The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South

Book Description

Taking into account the major recent studies, this volume presents an updated analysis of the life of the black slave--his African heritage, culture, family, acculturation, behavior, religion, and personality.

Customer Reviews:

A Classic Contribution.......2005-09-08

In this revised and expanded edition, scholar John Blassingame describes not only what facts his researched uncovered, but also how he uncovered those facts. In particular, Blassingame's research emphasizes slave narratives and slave letters.

He explains that both of these types of documentation allow the researcher to enter the inner world of the enslaved person through his or her eyes, rather than simply accepting the plantation owners' views about slave life. His discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of historical resources along with his explanation of how to use internal and external evidence to assess the credibility of such sources offers a fine lesson in historiography.

In his choice of subject areas, Blassingame cuts a wide swath that overviews every core aspect of enslaved life. He begins with an intriguing examination of acculturation by comparing how enslaved Europeans in African, enslaved Africans in South America, and enslaved Africans in North America acculturated. He also explores the important but often neglected issue of the Africanization of the South--how southern Whites acculturated to African American culture.

Having laid this foundation, two moving chapters ensue. Blassingame documents slave family life with all its harrowing, horrible obstacles. Yet he also demonstrates the resilience and love of enslaved African American families. Next Blassingame addresses the many obstacles to rebellion and escape, putting to rest the notion that the lack of runaways in any way suggested acceptance of enslavement.

His final three chapters explore roles, realities, and personality types. At times his use of now-outdated sociological and psychological theory clouds the issues for modern readers. However, once sifted through and sorted out, these chapters continue to offer fresh information, if not always fresh insights.

Overall no researcher can afford to ignore Blassingame's contribution. Though many have critiqued some of his conclusions, all seem to quote him repeatedly.

Reviewer: Robert W. Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of "Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction." He has also authored "Soul Physicians" and "Spiritual Friends."

Great Book for Reseach on Slavery.......2005-07-03

This book has helped me in my independent study of slavery and family research. It gives a very good insight from the slaves perspective. Other books I have read, the insight comes from the owners prospective. A companion book to this one is "Tewlve Years a Slave" by Solomon Northup.

A realistic portrayal of plantation life.......2005-04-02

Blassingame succeeds in sheding light on the real-life culture of the black slave in the Antebellum South: his African heritage, culture, family, acculturation, behavior, religion, and personality. Rather than concentrating solely on the planter - the traditional way of approaching the subject - Blassingame attempts to clarify and distill the essence of slave life through the filter of three eyewitness accounts. Two of them, the planter and the slave, give an insider's view of the plantation while the third witness, the traveler, views the relation between slave and master from the perspective of an outsider. Blassingame then utilizes the raw material of these personal observations to construct a detailed account of the day-to-day life of a slave - providing the reader with an insightful glimpse into the Negro's African heritage, the development of an Americanized culture, the formation of families, acculturation and behavior patterns when not under white supervision, religious preferences and beliefs, and personality traits.
The author makes the assertion that there were several types of slave personalities. Sambo - the submissive half-man, half-child - is the most well-known but was mostly a stereotypical manifestation of planter class racism and insecurity. Yet this caricature is the clearest portrait the southern planter has drawn of the slave, according to Blassingame. Sambo was actually but one of many variations, and was not even the most dominant slave personality. "Such stereotypes," asserts Blassingame, "are so intimately related to the planters' projections, desires, and biases that they tell us little about slave behavior and even less about the slaves' inner life, his thoughts, actions, self-concepts, or personality."
Blassingame also asserts that, because masters were unable or unwilling to impose round-the-clock supervision, their system of control was open at certain points. These systemic "blind spots" presented opportunities for the development autonomous Negro behavior as the slave's quarters, religion, and family helped to foster self-sufficiency. Rather than identifying with and totally submitting to the master, the slaves tenaciously held on to many remnants of African culture while simultaneously gaining a sense of worth among fellow residents of the quarters. This resulting underworld society flourished in defiance of the burdens imposed by enslavement.
In writing this treatise, the author attempted to tap into the feelings and attitudes of the entire plantation community. Since the thoughts and observations of slaves were seldom recorded (the teaching of reading and writing to slaves was illegal), Blassingale tends to lean heavily on observations by whites.
Additionally, the book devotes a lengthy section attempting to determine the basis of the stereotypically feeble-minded, anxiously subservient "Sambo" image. To this end, Blassingame relies on data from Nazi concentration camps to test the hypothesis that, in a system as tightly closed as either the plantation or the concentration camp, the slave's (or prisoner's) position of absolute dependency virtually compels him to view the facility's authority-figure as somehow "good" despite the evil emanating from the master/commandant (because, so goes the theory, the master also supplies everything of value).
There are also some enlightening discussions regarding the nature of slave marriage, family, religion, rebellion, and miscegenation. For example, the slave father was virtually without authority. Unable to protect his wife and children from discipline and abuse at the hands of the master, Negro fathers' resourcefulness in compensating for their institutionally-imposed weakness evokes simultaneous waves of sympathy at their plight and admiration for pluck.
Blassingame has done an excellent job presenting and applying his research. His "holistic" approach to the subject effectively endows the reader with a keen sense of how masters and slaves interacted and provides a comprehensive picture of plantation life that effectively reveals the complexity of the institution - as contrasted with the distorted picture often emerging from those who rely solely on planter records.
He successfully incorporates the primary accounts of plantation owners, slaves, and visitors in the Antebellum South to powerfully illustrate in straightforward manner what plantation life really felt like. He also makes effective use of social science disciplines like anthropology and psychology (especially when examining techniques the plantation owners utilized to maintain control and how the slaves resisted theses efforts). Furthermore, Blassingame resists the temptation to moralize about the living conditions and oftentimes barbarous exploitation of the slaves. Instead, he allows the reader to make up his own mind about the alien word of the antebellum Southern plantation and its "peculiar institution."

