Taut and cogent . . . . They Were Her Property joins a tide of recent books—among them, Sven Beckert’s Empire of Cotton, Edward Baptist’s The Half Has Never Been Told, Walter Johnson’s River of Dark Dreams and Caitlin Rosenthal’s Accounting for Slavery—that examine how slavery laid the foundation of American capitalism."—Parul Sehgal, New York Times"Jones-Rogers is a crisp and focused writer. . . . This scrupulous history makes a vital contribution to our understanding of our past and present.”—Parul Sehgal, New York Times "Compelling."—Renee Graham, Boston Globe "Stunning."—Rebecca Onion, Slate“Jones-Rogers brings an unseen world to life”—Parul Sehgal, International New York Times"Dissects the unacknowledged ways that white women were avid participants in (and beneficiaries of) the American system of slavery."—New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice“Jones-Rogers's They Were Her Property delivers an unsparing look at the white women who wielded power "in their own right" as owners of enslaved people”—Amy Murrell Taylor, Times Literary Supplement"Shatters the narrative that married white women were passive bystanders in the business of slavery."—Rodney Brooks, Washington Post/About Us"Herein lies the greatest innovation of Jones-Rogers’s book—to show that the power white women wielded over enslaved people, reflected in horrific violence, extended into the economic structures of slavery. They engaged in brutal acts with the logic of the market in mind. Hers is the first book to isolate white women as economic actors in the slave system, and thus the first to dismantle another long-standing myth about these women—that they simply stood by as men conducted the business of slavery."—Lynne Feeley, The Nation“This is an important work that changes the way scholars and the public will view the role of white women during antebellum slavery. This book challenges the notion of southern white women as silent beneficiaries of the peculiar institution and suggests that they played a more dominant role in shaping the social and economic structures of plantation life.”—Lonnie G. Bunch III, Founding Director, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Evoke.org"Ought to dispel the myth of the Southern belle for good."—Soraya Mcdonald, TheUndefeated.com“Deeply researched and closely argued, this unflinching, elegantly written volume . . . overturns much of what historians long believed about what one scholar dubbed 'a man’s business.'”—D.R. Egerton, Choice"Jones-Rogers’s work dismantles the notion that white women in slaveholding families were silent actors—instead, she argues, they used the institution of slavery to build a specific concept of womanhood that shaped the history of the nation before and after the Civil War."—Smithsonian Magazine, Ten Best History Books of 2019Named One of the 10 Best History Books of 2019 by Smithsonian Magazine“A bold reinterpretation of the relationship between slavery and slave-owning women in the nineteenth-century South. The prose in They Were Her Property is strong and clear.”—Jeff Forret, Southwestern Historical Quarterly“A groundbreaking work that reorients popular perceptions of slaveholding in American history. . . . A seminal text that should feature in the bibliographies of future works on antebellum slavery. I encourage historians to cite it, instructors to assign it, and public platforms to promote it. Not only does it exemplify Jones-Rogers’s skills as a writer and researcher, but it also provides an example for future scholars who hope to similarly blend creative methodologies, excellent research, and accessible writing.”—Tyler D. Parry, The Journal of Southern HistoryShortlisted for the 2019 Stone Book Award, given by the Museum of African American HistoryWinner of the 2020 Merle Curti Social History Award sponsored by the Organization of American HistoriansWinner of the 2020 Harriet Tubman Book Prize, sponsored by The Lapidus Center for the Historical Analysis of Transatlantic Slavery at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black CultureSelected for Choice's 2019 Outstanding Academic Titles List Finalist for the 2020 Lincoln Prize, sponsored by Gettysburg College and the Gilder Lehrman Ins. of American History“One of the most significant books on the history of women and slavery.”—Edward E. Baptist, author of The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism"Stephanie Jones-Rogers has written a highly original book that will change the way we think about women enslavers in the United States. A must-read for anyone interested in the history of gender, slavery and capitalism."—Daina Ramey Berry, author of The Price for Their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved, from Womb to Grave, in the Building of a Nation"This is a deeply researched and powerfully argued book that completely overturns romanticized notions of the plantation mistresses and resistant southern white women. Stephanie Jones-Rogers reveals how deeply complicit slaveholding white women were in upholding the everyday cruelties and barbarity of racial slavery."—Manisha Sinha, author of The Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition"They Were Her Property casts brilliant, unsparing light on the history of slaveholding women and the terrible oscillation of domination and dependence that defined identities—as wives, as mothers, as mistresses—purchased in the slave market."—Walter Johnson, author of River of Dark Dreams“They Were Her Property is nothing less than phenomenal. It shatters many sacred cows about women’s history and legal history and shows how slaveowning women skirted the limitations of gender norms and statutory law in ways that have been previously underestimated. The findings are buttressed by reading anew a rich and prodigious body of primary sources. This is a must read.”—Tera W. Hunter, Edwards Professor of History and Professor of African-American Studies, Princeton University
"Stephanie Jones-Rogers has written a highly original book that will change the way we think about women enslavers in the United States. A must-read for anyone interested in the history of gender, slavery and capitalism."—Daina Ramey Berry, author of The Price for Their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved, from Womb to Grave, in the Building of a Nation
"They Were Her Property casts brilliant, unsparing light on the history of slaveholding women and the terrible oscillation of domination and dependence that defined identities—as wives, as mothers, as mistresses—purchased in the slave market."—Walter Johnson, author of River of Dark Dreams
03/01/2019
Jones-Rogers (history, Univ. of California, Berkeley) expands her award-winning dissertation to correct the historical record on white women's culpability in the perpetuation of the slave system. Using primary resources including newspapers and archives as well as many secondary sources, Jones-Rogers meticulously portrays how these women strived to maintain and control what they saw as their economic stability. Many white women were gifted or purchased slaves in their own right and as separate from their husbands, and there were complex laws available for women to use as a means to protect their investments. Jones-Rogers uses court cases and newspaper advertisements to show that Southern American women were not just victims of the patriarchy but that they were integral in making the slavery system work. The author uses strong evidence to convince readers to revisit what they think they know about white women and black slavery. Other works that can provide further context include Catherine M. Lewis and J. Richard Lewis's Women and Slavery in America and Elizabeth Fox-Genovese's Within the Plantation Household. VERDICT Strongly recommended for readers interested in this period of U.S. history, or who wish to expand their understanding to include a more honest view of the Southern slave system.—Maria Bagshaw, Elgin Community Coll. Lib., IL
