POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND RESISTANCE AMONG BLACK ANTEBELLUM WOMEN

The socioeconomic factors that undergirded black women's political con sciousness during the antebellum era were northern industrialization, social reform activity, and the emergence of black nationalism in Afri can-American communities. As these factors converged, they stimulated black women's economic activity which, in turn, served as a springboar d to black women's political consciousness and resistance. First as co mmunity activists and then as abolitionists in both the national and i nternational spheres, black women organized and protested against slav ery, racism, sexism, and its attendant ills. This study explores the m aterial realities that under-pinned black women's political developmen t as well as the transformative stages of their political consciousnes s and activity.