ABSTRACT

In May 1893, the World's Congress of Representative Women (“WCRW”) convened alongside the Chicago World's Fair to commemorate the progress of women since 1492. The speeches of six Black women were recorded in the congress proceedings: Hallie Q. Brown, Anna J. Cooper, Fanny J. Coppin, Sarah J.W. Early, Frances E. W. Harper, and Fannie B. Williams. Invited to report on Black women's progress for a primarily white audience, these women nonetheless used their speeches to advance their own goals by arguing that a proper understanding of Black women's progress requires accurate memories of emancipation and enslavement, as well as a recognition of Black women's agency. They developed these arguments using three rhetorical moves: first, they reframed the commemorative situation by establishing emancipation rather than Columbus's landing as the “zero point”; second, they claimed that Black women's progress in the present could only be understood in relation to accurate accounts of enslavement; third, they centered Black women as the agents of their own progress in the past, present, and future. Reading these speeches together reveals the resonance between nineteenth-century women and twentieth- and twenty-first century Black feminist thought, and it illuminates Black American critiques of white history.

摘要

1893年5月，世界代表妇女大会（WCRW）与芝加哥世界博览会同期举行，以纪念自1492年以来妇女的进步。大会程序中记录了六位黑人妇女的讲话：Hallie Q. Brown，Anna J库珀，范妮·科平，莎拉·J·W·厄尔，弗朗西斯·EW·哈珀和房利美·威廉姆斯。受邀为主要是白人的听众报道黑人妇女的进步，这些妇女仍然通过演讲来实现自己的目标，主张正确理解黑人妇女的进步需要对解放和奴役的准确记忆，以及对黑人妇女的承认。机构。他们用三个修辞手法发展了这些论点：首先，他们通过建立解放而不是哥伦布的思想来重新构筑纪念情境。降落为“零点”；第二，他们声称，黑人妇女在当前的进步只能通过对奴役的准确描述才能理解；第三，他们将黑人妇女作为自己过去，现在和未来进步的推动者。一起阅读这些演讲，揭示了19世纪女性与20世纪和21世纪黑人女性主义思想之间的共鸣，并阐明了美国黑人对白人历史的批评。