1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910827416503321

Autore

Wood Kirsten E

Titolo

Masterful women : slaveholding widows from the American Revolution through the Civil War / / Kirsten E. Wood

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Chapel Hill, : University of North Carolina Press, c2004

ISBN

979-88-908771-7-8

0-8078-6377-7

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (302 p.)

Collana

Gender and American culture

Disciplina

975/.03/08621

Soggetti

Slaveholders - Southern States - History

Widows - Southern States - Social conditions

Widows - Southern States - Economic conditions

Slavery - Southern States - History

Widowhood - Southern States - History

Sex role - Southern States - History

Plantation life - Southern States - History

Southern States History 1775-1865

Southern States Social conditions

Southern States Race relations

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [199]-266) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. Broken Reeds; 2. The Management of Negroes; 3. The Strongest Ties That Bind Poor Mortals; 4. A Very Public Road; 5. The Leading Men and Women; 6. Worried in Body and Vexed in Heart; 7. What Will Become of Us!; Epilogue; Notes; Bibliography; Index;

Sommario/riassunto

Many early-19th-century slaveholders considered themselves "masters" not only over slaves, but also over the institutions of marriage and family. This privilege was generally reserved for white males. But as many as one in ten slaveholders was a widow, and as this book demonstrates, slaveholding widows developed their own version of mastery.