Sweat addresses the issues of racial inequality between blacks and whites and the unjust and abusive treatment of women by men. Although none of the characters in "Sweat" are white, whites are mentioned on three occasions. Sweat also speaks out about the unequal and unfair treatment of women by men in particular in marriages. The 1920's, during which time this piece was written, was an important time for the feminist movement.
Day after day, she takes his physical and verbal abuse without complaint. The typical attitude of this time period was that women are subordinate to their husbands and have no place outside the home. Delia had never challenged that attitude until fifteen years into their marriage.
This shows how rare and unthinkable it was at this time for a woman to stand up to her husband. The fact that the community knew what was going on with Syke and Delia but did nothing also portrays a characteristic ideal of the time.
Resources: http://www.as.wvu.edu/~ginsberg.sweat/htm. The United States: The History of a Republic, 2nd edition.
