Single, white, slaveholding women in the nineteenth-century American South / Marie S. Molloy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Molloy, Marie S., author.

Contributor:

Sabin W. Colton, Jr., Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Slaveholders.

History.

Single women.

Southern States--History--1775-1865.

Southern States.

Southern States--History--1865-1877.

Single women--Southern States--History--19th century.

Slaveholders--Southern States--History--19th century.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

x, 228 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Columbia, South Carolina : The University of South Carolina Press, [2018]

Summary:

"Single, White, Slaveholding Women in the Nineteenth-Century American South investigates the lives of unmarried white women--from the pre- to the post-Civil War South--within a society that placed high value on women's marriage and motherhood. Marie S. Molloy examines female singleness to incorporate nonmarriage, widowhood, separation, and divorce. These single women were not subject to the laws and customs of coverture, in which females were covered by or subject to the governance of fathers, brothers, and husbands, and therefore lived with greater autonomy than married women. Molloy contends that the Civil War proved a catalyst for accelerating personal, social, economic, and legal changes for these women. Being a single woman during this time often meant living a creative and nuanced life, operating within a tight framework of traditional gender conventions while managing subtle changes that worked to their advantage. Singleness was often a route to autonomy and independence that over time expanded and reshaped traditional ideals of Southern womanhood"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

The construction of femininity in the antebellum South

Single women and the southern family

Work

Female friendship

Law, property, and the single woman.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Sabin W. Colton, Jr., Memorial Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Molloy, Marie S. Single, white, slaveholding women in the nineteenth-century American South.

ISBN:

9781611178708

1611178703

OCLC:

1011514968