A Good Treatment of an Unwieldy Topic.......2003-01-31

Blassingame wrote this book in the face of the insurmountable problem that a community can only be fully understood through tapping the thoughts and feelings of its members. Since slaves thoughts and feelings were so seldom recorded, the book tends to be based mostly on observations by whites. Nevertheless, even in observations of how slaves behaved, there is much that is not well understood. As a result, Blassingame devotes a lengthy section of the book trying to determine the degree of basis in fact of the stereotypical image of slave as demure and subservient. Ultimately Blassingame uses the example of Nazi-operated concentrated camps in World War II to reason through analogy to try to arrive at some kind of definitive conclusion.

This portion is not the bulk of the text, but there are several other points of discussion in the book that seem equally inconclusive in this same way. Nevertheless, there are also some very enlightening discussions such as the structure of marriage and the family, religion, slave rebellions, and miscegenation.

I found Blassingame's writing style very easy to read, and the material compelling. Despite my belly-aching on the inconclusiveness of many of the points in the Slave Community, I felt that this was a shortcoming imposed by the subject of the book, and not Blassingame's fault per se, and I still think it deserves four stars.

Excellent for Leisure Reading and as a Reference Guide.......2003-01-10

I read this book for my history of American slavery class and I really enjoyed it. It is one of the books I did not sell back to the college when the semester ended. Blassingame focuses on the slave culture and uses such sources as folk songs, fugitive wanted posters, slave interviews and correspondence, diaries, and memoirs (from slaves and slave holders) to bring insight on life on the plantation. The author offers an extensive, well-organized bibliography which, alone, makes this book valuable.

Book Description

Born and raised in Greenville, Mississippi, within the shelter of old traditions, aristocratic in the best sense, William Alexander Percy in his lifetime (1885-1942) was brought face to face with the convulsions of a changing world. Lanterns on the Levee is his memorial to the South of his youth and young manhood. In describing life in the Mississippi Delta, Percy bridges the interval between the semifeudal South of the 1800s and the anxious South of the early 1940s. The rare qualities of this classic memoir lie not in what Will Percy did in his life—although his life was exciting and varied—but rather in the intimate, honest, and soul-probing record of how he brought himself to contemplate unflinchingly a new and unstable era. The 1973 introduction by Walker Percy—Will's nephew and adopted son—recalls the strong character and easy grace of "the most extraordinary man I have ever known." AUTHOR BIO: William Alexander Percy was the author of four books of poetry, and he practiced law in Greenville until his death, one year after the publication of his autobiography. Awarded the Croix de Guerre with gold star for his service in World War I, he also was one of the leaders in the succesful 1922 fight against the Ku Klux Klan in Greenville and headed the local Red Cross unit during the disastrous Mississippi River flooding of 1927.

Customer Reviews:

Over hyped.......2007-06-30

I've heard great things about this book, but it simply doesn't live up to the reviews. It isn't vivid, isn't absorbing, isn't all that interesting. It is a decent piece of period biography, and if you're interested in the Percy family or the region or time period, it might be worthwhile. Otherwise, give this one a pass.

Not Impressed.......2006-02-06

This is my first book about planters and plantation life. It was my expectation that the author would give more specific information about plantation finances and management. This subject is hardly touched upon. He does briefly give his opinions about slavery, but there is nothing unique about it. Basically, this is a nice, slow look back at a bygone time, but it left me wondering how the heck did these people come about, and maintain or eventually lose their wealth.

Elusive find: an autobiography of literary quality.......2005-10-09

Percy's approach to life can be summed up by a quote from the book: "It is a very nice world-that is, if you remember that while morals are all-important between the Lord and His creatures, what counts between one creature and another is good manners." Percy's book is a rare member of that most elusive category of books - the autobiography of true literary quality. Percy's touch is honest without being journalistic; poetic without appearing over-embroidered; and in his own eccentric person he provides the subject matter which is required to make such a work interesting. He steps out of the late 19th/early 20th century Mississippi delta as a character that could not have existed anywhere else. Affected, genteel, kind, elitist, romantic and with a view of race more in keeping with British Imperial "white man's burden" line of thought than anything American in origin - Percy the character remains fascinating even as the modern reader disagrees with his positions. A clearly and well told tale of an extinct breed (the gentrified southern aristocrat), a lost land (the Mississippi delta of the turn of the 20th century), and a buried epoch (the pre desegregation era). An excellent book - well worth reading not only to better understand a particular aspect of American history but for the pleasure of reading a well written book, regardless of the subject matter.

