They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South opens Goodreads in a new tab

My thoughts

4/5stars When we listen to what enslaved people had to say about white women and slave mastery, we find that they articulated quite clearly their belief that slave-owning women governed their slaves in the same ways that white men did; sometimes they were more effective at slave management or they used more brutal methods of discipline than their husbands did. This is one of those books which is tagged as the Must Read/Basics of theory for Black history and I'm just here to reiterate that. This book is packed with information on the black history, specifically the slave trading history in South America and the key role women played in this business back then. White women were in no way the victims or the mute observers of these crimes, they actively participated and the author brings to light enough evidence in support of this argument. Slave-owning women not only witnessed the most brutal features of slavery, they took part in them, profited from them, and defended them. Although this book might be a difficult read for a lot people, especially if you are from a non-academic background because the text is very research-y. But if you keep at it, by the end of this book you will have a great knowledge about the workings of the systems in place back then. This I think should be a compulsory read for any feminist or historical class. Or for anyone else willing to learn about the economic history of slave trading and how white women profited off of it equally, if not more. Although, the legalities of the things mentioned in the book sometimes tend to get a little repetitive it is important to read and critically analyze them to understand the gravity of the situation. Enslaved people also remembered slave-owning women giving their children human property, which contradicts historians’ claims that bequests and gifting of enslaved people were practices in which only slave-owning men engaged HIGHLY RECOMMEND, GIVE THIS ONE YOUR TIME. IT DESERVES!