factors that undergirded black women's political consciousness during the antebellum era were northern industrialization, social reform activity, and the emergence of black nationalism in African-American communities. As these factors converged, they stimulated black women's economic activity which, in turn, served as a springboard to black women's political consciousness and resistance. First as community activists and then as abolitionists in both the national and international spheres, black women organized and protested against slavery, racism, sexism, and its attendant ills. This study explores the materials realities that underpinned black women's political development as well as the transformative stages of their political consciousness and activity.