Perceptions of a Southern Artistocrat.......2004-01-23

It is true that this book attempts to explain the South, in both its physical and social aspects, from the point of view of the "landed gentry." However, a more accurate description of "Lanterns on the Levee" is that of an autobiography of William A. Percy, in which he reflects upon his life and the interesting times in which he lived. I found this book very inciteful into the mind of a southerner, and believe that Mr. Percy did a fine job of bringing his broad experiences with different cultures and social climates into this book, and using these to produce a cogent analysis of his homeland. Though not completely objective (and often bigoted by today's standards), I think that Mr. Percy did his best to "tell it as he saw it," and often admits his biases as a precursor to his analysis. The book is very poetic and philosophical in places, and includes both the subjective and emotional sentiments that one must understand in order to come to terms with "a southerner's love for the south." Additionally, I feel that Mr. Percy (especially in his last few chapters) provides the reader with thought-provoking and highly articulate observations about life, time, and human-nature. I think this book is excellent, and believe it to be a "must read" for anybody with an open-minded interest in the Missisippi Delta region, or the South in general.

A Lost Voice Of A Lost Cause.......2002-12-14

This is one of those books that is almost impossible to objectively review. The writing is elegant and evocative of an era in the South that died almost in tandem with Mr. Percy and yet I find some parts of it so arrogant and condescending that I feel myself grinding my teeth. You see, I am descended from those Mississippi hill people Percy so despised and, even after all this time, I can almost see the languid gaze and soft, drawling voice. My people came to the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta after the Flood of '27 and we build and earned what we got without the benefit of the massive slave labor that built Mr. Percy's fortune.

But this is a book review and I'll put aside old feelings to say that this is a literary gem that brings to life a way of life on which so many stereotypes of the South are built. And Will Percy is amazingly honest in his descriptions of his society. However, a society this simple and yet this complex takes more than just one book to grasp.

Thus, I also recommend "Rising Tide" by John Barry and "The Most Southern Place on Earth: The Mississippi Delta and the Roots of Regional Identity" by James Cobb to balance your view of this time and place in history.

Customer Reviews:

Stone versus Chesnut.......2007-02-07

Like Mary Boykin Chesnut, Kate Stone wrote her diary during the Civil War. They were both members of the slaveholding planter class and at the start of the war both were surrounded by servants who met their every need. But twenty year old Kate Stone's life would be more directly affected by the war. Her young uncles and brothers went to join up at the onset and before the war ended several were dead of injuries or disease. Kate Stone's Louisiana home was occupied by the Yankees forcing the family to flee to Texas. Both describe the deprivations of the war years, lack of shoe leather, lack of cloth and the unavailability of new books, and both were at times cheered by false reports of great southern victories. The two diaries complement each other.

An Extraordinary Lady in Extraordinary Times.......2001-03-26

Kate Stone is one of my favorite Civil War diarists. She is an admixture of a great privilege, passionate beliefs, lover of literature, keen social observations and amazing fortitude. Her Civil War was dangerous, turbulent and life changing.

Brokenburn was a large plantation containing over 150 slaves in Madison Parish, LA. From 1862 on, it was in the center of the Union Army's fierce assault to gain control of the Mississippi River and divide the Confederacy in half. Plantations were commandeered and slaves were encouraged to revolt. The civilian population was helpless before the demands of military control. Madison Parish had a population of approximately 9,000 of whom 7,000 were slaves. After 1861, the Parish was emptied of able-bodied white men, most of whom had been sent to far-off Virginia and Tennessee, leaving none to protect the civilians.

In 1861, Kate was 20 years old, her immediate future being beaus, courtship, and a gay social life before she settled down to become a proper southern matron. She was unsure whether this route was ideal, as she remarked, "women grew significantly uglier in wedlock and ignored and abandoned their former female friends." This comfortable world was turned upside down, never to reappear again. With great enthusiasm and some trepidation, she watched her three older brothers go off to war. Her widowed mother made it clear that 14-year-old James was now in charge of the running of the plantation and the protection of the rest of the family. I was amazed at the serene assumption that a young teenager was thrust in this role, but it seems that was the custom of the times. If you had to grow up fast, you did. Yellow fever was a constant in the area, and longevity was not a norm. Both Generals Grant and Lee wanted their troops out of these areas during "the seasons of pestilence." This was not to be, and both armies suffered devastating losses to disease. Kate treated the "fever season" as a fact of life, and planned around it with remarkable briskness.

By 1862, the Stone family was desperate. The Federal leadership demanded that they stay on their property; yet there were serious slave insurrections that threatened the lives of the plantation holders. Those slaves who were not hostile were running off, and there was no labor to farm the crops. Many southerners could not believe that their "loyal" slaves would run away. Kate was not among them, saying, "If I were in their place, I'd do the same." She was by no means sympathetic, just practical.

The family finally escaped through the bayous in a rickety canoe with nothing, not even underwear, and finally made it across the border into Texas. They were refugees along with many other prominent Louisiana families. Kate was convinced they had arrived at "a dark corner of the Confederacy." Upon noting the barefoot but hoop skirted frontier ladies, she sniffed "there must be something in the air of Texas fatal to beauty."

