Masculinity And Civilization Gail Bederman Summary
History 110 Term Paper
Chengcong Wu Student Sequence # 146
10/25/2017
A Culture History of Gender and Race in the United States
Introduction
In her book, Manliness & Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the United States, 1880-1917, Gail Bederman argues about how masculinity intertwined with race and gender in the Progressive Era by using civilization narratives. She expressly states her thesis as, “This book will investigate this turn-of- the-century connection between manhood and race. It will argue that, between 1890 and 1917, as white middle- class men actively worked to reinforce male power, their race became a factor which was crucial to their gender.” Her book makes a concerted effort to reveal various cultural, political, biological and anthropological concepts that played a part in the discourse of civilization. This paper will review and analyze the Bederman’s book to explore the explanations given and the methods employed to construct the explanations. …show more content…
The prominence of the idea in the American psyche made it possible for Wells to influence the conversation on lynching and African Americans by labeling the whites as uncivilized for their passive and active support for the lynching of blacks. In response to the oppression and lynching, activism enabled the society to start finding African Americans as civilized, but significant hurdles remained. Similarly, the coverage on Charlotte Perkins Gilman exhibits the challenges that women were also facing as they sought recognition. White feminists argued that white women should be part of civilization (Bederman, 1995). However, a concern that arises in her coverage of the racially-based feminism is that the content is ineffective in advancing her argument on how manliness, race and civilization are related. The coverage only offers unrelated
Chengcong Wu Student Sequence # 146
10/25/2017
A Culture History of Gender and Race in the United States
Introduction
In her book, Manliness & Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the United States, 1880-1917, Gail Bederman argues about how masculinity intertwined with race and gender in the Progressive Era by using civilization narratives. She expressly states her thesis as, “This book will investigate this turn-of- the-century connection between manhood and race. It will argue that, between 1890 and 1917, as white middle- class men actively worked to reinforce male power, their race became a factor which was crucial to their gender.” Her book makes a concerted effort to reveal various cultural, political, biological and anthropological concepts that played a part in the discourse of civilization. This paper will review and analyze the Bederman’s book to explore the explanations given and the methods employed to construct the explanations. …show more content…
The prominence of the idea in the American psyche made it possible for Wells to influence the conversation on lynching and African Americans by labeling the whites as uncivilized for their passive and active support for the lynching of blacks. In response to the oppression and lynching, activism enabled the society to start finding African Americans as civilized, but significant hurdles remained. Similarly, the coverage on Charlotte Perkins Gilman exhibits the challenges that women were also facing as they sought recognition. White feminists argued that white women should be part of civilization (Bederman, 1995). However, a concern that arises in her coverage of the racially-based feminism is that the content is ineffective in advancing her argument on how manliness, race and civilization are related. The coverage only offers unrelated