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The Southern Plantation Lady - A Different Kind of Slave?

© Katie Anne Gustafsson

The general image of a society woman from the pre-Civil War Southern States of America is that of a "Southern Belle". Simpering and protected, moving through life with not a thought passing through her mind more serious than what colour gown she should wear at the next ball, and although many upper class ladies who would have fit into this category all of their lives, for many this was not the case.

Young ladies were raised to marry gentlemen. They were cosseted by their families until they were of marriageable age and then launched into Society. Often they were married as young as 15. What a shock that must have been for a girl only half-way through her teens. A child bride who had not even had to dress herself, suddenly responsible for the smooth running of anything from a large townhouse, to the domestic side of running a plantation. It is those who became the lady of the plantation house that this article refers.

Plantation owner's wives did not spend their entire lives gossiping with neighbours and attending socials. They worked as hard as the house slaves they owned, and in some cases harder. Other than work in the fields, as women lower down the social ladder may have been expected to do, nothing was out of the jurisdiction of the Lady of the House. The home, and the people who lived on the land owned by her husband, were her responsibility to feed, clothe, discipline (although not usually physically) and attend in sickness. Many of these plantation ladies spun, wove and stitched in order to provide clothing for their slaves, not to mention being able to stitch their own ball gowns.

It was not unusual for the owner's Lady to attend and assist slaves in childbirth. It was also common for them to have large families themselves. Thomas Danby's (who owned 1000 acres in Mississippi and 500 slaves) wife had 16 children, and still managed to carry on her housekeeping responsibilities on the plantation. Even though she was married to one of the wealthiest men in the State, she was expected to perform the duties of a plantation wife herself.

Even if time permitted, life on a plantation was not tied up in a social whirl. The South was not settled in large urban clusters like the North. The farming and plantation lands were widespread geographically and so the plantation ladies were often quite isolated from other women of a similar class and status. Weather conditions and epidemics could keep the women imprisoned in the house for long periods. The mail in some areas came once a week. Visitors however were much welcomed and could stay for weeks or even months!

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