Book Description

Kidnapped into slavery in 1841, Northup spent 12 years in captivity. This autobiographical memoir represents an exceptionally detailed and accurate description of slave life and plantation society. "A moving, vital testament to one of slavery's 'many thousand gone' who retained his humanity in the bowels of degradation..." — Saturday Review. 7 illustrations. Index.

Customer Reviews:

An Incredibly Revealing Narrative.......2007-03-26

This book presents its readers with a first-hand account of not only the cruelties of United States slavery itself, but more importantly it touches upon the ways in which other areas of social life were negatively influenced by the institution. Solomon Northup was a black man who was born a free black man in New York in 1808. In 1841, Northup was kidnapped in Boston and take to the south to be sold as a slave. He spent the next 12 years as a slave, and this book was written after he was rescued in 1853.

Many people have associated this book with "Uncle Tom's Cabin" ever since the former was published. While the story line is not exactly the same, there are a lot of similarities. Most notably, both books have evil Northerners and benevolent Southerners, a feature that I think is too often overlooked. This adds credibility to Northup's account, insofar as he does not simply condemn all Southerners. Other themes, such as the break-up of slave families, the harsh treatment of slaves (especially female slaves who had the misfortune of handsomeness), and camaraderie between slaves also reflect those written about in "Uncle Tom's Cabin".

In the past the credibility of Northup's work had been in question, especially since a newspaper worker helped him write his account. However, in light of the vast number of particular details the Northup provides and the extent to which those details match up with other records, historians generally view this work as an authentic and truthful account of a free man sold into slavery. This is an incredible read, and the fact that it is a real account makes it even more fascinating. This book should be required reading for high school or college American history classes that cover the Civil War era.

Awesome book!.......2007-01-25

A compelling and wrenchingly honest first-hand account of slavery, many
times breaking my heart and making me think of the children of Africa
today. A new book, "The Last Witness From a Dirt Road" which takes
place in 1946, was given to me after commenting about Solomon Northup's
narrative, and it could almost be a sequel to Twelve Years a Slave,
written a 100 years later by the son of an overseer on a plantation
along the banks of Bayou Bouef in the same location in Louisiana. Old
social and economic orders seemed little changed from 1841 to 1946,
tragic, heart rendering but both books are riveting and honest, are
timely and universal.

A three hundred year nightmare........2007-01-24

Until I read Solomon Northup's riveting first hand account of his life as a slave, I had only imagined the degredation and cruelty with absolute and total submission by those who had no choices, no chances for liberty. Early in my own life in the 1930s, as a young boy and son of a sugar plantation overseer along the banks of Bayou Bouef in Louisiana, the exact same location as Solomon's narrative, I recognized the lingering stains of an enslaved society, in my friends...the field hands who lived in the Quarters. As a white kid, I had chances and choices, however choices based on the social and economic order that existed in my life and where I lived, which in reality, cast their net over my life, too. I've written my own narrative...my book "The Last Witness From a Dirt Road" which after reading Twelve Years a Slave, I see that my narrative could almost stand as a sequel to Solomon's book, but written a hundred and fifty years later. My heart is still broken for all the souls whose lives were so badly tormented and taken by a vile system devised and placed on humankind. The lesson: We must be diligent and precise in our approach to anyone whose ideology in religion and politics, teaches or wishes, to take away or diminish the freedom of man. I'm grateful for the courage and power of Solomon Northup.

Hope Born Out of Despair.......2007-01-21

Solomon Northup's slave narrative follows in the line of scores of other enlightening first-hand accounts of African American enslavement. What makes Northrup's account so unique is the fact that he was free when kidnapped and enslaved.

His harrowing description of his kidnapping in Washington, D. C., and of his fellow kidnappees, will melt the hardest heart. Yet, his interactions with other abducted African Americans also portrays the beauty and power of shared sorrow.

Another fascinating distinction found in "Twelve Years a Slave" is Northrup's almost uncanny ability to fairly depict his slave owners. In some cases, he ruthlessly exposes the one-dimensional ruthlessness of cruel masters. Yet, in one case, with his owner Pastor Ford (yes, Pastor), he calls Ford one of the most godly, caring, Christians he has ever known. He describes the biblical preaching and personal ministry that Ford provided to him. It is difficult for us today to see how the hypocrisy of a slave-owning Pastor could occur. But for Northrup, an intelligent, educated, articulate man, who could be blistering in his verbal attack on slavers, Ford was not a one-dimensional man. He was flawed, yet could still display admirable attributes.

"Twelve Years a Slave" is perhaps the most important first-hand account of enslavement ever written. The end of the story, which I will not ruin, must be read. Of course, with riveting writing like this, only the rare reader would dare stop before the end of the journey.

Reviwer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction, Soul Physicians, and Spiritual Friends.

What a story!.......2003-09-03

This story of a free black man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery is amazing. I know nothing of how it was written and sometimes questioned whether it was genuine or not because sometimes the writing was so eloquent, but after reading it I realized the author had some help from the editor, David Wilson. I hope Solomon Northrup is looking down from somewhere and knows what a treasure his book has become.

