Solidarity Threatened: Destruction of the Black Family in African American Literature
Solidarity Threatened Destruction of the Black Family in African American Literature During the time of American chattel slavery, the sales of enslaved Black people to other landowners often resulted in the physical separation of families, due in part to physical distance and in part to the lack of freedom of movement enslaved people enjoyed. This tendency of the institution of slavery to separate families appears well-documented in African American literature about the slavery and post-slavery eras, such as through the separation of a wife and husband in Charles W. Chestnutt’s“The Wife of His Youth.” The physical separation of families would have for the most part ended after the abolition of slavery in 1865; however, other works continue throughout the course of African American literature to depict an emotional splintering of the Black family under the pressure of enslavement, economic disadvantage, and double consciousness – all conditions resulting from white American society’s ex...