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A review by bubblybing
They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers
I really liked the intro to this book. I get why the author has us follow different white women, but I kept getting lost with all the people, and I felt like it was repetitive. I liked the accounts from former slaves, but for some reason following the slave owners made it hard for me to stay engaged.
I learned so much from this though. It was interesting to learn about the socioeconomic reasons for why women owned slaves and all the legal loopholes women had to Lee their slaves.
We as a society act like women were barely culpable in slave owning, and this showed that that’s not true. By vilifying slave owners and removing nuance, we can act like it’s an issue that’s very removed from modern life. But these women were educated, compassionate, and independent, but often shaped by their upbringing. I think it would be hard for a white woman to read even just the intro of this book, and still be confident that she would never own slaves.
I learned so much from this though. It was interesting to learn about the socioeconomic reasons for why women owned slaves and all the legal loopholes women had to Lee their slaves.
We as a society act like women were barely culpable in slave owning, and this showed that that’s not true. By vilifying slave owners and removing nuance, we can act like it’s an issue that’s very removed from modern life. But these women were educated, compassionate, and independent, but often shaped by their upbringing. I think it would be hard for a white woman to read even just the intro of this book, and still be confident that she would never own slaves.