Under Live Oaks: The Last Great Houses of the Old South

Average customer rating:

I wish I could give this 10 stars!
Photo's are great
Southern Gothic Rehash

Under Live Oaks: The Last Great Houses of the Old South
Caroline Seebohm
Manufacturer: Clarkson Potter
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Criticism | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

General | Home Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Art Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside History Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Home & Garden Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0609606999
Release Date: 2002-10-29

Book Description

“Southerners seem to stay close to each other, accumulating ties of kinship in a way that ultimately becomes almost impossible to unravel, and thus the family house remains the center of births, marriages, and deaths through the generations.”
—From Under Live Oaks

There is a part of the South that clings to its past, whether that past is an imagined or a real one. Resonant with antebellum elegance and sometimes turbulent history, the houses of Under Live Oaks act as a touchstone for another time, becoming repositories of rich family traditions for their owners.

This tenacity to hold on to their history is beautifully demonstrated in the decor of these houses, filled with antiques and personal treasures, decorated in the style that was fashionable 150 years ago and that has not been tampered with since. More than 200 images from acclaimed photographer Peter Woloszynski fill the pages of Under Live Oaks, giving a provocative view into a world many never see—a world of faded portraits, shelves of dusty porcelain, dolls lined up in an armchair, family letters, lace fans, invitations to the cotillion, old steamer trunks. These houses were the royal palaces of the age, furnished with the finest objects and fabrics—many imported from Europe—that the first half of the nineteenth century had to offer. Under Live Oaks offers a remarkably consistent vision of a period, a period that takes its place in the dark history of America and that casts a permanent shadow over its legacy.

The houses range from an Italianate villa in Columbus, Georgia, to a masterful Greek Revival mansion in Fairvue, Tennessee; from the charming Catalpa in St. Francisville, Louisiana, to the melancholy Winter Place in Montgomery, Alabama. The classic plantation houses of Natchez, Mississippi, compete in beauty with an elegant townhouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, and the historic Sherwood Forest in Charles City, Virginia. All the states of the Deep South are represented. A few of the houses are open to the public; others are unknown and unvisited except by family and friends. Yet all of them stand as witnesses to a bygone era.

Noted author Caroline Seebohm eloquently casts the stories of the land, the houses, and their owners. She vividly evokes the power of the architecture and interior design of these houses, and through her we hear the owners’ pride of place and staunch allegiance to their family history. Under Live Oaks is an intimate tour of the Old South, an experience available to only a few and that in the not-too-distant future will be lost forever.

Customer Reviews:

I wish I could give this 10 stars!.......2007-04-24

I own a 120 year old farmhouse in the South and I am fascinated w/ the history and culture. This book is a JOY! I LOVE reading about the families in the book, the photos are GORGOUS and I have been unable to put this book down! Of all the 'Home' books I've read this is by far my absolute favorite! ENJOY!!!

Photo's are great.......2003-08-22

If you like old houses of the South this book has some wonderful pictures. Some interesting photos of the interior rooms with a little bit of personal collections of the families. A great coffe table book. Not deep reading.

Southern Gothic Rehash.......2002-12-13

Both author and photographer of "Under Live Oaks" are English, and their knowledge of the South is distinctly secondhand and second-rate. Seebohm even acknowledges needing a crash course in Southern architecture from a friend! Instead of genuine knowledge and insight, we are offered a gauzy gothic cocktail of Hollywood cliches. (Mix one shot of "Gone With the Wind" with a dash of "Suddenly Last Summer" and a gallon of "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte.") For a beautiful and intelligent book on Southern architecture, try "Architecture of the Old South" by Mills Lane. For photos that shed some light on Southern myths and realities, try "William Eggleston's Guide."

Within the Plantation Household: Black and White Women of the Old South (Gender and American Culture)

Average customer rating:

Within the Plantation Household: Black and White Women on the Old South (Gender and American Culture)
Scholarly and Enlightening
An interesting and very good attempt

Within the Plantation Household: Black and White Women of the Old South (Gender and American Culture)
Elizabeth Fox-Genovese
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Feminist Theory | Women's Studies | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

History | Women's Studies | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 080784232X

Book Description

Documenting the difficult class relations between women slaveholders and slave women, this study shows how class and race as well as gender shaped women's experiences and determined their identities. Drawing upon massive research in diaries, letters, memoirs, and oral histories, the author argues that the lives of antebellum southern women, enslaved and free, differed fundamentally from those of northern women and that it is not possible to understand antebellum southern women by applying models derived from New England sources.

Customer Reviews:

Within the Plantation Household: Black and White Women on the Old South (Gender and American Culture).......2007-03-10

Everything arrived in perfect order

Scholarly and Enlightening.......2006-01-04

Elizabeth Fox-Genovese has produced a very scholarly and enlightening examination of women of the old South. In vivid detailed with painstaking research, she presents the daily lives of women, black and white, within the plantation household. Though written from an academic perspective, the author has succeeded in presenting her research in an entertaining and even captivating narrative style. For those looking for the behind the scenes lifestyle of unknown women of the South, this is the one book of choice.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of "Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction." He has also authored "Soul Physicians," "Spiritual Friends," and the forthcoming "Sacred Friendships: Listening to the Voices of Women Soul Care-Givers and Spiritual Directors."

An interesting and very good attempt.......1999-05-19

This is an impressive and large-scale achievement. I would have appreciated more acknowledgment of the role that white male eurocentric paradigms played (and continue to play) in the south and oppresion of Women of Color. Overall, a good starting place.

