library of female pirates: villains of all nations

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atlantic pirates, atlantic slave trade, book review, caribbean pirates, labor, library of female pirates, marcus rediker, pirates, rebellion, villains of all nations

Marcus Rediker’s Villains of All Nations dedicates a chapter to female pirates. Though his account of Read & Bonny covers familiar factual ground, Rediker adds his thoughts on gender roles of the day, and their relation to the pirate way of life. He writes of other women at sea, for comparison, and analyzes how artwork depicting a female pirate in the frontspiece of Johnson’s General History may have influenced the painting Liberty Leading the People.

On the subject of the Atlantic pirates in general, Rediker examines the working conditions of sailors in those days, and how piracy was a rebellion of oppressed laborers. Rediker is no stranger to the horrors suffered on ships back then. I studied his book on the Atlantic slave trade, and he painted a grim picture of life at sea for not only the captured slaves but for the sailors hired to transport them. Villains of All Nations briefly touches on this slave trade and how the 1720s crackdown on piracy was influenced by pressure to keep slave trade routes open and profitable.

Rediker’s narrative clearly sympathizes with the Atlantic pirates for liberating themselves from intolerable working conditions, and he openly criticizes government campaigns of propaganda and public hangings used to deter piracy. He details the code of collective self-government pirate crews adopted, but he does not unilaterally glamorize them. He does not shy away from their cruelties, nor their increasingly unconscionable violence as the crackdown turned against them.

But in giving a clear picture of the harsh living conditions which compelled them to rise up and resist captains and empires, to form their own multi-ethnic and independent societies, Rediker provides a unique insight into the decision to go “on the account” and become a “man of fortune” in the 1700s. The book is scholarly but never boring, and much of it could be read as the makings of a manifesto in an age where millions of laborers continue to suffer in oppressive conditions around the world.

The Atlantic pirates may not have been the romantic heroes portrayed in theater and fiction, but many of the justifications for their rebellion echo ideas we now consider noble or even take for granted: self-determination, reasonable working conditions, respect for diversity, and a voice in our governments.

 Villains of All Nations is available on Amazon.

Nine to Five: Country Music and American Women in the Workforce

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9 to 5, country music, Dolly Parton, labor, women, workforce

Nine to Five:
Country Music and American Women in the Workforce

Dolly Parton’s 1980 composition 9 to 5 rose to number one on Billboard’s Country Chart in January, 1981. A month later, it reached number one on the Adult Contemporary Chart and Billboard’s Hot 100. This crossover hit, bolstered by the film of the same name, addresses the concerns of the American working class. Its success illustrates both the increased involvement of women in the workforce and their greater presence in country music.

By 1980, more than half of the women in America had roles in the workforce. The percent of women in the US labor force increased to 51.5% from 43.3% in 1970 (BLS, Labor Force Participation Rates by Country). The five industries that employed the most women in 1980 had not changed since 1964, and as of 2010 had still not changed: education and health services; trade, transportation, and utilities; local government; professional and business services; leisure and hospitality (See Appendix 2). However, women’s employment in these areas had increased greatly not only from simple population growth but from civil rights and progressive laws that brought a far greater percentage of women into the workforce.

As women gained more employment, they also gained more income, and therefore more say as consumers in the market for goods and services. The increasing success of female country music artists undoubtedly relates to the increased purchasing power they had to consume luxury goods like pop music albums and singles. Though female country artists enjoyed little more than a place on the fringes of commercial success in the first half of the twentieth century, their potential female fan base became more economically powerful in the latter half.

However, understanding 9 to 5’s success purely in terms of a female audience oversimplifies the widespread appeal of the song across genders. Parton sang not only for women, but for all workers. 9 to 5 addresses the “daily grind” of millions of Americans, both then and now: traffic, broken dreams, failure to get ahead, promotions that never come, lack of credit for one’s work, and a suspicion that one’s labor only serves to make others rich.

Male artists had addressed similar concerns in earlier songs about labor. Sixteen Tons, for example, describes the despair of working one’s hands to the bone only to see debts pile up in staggering, unconquerable amounts. In the folk tradition that contributed to country music’s development, Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie took decidedly pro-labor and pro-union stances. But not since Aunt Molly Jackson had a female artist tapped into the national zeitgeist of labor.

9 to 5, then, embodies the populist leanings of country music, addressing concerns of regular people in a down-to-earth language. But, it also represents a culmination of the economic and social conditions that contributed to women’s attainment of a larger role in country music. Like Loretta Lynn’s Coal Miner’s Daughter, also released in 1980, 9 to 5 dealt with labor, but in a more modern context. Dolly Parton did more than give a voice to women’s concerns. She spoke for everyone, both male and female, who felt trapped in a soul-crushing forty-hour work week.

References

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Labor force participation rates by country. Retrieved Nov. 5, 2013 from http://www.bls.gov/spotlight/2011/women/data.htm

Appendix 1
9 to 5
© 1980 by Dolly Parton

Tumble outta bed and I stumble to the kitchen
Pour myself a cup of ambition
And yawnin’, stretchin’, try to come to life

Jump in the shower and the blood starts pumpin’
Out on the streets, the traffic starts jumpin’
With folks like me on the job from 9 to 5

Workin’ 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin’
Barely gettin’ by, it’s all takin’ and no givin’
They just use your mind and they never give you credit
It’s enough to drive you crazy if you let it

9 to 5, for service and devotion
You would think that I would deserve a fair promotion
Want to move ahead but the boss won’t seem to let me
I swear sometimes that man is out to get me

They let your dream, just watch ’em shatter
You’re just a step on the boss man’s ladder
But you got dreams he’ll never take away

In the same boat with a lot of your friends
Waitin’ for the day your ship’ll come in
And the tide’s gonna turn an’ it’s all gonna roll you away

Workin’ 9 to 5 what a way to make a livin’
Barely gettin’ by, it’s all takin’ and no givin’
They just use your mind and you never get the credit
It’s enough to drive you crazy if you let it

9 to 5, yeah, they got you where they want you
There’s a better life and you think about it, don’t you?
It’s a rich man’s game, no matter what they call it
And you spend your life putting money in his wallet

 
Appendix 2
Employment of Women in America, by industry, 1964-2010
From the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics