Single, White, Slaveholding Women in the Nineteenth-Century American South Marie S. Molloy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Molloy, Marie S., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women slaveholders--Southern States--History--19th century.

Women slaveholders.

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

Single women.

Southern States--History--1865-1877.

Southern States.

Southern States--History--1775-1865.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1 online resource.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Manufacture:

Baltimore, Md. : Project MUSE, 2018

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.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781611178715

1611178711

OCLC:

1028581574