Reference no: EM133490657

Question

"Ellen, a house slave in Atlanta, violated a long-established code of racial etiquette by wearing her mistress' toiletries during the early years of the Civil War. Imagine Ellen Standing in the master bedroom of the Big House, playfully staring at her likeness reflected in a looking-glass...She primps her hair, rearranges her clothing, and shifts the view of profile from front to side. Taking her pick among an array of dainty crystal bottles, she sniffs earthy and then floral fragrances and carefully applies one of the perfumes. While reveling in the crisp, cool feel of amber-tinted drops of liquid against her skin, she dreams about a life far away from the drudgery of her circumscribed existence--a life she believes could soon be within her reach. Ellen audaciously indulged these vicarious pleasures repeatedly, even after being reprimanded by her owner, Samuel P. Richards, and eventually whipped. In pampering and adorning her body with the magical elixir, Ellen transgressed feminine beauty rituals intended to enhance white bodies only."

How did Ellen resist slavery? What is the larger significance of her resistance?