The legacy of race and class structure can be seen in access to education, health, jobs, and more. Race and class can intersect and compound discrimination by the mere fact that racism affects the distribution of wealth and other resources, leading to social stratification.
A novel set in 1980s Mississippi. Wade in the Water, generations of racism in two different families, black and white, in the unlikely friendship story that develops between Ella, an abused and precocious 11-year-old girl, and Katherine St. James, a mysterious white man. examines the legacy of a Princeton University graduate research student. Catherine’s arrival on the black side of a town still racially divided raises suspicion, but the two embark on a friendship that drowns out the outside world… keeping secrets and a complicated past.
Here are some other diverse fictional stories that tackle the effects of racial and class injustice, told from a female perspective.
henna artist by Alka Joshi
henna artist is a touching and beautifully written story of two sisters, 13-year-old Radha and 30-year-old Lakshmi. Radha, often called “Bad Luck Girl” in her rural community, goes in search of her long-lost sister Lakshmi after the death of her parents. Lakshmi escaped her marriage and has been out of this world for 13 years and now has a relatively steady job as a henna artist in the city of Jaipur. She is saving up to buy her house and dreams of inviting her parents to live with her. Her unexpected arrival of her Radha has consequences that change her life even though Lakshmi has to take on her responsibility and challenge of taking care of Radha. The novel explores aspects of caste, feminism, class, and cultural expectations, capturing the complexities of sisterhood, rural and urban life in India, the intrigues of the wealthy classes, and the beauty of henna.
liberté Kaitlyn Greenwich
liberté Set in post-Civil War Brooklyn, during a time in American history when there were both slaves and free blacks. ‘s much darker daughter Liberty’s life. As a child, Liberty longed for her brilliant yet elusive mother, who wanted to be just like her, but found herself cracking at the pedestal she set herself on. As she grows up, so does the distance between her and her mother. Her one such rift is that Liberte doesn’t admire the compromises her mother had to make to achieve her success. Her mother is blinded by the fact that medicine is not Liberty’s calling and pressures Liberty to follow her into this field. But the word liberté, which means freedom, takes on a new meaning in this book. Not only freedom from my mother’s expectations, but also the freedom to choose a different path than my mother’s, without compromising what it means to be black and truly black. freedom.
yellow wife Sadeka Johnson
yellow wife The story is told through the eyes of Phoebe Brown, a biracial girl born to a white plantation owner and a black slave. Pheby is taught to read, write and play the piano, and lives a relatively privileged life. But she wants to be free, and she is waiting for her father, who has promised her that he will set her free when she turns 18. The author reveals the plantation’s complex hierarchy and the harsh reality slaves face, and what Phoebe will do to protect her children. Pheby is a fictional character inspired by Mary Lumpkin, the enslaved concubine of her Robert Lumpkin, a white slave owner who was heavily involved in slavery.
night watchman Louise Eldrich
night watchman Set in a Native American reservation in North Dakota, it follows the lives of several characters. Thomas (whose character embodies the author’s grandfather) works as a night watchman and Turtle on his Mountain. He is engaged in a battle with Congress to free Chippewa. The retelling of this aspect of Chippewa’s history also incorporates the fictional story of the life of 19-year-old Patrice. Her goal for Patrice is to get off her reservation to look for her sister Vera, who left her home many years before her. Against the backdrop of the difficult life on the reservation, the complexities of his Native American culture and beliefs, the lure of alcohol, and the hope for something better, the author presents a persuasion about the land and his struggle with loss of self. Weaving a powerful story. come.
secret between us Umrigar the Thrifty
secret between us (Continued from space between us) Bhima, a slum-dwelling Dalit servant who works for a wealthy Mumbai family, has no job and must find a way to feed herself and her 17-year-old granddaughter Maya. Another Dalit protagonist of the novel, Parvati sleeps in her doorway and sells fruits that have seen better days to make enough food each day. She gets a glimpse into the life of the wealthy half through her former employer’s daughter and her new lifeline Bhima’s new employer. Despite occasional help from her new employer, Bhima fails to achieve her ends and decides to go into business with Parvati selling in Mumbai’s market. The novel exposes the desperation behind poverty and explores the plight of India’s unruly castes and lower classes.
memphis Tara M. Stringfellow
memphis It follows the lives of 10-year-old Joanne, her sister, and her mother, weaving a story that empowers three generations of black women through tragedy, poverty, grief, domestic violence, and injustice. The story progresses through time, from her family fleeing to Memphis to escape her abusive father to living in a new city. As we work through her 70-year arc of the story, we see key points in history such as the civil rights movement and her 9/11, and begin to understand what underlies black women’s strength and resilience. It’s a story of heartache, choice, perseverance, pain, and ultimately strength and resilience, told through a haunting voice.
invention of wings sue monk kidd
invention of wings Set in the early 1800s, it follows the lives of Sarah Grimkle and the slave girl Handful who becomes her personal maid for decades. Learn about resistance. Hetty boldly and cunningly betrays her slave master, and Sarah grows with her innate sense that slavery is wrong. The novel follows both girls’ growing pains, their complicated relationship, and ultimately, how they blossom into who they were meant to be. For Sarah, this meant becoming one of her early abolitionists and an advocate for the women’s rights movement, and for Handful, this meant becoming an important part of the slave resistance movement. To do. This is a story about helpless people and their journey to all forms of empowerment and ultimately freedom. It’s also a reimagined story about the real Sarah Grimkle, who spoke with her sister Angela to lawmakers against slavery as a member of the American Slave Society.
