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taliasreads 's review for:
Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments is a work of speculative nonfiction which illuminates the lives of Black women, girls, and their communities in Philadelphia and New York during the late 1800s and early 1900s. This was a time period of significant movement and change, driven in part by migration from the South and the search for new ways of life in the decades following the abolition of slavery in America. In the face of rampant racism, poverty, and violence, these women explored possibilities that challenged conventions and provided them with the tools for survival, freedom, pleasure, and joy.
Most records of these communities from this time period come from a white, carcereal perspective - police officers and social workers. Hartman seeks to uncover the stories of the people behind these reports and court documents, the figures who for so long have been minimized into statistics, a blurry photo or a newspaper headline. She investigates how these women challenged social norms in their intimate relationships, defining their lives by their own terms, envisioning and creating better, richer ways of being. Hartman explores marriage, female sexuality, queerness, gender expression, and leisure through a series of vignettes focusing on different women across time. Hartman ties in a variety of historical sources and blends these with storytelling to craft narratives about each figure while exploring the material conditions and social dynamics of their communities at those moments in time.
I read this shortly after reading Curiosities, a work of historical fiction which also examines the veracity of historical narratives pertaining to gender and sexuality. I think it is imperative in the study of history to consider which stories are told, and who gets to tell them. Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments is an ambitious and important book that provides an often overlooked perspective of social change in America, and emphasizes the agency of Black women and girls in determining their futures and shaping a new world.
Hartman draws attention early on to the bias in social science research and surveys of the Black communities in Philadelphia and New York during the late 1800s and early 1900s. White morality and racism deeply shaped the questions asked, and what the answers were found in the data. Pre-existing beliefs shaped interpretations and led to conclusions which reinforced white supremacist narratives without questioning if there was any alternative explanation to the trends. Differences in marriage and divorce rates between White and Black populations were used to depict Black people as immoral, sexual deviants and justify more intense policing and surveillance. In reality, economic conditions and social norms required different forms of relationship and intimacy in Black communities. More Black women were working and therefore becoming financially independent, while poverty and social instability also created conditions for informal marriages and alternative relationship structures. These challenges to White social norms were seen to pose a threat to the White nuclear family and women’s role in society, hence they were heavily criticized at the time.
I really enjoyed the chapters about Black queer history. Queer people have always been here, and have always fought for their right for freedom and joy. The Black queer community has played a pivotal role throughout American history and has been hugely influential in the progress that’s been made. It was a joy to learn more about the individuals and events from this period of time, and the ways they carved out spaces to cultivate queer joy and resistance.
Something I found particularly appalling, which I had never heard about before, were the wayward minor laws, which allowed minors to be punished outside of the law for transgressions deemed “immoral” which were considered “indicative of future criminality”. As these were not criminal charges, no due process was required, and girls could be picked up off the street by police officers for dancing, flirting, or simply being out too late at night. The sentences for these “crimes” were often longer than sentences for actual crimes. Young girls were plucked out of their families, educations, and lives to be harshly punished for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and forced into a lifelong relationship with the carcereal system.
Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments approaches history from a fresh and important perspective, and balances engaging narratives and thorough characterizations with historical documents and context. It is a thought provoking book which elucidates how modern social dynamics have evolved from a place of constant striving and resistance in the face of oppression, and reveals aspects of the deeply entrenched systemic racism which have been constantly evolving within our society, permeating all areas of life, from academic research to our intimate relationships.