Ar'N't I A Woman?: Female Slaves in the Plantation South

Average customer rating:

Female Slaves
Ar'n't I A Woman?
My Review
GREAT READING FOR BLACK WOMEN
Not quite Honest story of slave women

Ar'N't I A Woman?: Female Slaves in the Plantation South
Deborah Gray White
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Slavery & Emancipation | World | History | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Women's Studies | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

History | Women's Studies | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside History Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0393314812

Book Description

Living with the dual burdens of racism and sexism, slave women in the plantation South assumed roles within the family and community that contrasted sharply with traditional female roles in the larger American society. This new edition of Ar'n't I a Woman? reviews and updates the scholarship on slave women and the slave family, exploring new ways of understanding the intersection of race and gender and comparing the myths that stereotyped female slaves with the realities of their lives. Above all, this groundbreaking study shows us how black women experienced freedom in the Reconstruction South-their heroic struggle to gain their rights, hold their families together, resist economic and sexual oppression, and maintain their sense of womanhood against all odds.

Customer Reviews:

Female Slaves.......2007-02-03

Deborah Gray White writes tellingly about the double evils faced by the Black woman of the old South: racism and sexism. Truly, they faced a lack of personhood at every turn.

The author weaves together quotes from enslaved Black women to tell her story. As other reviewers have noted, there does tend to be something of a feel of a feminist slant to the writing. I certainly would not argue against her basic premise of White male abuse of Black female slaves. However, having researched the White female slave owners, I would contend that women of the South were as guilty as the men of evil and condoning evil.

Reading firsthand accounts of these Black "sisters of the spirit" is the only way to truly gain a feel for what they endured and the larger cultural evils. Three examples include: "Behind the Scenes," "The House of Bondage," and "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl."

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction, Spiritual Friends, and Soul Physicians.

Ar'n't I A Woman?.......2006-10-16

In the book Ar'n't I a Woman?, by Deborah Gray White, the reader is challenged by the author to set previous notions regarding American slave women aside to understand the truth, which has long been elusive to the majority of Americans. Over the course of the work, White shocks and appalls the reader in an attempt to inform her readers about the horrors and injustices that slave women were forced to deal with on a regular basis. In doing so, the author makes her point abundantly clear and leaves little question as to the authenticity of her research and work.

White begins her work quite firmly. She discusses two of the great myths of female slavery: Jezebel and Mammy. The author promptly exposes the lie that slave women were promiscuous, dirty women with an unquenchable lust for white men. She asserts, "The choice put before many slave women was between miscegenation and the worst experiences that slavery had to offer. Not surprisingly, many chose the former" (34). As a result, the act of the slave woman giving in to the sexual advances of her white owner branded her as unchaste, a Jezebel. The second stereotype discussed is that of mammy, the nurturing black woman who cares for the white children. Both of these stereotypes are important to note, not only because of their historical significance and their supreme effect on Caucasian beliefs, but also because White ties these ideas through the rest of her work.

After successfully debunking the myths regarding female slaves in America in the first chapter, White goes into great depth regarding the actual lives and hardships that slave women faced daily. For example, White paints a portrait of the female slave that depicts her as just as hard working, if not moreso, than her male counterparts. However, though her work in the fields was important, her true value was placed in keeping the male slaves sexually satisfied and reproducing new generations of slaves. As a result, most female slaves had families, though more disconnected than those of the American whites. The main reason for slave marriages, according to the author, was "to add to the comfort, happiness, and health of those entering upon it" (99). Indeed, even the supposedly sacred act of marriage was not off limits to Caucasian exploitation. As a result, the female slave trade did not highlight the hard-working nature of the slave, but rather her physical attractiveness, for the benefit of both the male slave and the slave owner. While all slaves were considered products, female slaves in particular were, quite literally, viewed as little more than sexual objects. This stigma did not immediately escape the black woman at emancipation either. White states, "From emancipation through more than two-thirds of the twentieth century, no Southern white male was convicted of raping or attempting to rape a black woman. Yet the crime was widespread" (188). Due to these injustices, the American people are too often subjected to an inaccurate portrait of the female slave and her female descendants, and therefore miss out on a truly inspiring individual.

In her work, Deborah Gray White tears apart the common misconceptions of female slaves and depicts a person that is loving, family-oriented, and hard-working. However, the book, though relatively brief in length can be a tedious read at times. Though White validates her assertions with just a few sources and anecdotes, she relentlessly re-asserts with numerous additional examples which come across as both unnecessary and excessive. As a result, Ar'n't I a Woman at times seems distractingly repetitive for the majority of its pages. In addition, the book could also present itself as an overtly feminist text, which has the potential to turn off many of today's readers of both genders. Though White places some of the blame for conditions and roles of slave women on Caucasian females, she undoubtedly places the majority of the blame on white men. However, it perhaps would have been more accurate and beneficial for her to blame Southern, and American, society as a whole, as Caucasian men were just a product of a long-standing tradition. Despite these obstacles, however, White cannot be discredited for her tireless pursuit to uncover the truth and discredit the myths that have haunted African-American women for centuries. Indeed, if she has accomplished anything, it is the true emancipation of America's most discriminated class.

My Review.......2003-10-09

I have not yet read this book. It looks exciting and I hope I enjoy it. I am reading this book for a report in JROTC.

