Masterful women
Subtitle: slaveholding widows from the American Revolution through the Civil War
By: Kirsten E. Wood.
Series: Gender and American culture; Gender & American culture.
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Chapel Hill
Language: eng
Number of pages: 281
Subjects: 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
Description: Many early-nineteenth-century slaveholders considered themselves "masters" not only over slaves, but also over the institutions of marriage and family. According to historians, the privilege of mastery was reserved for white males. But slaveholding widows enjoyed material, legal, and cultural resources to which most southerners could only aspire.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [247]-266) and index.