Ibrahim Morad
Professor Rodney E. Dillon
American History 2010
28 October, 2015
Plantation Mistresses in the Antebellum of South Carolina
“Born in patriarchy and nurtured by slavery, the southern lady was the imaginative construct of white, slaveholding who looked to her to rationalize their peculiar race and gender systems” (Chemishanova 1). The Southern lady served as an example of morality and devotion, she was saintly and passive, submissive and loyal. She focused on pleasing her husband and managing his household. Women in the Antebellum were not supposed to take interest in intellectual pursuits. She was concisely, “her culture’s idea of social, moral, racial, religious and sexual perfections” (Boyd 12).
Despite the modern concepts …show more content…
Because women had little to no rights in society, plantation wives were mostly held captive on the lonely plantation. Due to its large size, plantations were far away from the company of nearby towns. The men in the community were free to travel when and wherever they wanted and often did. Women were excessively chaperoned and were never allowed away from the grounds without the company of an adult white male, not even for a casual stroll outside the estate. The men were often gone for long amounts of time and they often justified to their wives by saying their beauty made the wait worthwhile. So while the men were away it was not uncommon for plantation women to administer the property in the absence of their husbands, and consequently many developed managerial skills. “When plantation owners died, it was not unknown for his widow to successfully take over the running of the land” (qtd. in Tyus, Plantation wives).
Although Plantation mistresses were underappreciated for the value the added to daily life, more or less they were seen as objects. Few white women had any rights or powers in society in the antebellum South and answered to their husbands for everything. Women were not treated as independent thinking people but as economic commodities with an exact value and purpose determined by men. Most of these women did what they could to face the hardships of plantation life. Thus, life in these overly large estates during the eighteenth century in South Carolina was not an entirely glamorous experience for women in
Professor Rodney E. Dillon
American History 2010
28 October, 2015
Plantation Mistresses in the Antebellum of South Carolina
“Born in patriarchy and nurtured by slavery, the southern lady was the imaginative construct of white, slaveholding who looked to her to rationalize their peculiar race and gender systems” (Chemishanova 1). The Southern lady served as an example of morality and devotion, she was saintly and passive, submissive and loyal. She focused on pleasing her husband and managing his household. Women in the Antebellum were not supposed to take interest in intellectual pursuits. She was concisely, “her culture’s idea of social, moral, racial, religious and sexual perfections” (Boyd 12).
Despite the modern concepts …show more content…
Because women had little to no rights in society, plantation wives were mostly held captive on the lonely plantation. Due to its large size, plantations were far away from the company of nearby towns. The men in the community were free to travel when and wherever they wanted and often did. Women were excessively chaperoned and were never allowed away from the grounds without the company of an adult white male, not even for a casual stroll outside the estate. The men were often gone for long amounts of time and they often justified to their wives by saying their beauty made the wait worthwhile. So while the men were away it was not uncommon for plantation women to administer the property in the absence of their husbands, and consequently many developed managerial skills. “When plantation owners died, it was not unknown for his widow to successfully take over the running of the land” (qtd. in Tyus, Plantation wives).
Although Plantation mistresses were underappreciated for the value the added to daily life, more or less they were seen as objects. Few white women had any rights or powers in society in the antebellum South and answered to their husbands for everything. Women were not treated as independent thinking people but as economic commodities with an exact value and purpose determined by men. Most of these women did what they could to face the hardships of plantation life. Thus, life in these overly large estates during the eighteenth century in South Carolina was not an entirely glamorous experience for women in