They Were Her Property, Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers

They Were Her Property:  White women as slave owners in the American south by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers seemed like an interesting angle to look at slavery.  Read by Allyson Johnson

Started: 7/18/2020

Completed: 7/21/2020

Recommendation: Highly Recommended

Recommended By:  My Wife

Review:

Slavery as an institution was awful.  In general, however, I thought that while white women surely benefited from slavery, I did not think of them as owners.  This was due to my incorrect belief that women in the South at that time could not own property.  While there may have been laws like that, in some parts of the South, it turns out that such laws were broadly ignored with regard to slaves.  This book details that not only did white women own slaves, but that they directed their actions, punished, and abused them.  It is really hard to read, but important.  Another thing that I learned through this book was that the Works Project in the 1930s interviewed former slaves and that was very interesting as well.