Muungano Usiyotarajiwa Hapo Miaka ya 1830s

Angela Y. Davis: An unexpected 1830s alliance

[Scroll down for the English]

KISWAHILI

“Wakati wa miaka ya 1830 [huko Marekani] wanawake wazungu—wote wake wa nyumbani na wafanyakazi—walivutwa kikamilifu katika vuguvugu la ukomeshaji [dhidi biashara ya watumwa]. Ilhali wanawake wa kinu [cha nguo] walichangia pesa kutoka kwa mishahara yao midogo na kupanga mabaraza ili kukusanya fedha zaidi, wanawake wa tabaka la kati wakawa wachochezi na waandaaji katika kampeni ya kupinga utumwa.

"Kufikia 1833, wakati Jumuiya ya Kupambana na Utumwa ya Kike ya Philadelphia ilianza baada ya mkutano wa mwanzilishi wa Jumuiya ya Kupambana na Utumwa ya Marekani, wanawake weupe wa kutosha walikuwa wakidhihirisha mitazamo yao ya huruma kuelekea kisa cha watu Weusi kuwa imeweka dhamana ya msingi baina ya makundi mawili yaliyodhulumiwa [wakati huo]…muungano hodari kati ya mapambano yaliyoanzishwa ya Ukombozi wa Weusi na mapigano ya kiinitete kwa ajili ya haki za wanawake [uliwezekana].”

- Angela Y. Davis, mwanaharakati wa kisiasa, profesa, na mwandishi

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

“During the 1830s [in the U.S.] white women—both housewives and workers—were actively drawn into the abolitionist [anti-slavery] movement. While [textile] mill women contributed money from their meager wages and organized bazaars to raise further funds, the middle-class women became agitators and organizers in the anti-slavery campaign.

“By 1833, when the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society was born in the wake of the founding convention of the American Anti-Slavery Society, enough white women were manifesting their sympathetic attitudes toward the Black people’s cause to have established the basis for a bond between the two oppressed groups [at that time]….a powerful alliance between the established struggle for Black Liberation and the embryonic battle for women’s rights [was possible].”

- Angela Y. Davis is a political activist, professor, and author

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KISWAHILI: Asante na tutaonana tena,

Mmerikani

ENGLISH TRANSLATION: Thank you and may we see each other again,

Mmerikani

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Chanzo (source): Davis, Angela Y. Women, Race & Class. New York: Vintage Books, 1981, page 25.