Women During The Antebellum Era

To describe a typical woman’s life during the antebellum era would be a gross oversimplification of the varying lives of women based on social status and structure. Women of wealth, common white women and enslaved women conducted their lives as an adaptation to domestic sphere and social sphere which influenced their roles. While the cult of domesticity remained intact, the role of southern women differed drastically among social classes. From organizing and hosting large gatherings to long hours laboring in the fields, the typical antebellum woman’s domestic sphere was directly affected by status in the social hierarchy. Enslaved women in the antebellum south suffered immensely, although some were not willing to play the role of the submissive slave. In her narrative, Cornelia’s says her mother “did not make a good slave,” because “she was too high-spirited and and independent.”[1] Because slave families closely resembled the familial structures of African cultures, women often were the head of the household, as opposed to the submissive wife of the wealthy slave owning men. In addition to the domestic and agricultural expectations of slaves by their owners, slave women relentlessly strived to retain kinships. Regardless of their resistance, many slave women were subjected to forced breeding and assaults by their “masters.”[2]
With husbands and sons away at war, wealthy white women were responsible for maintaining disciple among the slaves and maintain the expected behaviors of society. Organizing lavish affairs and maintaing domesticity fell heavily upon the shoulders of the slave