'New Raiments of Self': African American Clothing in the Antebellum South (Dress, Body, Culture)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.72 (510 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1859731899 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 320 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-09-13 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Helen Bradley Foster is a Lecturer,at the University of Minnesota.
"Definite Book on Antebellum African American Clothing" according to R. Riley. Bradley Foster uses primary sources to illutrate the clothing of the African American antebellum community. A must read for anyone who is interested in the social structure of the South.
The volume is crafted in lucid prose that is a joy to read.” African Studies Review & Newsletter. “(A) fascinating analysis of dress, body and culture. It is a brilliantly structured text, with extensive utilization of quotations to give agency to subjects
In short, it represents a vital contribution to African American studies, as well as to dress and textile history, and cultural and folklore studies.. This book examines the clothing worn by African Americans in the southern United States during the thirty years before the American Civil War. Drawing on a wide range of sources, most notably oral narratives recorded in the 1930s, this rich account shows that African Americans demonstrated a thorough knowledge of the role clothing played in demarcating age, sex, status, work, recreation, as well as special secular and sacred events. Previous work on clothing in this period has tended to focus on white viewpoints, and as a consequence the dress worn by the enslaved has generally been seen as a static standard imposed by white overlords. Testimonies offer proof of African Americans' vast technical skills in producing cloth and clothing, which served both as a fundamental reflection of the peoples' Afrocentric craftsmanship and aesthetic sensibilities, and as a reaction to their particular place in American society. This excellent st