GREAT READING FOR BLACK WOMEN.......2002-08-18

In reading this book for an assignment for a history class, I took to heart what the women went thru during the slavery days. You got the feeling of being there with them and feeling their pain. Ms. White has done an excellent job in bring out what really went on with women during slavery.

Not quite Honest story of slave women.......2002-02-04

I believe that this book is factually incorrect. White makes a strong statement that slave children were dying of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SID). She is unable to admit the possibility, desire and need of slave mothers to commit infanticide. For a high schooler or entry level college student, this book could give the wrong messages. While some of her facts are well taken, the ones that she concentrates on the most may very well be false. There is other material in this book that I think is just outright wrong considering that I have done substantial research on slavery. A reader can learn more about chattel slavery by studying slavery outside the US: slavery in Latin America and Brazil particularly. Historians outside the US have not turned slavery into a happy patchwork quilt.

Average customer rating:

Good Despite the Feminist Harping
Dull, boring.
An honest description of the role of plantation mistresses
Disappointed
Political Commentary Not History

The Plantation Mistress
Catherine Clinton
Manufacturer: Pantheon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Feminist Theory | Women's Studies | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

History | Women's Studies | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside History Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0394722531
Release Date: 1984-02-12

Book Description

This pioneering study of the much-mythologized Southern belle offers the first serious look at the lives of white women and their harsh and restricted place in the slave society before the Civil War. Drawing on the diaries, letters, and memoirs of hundreds of planter wives and daughters, Clinton sets before us in vivid detail the daily life of the plantation mistress and her ambiguous intermediary position in the hierarchy between slave and master.

"The Plantation Mistress challenges and reinterprets a host of issues related to the Old South. The result is a book that forces us to rethink some of our basic assumptions about two peculiar institutions -- the slave plantation and the nineteenth-century family. It approaches a familiar subject from a new angle, and as a result, permanently alters our understanding of the Old South and women's place in it.

Customer Reviews:

Good Despite the Feminist Harping.......2006-10-19

Plantation Mistriss paints a dim portrait of the lives of the allegedly pampered southern flowers of womanhood who were the (behind the scenes) engineers of southern aristocracy. Since many of them assumed the mantle of responsibility at ages as young as fourteen and commonly at around sixteen to eighteen this book is particularly fascinating. It is also chock full of detail on everything from the Plantation Mistriss's ability to supervise a hog killing to the knitting of socks. Her day was never done. Then the poor dears had to deal with the complicated sexual politics of the day. They were doomed to withhold themselves sexually in order to maintain the notions that sex was a chore for a lady thus robbing them of any standing to demand fidelity from their husbands. All these women could do was seeth while their husbands snuck off to the slave quarters. Being a sexual pedestal had its price.

Factually, this book is a gold mine of information and detail. It does have a typical feminist undercurrent of victimization but that is a minor flaw. Academics are just compelled to wow the reader with their ability to extrapolate deep meaning out of simple facts. However, the non-existence of books which utilize the availability of direct sources leaves us to rely on academics who pour over archives rather than thinking to ask. It's too bad no one thought to commit to paper the first hand accounts of former membes of the pre-war south who lived well until the 1940s and even into the 50s. Rather we have only academic analysis of reems of archive material.

This book is very entertaining and informative despite its feminist agenda.

Dull, boring........2006-08-03

This book is so dry I couldn't even finish it. The subject is fascinating but the material is presented in a way that is just plain boring.

An honest description of the role of plantation mistresses.......2005-12-31

I think the negative reviewers who discredit the book for being biased are, in fact, displaying their own prejudices. I have searched through the available literature on this subject, which is incredibly sparse, and this is the first book I have found that even attempted to portray these women's lives with any detail or realism. The author researched this topic as thoroughly as possible and obviously strives to present a balanced view. I cannot understand the complaint that the author jumps from one time period to another, as I found the book very easy to follow. I suspect that many readers are buying this book expecting a romantic fantasy of plantation life. If you really want to know what life was like for a plantation misress - read this book.

Disappointed.......2005-10-24

First, let me state that I have read hundreds of books and have never written a bad review. This book is an exception.

I purchased this book hoping to read facts regarding women on plantations. I was disppointed as this book is based mainly on the writer's view versus historical facts. The book covers the period of 1780-1835. However, the author on multiple occasions refers to the Civil War period. Too much "bouncing" around throughout the years.

Yes, she does quote portions of historical letters but I felt these were used most likely out of context in order to support the writer's point of view without actual facts cited.

The writer's negativity toward other books written on plantation mistresses and their authors, which she refers to frequently in the book, are deplorable. Why mention them at all. It only makes one want to read the books that she things so little of.

Harsh...yes perhaps this review is harsh. Bottom line, I read the book and would not recommend it as good factual reading.

Political Commentary Not History.......2004-12-16

It is true that the authoress quotes much from some primary sources, however the book is basically an expression of her political/social opinions and is not a history. Her liberal biases, ardent feminism, lack of respect for Christian values, and her very limited understand of Southern culture and history, are overwhelmingly expressed. If you are an historian who was taught to evaluate primary sources without your personal biases, and if you are interested in a true history that reflects these values, you'll be sadly disappointed with this book.

