Dissertation Information for Daina L. Ramey NAME: - Daina L. Ramey
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- History
SCHOOL:
- University of California, Los Angeles (USA) (1998)
ADVISORS: - Brenda E. Stevenson
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - Ellen Carol DuBois - Claudia Mitchell-Kernan
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: 'A place of our own': Labor, family and community among female slaves in Piedmont and Tidewater Georgia, 1820-1860
Abstract: This study examines the experiences of female slaves on rice and cotton plantations in antebellum Georgia. More specifically, it is a comparative study that focuses on the impact of labor on family and community development in the piedmont and tidewater regions of Wilkes and Glynn Counties. Assuming that slaves worked for majority of their days, this dissertation uncovers the ways in which slave women adapted to the demands of labor while trying to maintain cohesive family units. In order to differentiate one slave's experience from another, scholars should consider at least these four criteria: region, demographic characteristics, labor patterns, and the attitudes of their masters.
Female slaves in Wilkes and Glynn Counties developed strategies to establish unified families. In doing so, however, they faced obstacles caused by abroad relationships, infant mortality, enforced isolation, rape, and the threat of permanent separation. The distinct nature of slavery in each region created different options for these women. Wilkes County slaves, for example, resided in a flexible slave community that expanded across plantations and counties, leaving them with greater chances of finding a mate. Their labor on short-staple cotton plantations provided them with a modicum of free-time, particularly during the "lay-by" season. Glynn County bondswomen, by contrast, were not allowed to travel beyond the confines of their home plantations. Therefore, women in this region had to find mates on their home plantations. This was not difficult considering that the large size slaveholdings common in Glynn County contained conducive options for establishing multiple-generation families. Despite the presence of physical stability, Glynn County women experienced intensive labor patterns cultivating rice and Sea Island cotton.
Women laborers in both regions operated as skilled workers in both agricultural and non-agricultural settings. Slaveowners sometimes hired out or loaned enslaved females to work for other planters because of their skills. In tidewater regions such as Glynn County, bondswomen represented the backbone of the labor system. Female workers in the piedmont were also valued, but the small slaveholding size did not require a large work force. Regardless of their work experiences, slave women in both regions did "nothing but work."
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MPACT Scores for Daina L. Ramey A = 0
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calculated 2008-10-08 10:18:35
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