They Were Her Property by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers
Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in History, this groundbreaking work challenges conventional narratives about slavery in America. Historian Jones-Rogers reveals how white women operated as deliberate economic actors within the slave system, often inheriting enslaved people as their primary wealth source and refusing to surrender ownership to their husbands.
Drawing on diverse historical sources, the book demonstrates that enslaved women wielded management strategies as calculated and severe as those employed by male slave owners. They actively bought, sold, and profited from the slave market, leveraging it for economic independence and social advancement.
By interweaving the stories of enslaved people and their enslavers, Jones-Rogers offers a stark reexamination of how wealth, power, and complicity shaped the antebellum South. Essential reading for anyone seeking a fuller understanding of American slavery and its enduring legacies.
Paperback edition.
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