sentences:  The book begins as a study of African Americans and the hardships they faced during the nineteenth century, but then develops to include commentary on the impact of class and gender on women in the South.The book goes on to debunk ideas about 'race' and also to blend analysis of the hardships faced by women and blacks into a single integrated picture centering on the figure of the black working-class woman.The book's combination of historical and feminist scholarship is characteristic of Jones's career.