They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South

By Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers CEF ’17

Historians have gotten it wrong when it comes to white women owning slaves. Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers’ new book, They Were Her Property, sets the record straight. Using WPA interviews of formerly enslaved people, Dr. Jones-Rogers shows the ways in which white woman used the enslaved to build their own wealth and status. Actively participating in and benefiting from the slave market, women used management tactics as vicious as those of their male counterparts.

The New York Times calls Dr. Jones-Rogers’ work “crisp and focused… [a] scrupulous history.” It illuminates a history that may be challenging and even painful to confront, but is nonetheless crucial to an accurate understanding of the past.

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