An American Planter: Stephen Duncan of Antebellum Natchez And New York (Southern Biography Series)

Average customer rating:

An American Planter

An American Planter: Stephen Duncan of Antebellum Natchez And New York (Southern Biography Series)
Martha Jane Brazy
Manufacturer: Louisiana State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Biographies | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside History Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Antebellum Natchez

ASIN: 0807131415

Book Description

Extraordinarily wealthy and influential, Stephen Duncan (1787-1867) was a landowner, slaveholder, and financier with a remarkable array of social, economic, and political contacts in pre-Civil War America. In the first biography of Duncan, Martha Jane Brazy paints a new portrait of antebellum life by exploring Duncan's multifacted networks among elites in both the South and the North. Duncan grew up in a well-to-do Pennsylvania family with strong business ties in Philadelphia. There was little indication, though, that he would become a cosmopolitan entrepreneur who would own over fifteen plantations in Mississippi and Louisiana, collectively enslaving more than two thousand slaves. With style and substance, Martha Jane Brazy describes both the development of Duncan's businesses and the lives of the slaves on whose labor his empire was constructed. According to Brazy, Duncan was a "hybrid," not fully a southerner or a northerner. He was also, Brazy shows, a paradox. Although he put down deep roots in Natchez, his sphere of influence was national in scope. Although his wealth was greatly dependent on the slaves he owned, he predicted a clash over the issue of slave ownership nearly three decades before the onset of the Civil War. A product of both North and South, Duncan illuminates how and when the regions were contradictory and when they could be made compatible. Perhaps more than any other planter studied thus far, Duncan breaks the mold created by historians to explain the southern slaveholding aristocracy. By connecting and contrasting the networks of this elite planter and those he enslaved, Brazy provides new insights into the "slaveocracy" of antebellum America. AUTHOR BIO: Martha Jane Brazy is an assistant professor of history at the University of South Alabama in Mobile.

Customer Reviews:

An American Planter.......2007-01-03

The book was excellant and very detailed. Since I am involved in Auburn it is very poignant. Only drawback is the printing is so small.

Auldbrass: Frank Lloyd Wright's Southern Plantation

Average customer rating:

AMAZING
Magnificent Work
Auldbrass book a great credit to all involved, must reading

Auldbrass: Frank Lloyd Wright's Southern Plantation
David G. De Long
Manufacturer: Rizzoli International Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Reference | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Art Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0847825361
Release Date: 2004-01-03

Book Description

Although Frank Lloyd Wright designed more than 1,000 projects during his long and prolific career, Auldbrass Plantation, in Yemassee, South Carolina, is the only plantation he ever designed. It is also one of the largest and most complex projects he ever undertook. Wright had an unusually intense commitment to Auldbrass, and worked on it, off and on, for more than twenty years, from 1938 until his death in 1959. Because Auldbrass was private and because it fell into disrepair in the 1960s after the owners' death, it was rarely photographed or studied, and as a consequence little has been known about this major work. Now, with the completed restoration and new photography, this book affords the first opportunity to see one of Wright's greatest works, as the master himself originally envisioned it. Through photos, plans, and drawings, we see what Wright planned, and how it has finally all been either restored or realized for the first time. In 1986, film producer Joel Silver (Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, 48 Hours, Predator, Romeo Must Die, The Matrix, and over forty other films) bought Auldbrass. He had earlier bought and meticulously restored Wright's famous 1923 Storer House in Hollywood. Now he has again collaborated with Wright's grandson, architect Eric Lloyd Wright, who restored the Storer House, to restore the Auldbrass Plantation.

Customer Reviews:

AMAZING.......2005-09-29

Being a Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiast, I honestly wasn't aware of this beautiful work of art until I was visiting another FLW structure in Oklahoma. I ordered the book and I was blown away how wonderful and detailed this structure has become. I wish I had more time to read the entire book in one sitting.

Magnificent Work.......2004-04-06

I have a huge collection of books by and about Frank Lloyd Wright. This goes right to the top of the list. The information is well presented and the photography is breathtaking. The photographic artistry matches Wright's vision. If you have any inclination toward Frank Lloyd Wright or architecture you will not be disappointed!!

Auldbrass book a great credit to all involved, must reading.......2003-12-26

I enjoyed reading this account of the design, construction and reconstruction of this project almost as much as my visits there. Prof. DeLong has presented a tremendous amount of information concerning this unusual Wright commission in a captivating way that left me unable to put the book down. It will surely be listed as one of my favorite books on Frank Lloyd Wright. The book tactfully represents the views of several owners of the property and places the design within the context of Wrights work as well as the history of architecture in general.
The photography in the book is superb! Recent photos of the completed sections of the estate give the reader the illusion of being at the property as many angles are shown in crisp well composed color views. Historical photos add to the understanding of this complex design. Historical drawings are reproduced but slightly too small to be completely understood. The text is well written although several typographical errors were noticed on my first reading.
In general this book is a great credit to all those involved in its development. Being involved in the restoration of a sizeable Wright designed estate near Buffalo, NY, I greatly appreciated the level of detail presented about how decisions were made about reconstruction and the complex process itself. This book will be a cornerstone in any complete library about Frank Lloyd Wright. Thank you Prof. DeLong!

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books