Moving On 2 Chapter 2

Chapter Two is currently collecting mold like an unwanted sandwich in a He-Man lunchbox. I'm exhausted from a long day of tinkering with those encyclopedia articles. Now its time to move on to the important work of finishing Chapter Two. The introductory nature of the chapter makes me feel like I'm behind, and technically, I am behind where I wanted to be at this point in the process. I'm mean its AUGUST for goodness sake. MAY is just around the corner!! I wanted to be into my first major content chapter by now. Sigh.

But fear not, I will be back to work in the morning on the elusive Chapter Two. The goal for Tuesday is to finish that durn section on Black women's politics prior to emancipation. I have a few paragraphs down on enslaved women's resistance/political activities undermining the institution of slavery. I need to finish that and work on the major arguments of Black women's public discourse, particular Phyllis Wheatley's use of poetry, Maria Stewart's adaptation of the jeremiadic tradition and of course, the ever popular Sojourner Truth. I'm trying to decide if I want to also include Sarah Parker Remond, the lesser known sister of Charles Remond. Sarah is an interesting subject because she spoke before high society British audiences about the sexual exploitation of enslaved African women in an effort to sway British sympathy and influence US public policy. Savvy politics in my opinion--not that she was the only Black woman to go abroad to do so--but an interesting case study nonetheless. I just don't want this chapter to get too big so I'm trying to limit in my head the examples I want to use. I could also get into the rhetoric of quilts, black women's literary/anti-slavery groups, Underground Railroad, etc. but that's just too much. I need to stick primarily to forms of "traditional" public address. We'll see if I can manage that later.