Though it’d a man’s world, women have climbed the totem poll of life bit by bit through the centuries. Even in the realm of creative writing, our favorite female poets are constricted by societal standards which is obvious on these pages. Analyzing the work of Alice Moore Dunbar and Angelina Weld Grimke, led me to the various similarities and critical differences that tell an underlying story behind the poems from both writers.

            Dunbar was a Louisiana native born in the mid 1870’s. During her prime, her poems were featured in magazines and anthologies while she was an active newspaper editor and political activists. I Sit and Sew is the only open in the anthropology written by Alice, but it is telling of her true character. She wastes no time in getting to the point of the poem. In the first line she says, “I sit and sew- a useless task it seems”. She insinuates not only are that women are left to complete meaningless labor but that women themselves are meaningless in the eyes of the patriarchy. She had different plans for her life. Her aspirations did not include needles and string. My favorite two lines of the poem are “Of lesser souls, whose eyes have not seen Death, Nor learned to hold their lives but as a breath”. The symbolism and metaphoric structure of the piece genuinely conveys struggles of a woman during the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. As you read the poem, she becomes more and more passionate and enraged about her circumstances until the final line which reads: “God, must I sit and sew?” The frustration one Dunbar speaks volumes for central atmosphere filled with misogyny.

            The fight for woman equality is a prevalent one, however, the struggles of all woman are not universal. Nobody in American history has caught hell like the black woman. Angelina Weld Grimke was a mullato woman from Boston, who also lived during the same time period as Alice Moore Dunbar. Her father was a distinguished author who specialized in activism for racial equality. She was blessed to graduate from Wellesley College and go on to publish her works in African American magazines and anthologies. Angelina even wrote a play which premiered in Washington DC and moved to New York City. Her poem Fragment is a captivating piece that tells only a ‘fragment’ of how exhausting being a black woman can be. The repetition of particular words in the poem are for two reasons. One being that the lives of black women can become not only repetitive, but they also mirror each other in a number of ways. The second reason being that black woman must be twice as good to receive half the opportunities as white women. “I am living in the cellars and in every crowded place”. African American women are not noticed. Visibly invisible to the average person regarding wealth, jobs, men, education, and opportunities. However, they are still living. They are still walking among us doing all of the above yet not receiving the recognition they deserve. My favorite two lines in the poem are: “I am the laughing woman who’s forgotten how to weep. I am the laughing woman who’s afraid to go to sleep”. These are last two lines of the poem and these are this the only time she refers to herself as a woman and not a black woman. Black woman will always face the problems that white woman face but white woman will not face the same problems black woman face. Grimke says she has forgotten how to weep. Many times, when African American woman express their emotions they are seen as overly sensitive or too aggressive. Which is a stereotype to diminish the feelings of black women and disregard their experience. The last line she says she is afraid to go to sleep. Day in and day out black women are directly and indirectly being poisoned by America. From being forced into food deserts do to gentrification, to medical racism, they are never offered the opportunity to freely chase their dreams without the constant reminder of death lingering in the back of their mind.