Sally G. McMillen 
Southern Women 
Black and White in the Old South

The third edition of Southern Women relays the historical narrative of both black and white women in the patriarchal South. Covering primarily the years between 1800 and 1865, it shows the strengths and varied experiences of these women–on plantations, small farms, in towns and cities, in the Deep South, the Upper South, and the mountain South. It offers fascinating information on family life, sexuality, and marriage; reproduction and childrearing; education and religion; women and work; and southern women and the Confederacy.

Southern Women: Black and White in the Old South, Third Edition distills and incorporates recent scholarship by historians. It presents a well-written, more complicated, multi-layered picture of Southern women’s lives than has ever been written about before–thanks to its treatment of current, relevant historiographical debates. The book also:

* Includes new scholarship published since the second edition appeared

* Pays more attention to women in the Deep South, especially the experiences of those living in Louisiana and Mississippi

* Is part of the highly successful American History Series

The third edition of Southern Women: Black and White in the Old South will serve as a welcome supplementary text in college or community-college-level survey courses in U.S., Women’s, African-American, or Southern history. It will also be useful as a reference for graduate seminars or colloquia.

Table of Content

Introduction: An Overview of the South and Southern Women 1

Suggested Reading 16

1 Family Life, Sexuality, and Marriage 18

Family 18

Courtship 23

Miscegenation and Sexuality 31

Black Women and Marriage 41

White Women and Marriage 48

Laws, Marriage, and Divorce 55

Suggested Reading 65

2 Reproduction and Child-rearing 67

Fertility 67

Pregnancy 74

Childbearing 79

Child-rearing 88

Infant Feeding and Care 90

Infant Health Problems 93

Death and Mourning 101

Outside Intervention in Childcare 106

Suggested Reading 109

3 Social Concerns: Education and Religion 111

Education 111

The School Experience 118

Education for the Less Privileged 128

Black Women and Religion 132

White Women and Religion 136

Women’s Benevolence 145

Suggested Reading 149

4 Women and Work 151

The Meaning of Southern Women’s Work 151

Slave and Free Black Labor 153

Slave Punishment and Resistance 161

White Women and Work 166

Work on the Frontier 172

Paid Employment 175

Single Women and Non-Traditional Roles 183

Interracial and Class Relationships 190

Outsiders and Slavery 199

Suggested Reading 202

5 Southern Women and the Confederacy 205

Elite Women’s Involvement on the Home Front 208

Enslaved and Free Black Women 217

Yeoman Wives and Poor Farmwives 222

Work and Daily Life on the Home Front 227

Changing Patterns on the Home Front 235

Hardship and Death 237

Coping Skills and Union Supporters 242

End of War 244

Suggested Reading 247

Conclusion 250

Index 255

About the author

Sally G. Mc Millen was born March 9, 1944 she is the Mary Reynolds Babcock Professor of History at Davidson College. The professorship was established in 1960 by a gift from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, in honor of Mary Reynolds Babcock, the sister of Zachary Smith Reynolds.

Some of her books include Seneca Falls and the Origins of the Women’s Rights Movement, Motherhood in the Old South: Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Infant Rearing, To Raise Up the South: Sunday Schools in Black and White Churches, 1865-1915 and Southern Women: Black and White in the Old South, 3rd Edition