Plantation Paternalism
Date: Wed, 19 Jun 1996
From: Angie
Subject: Plantation Paternalism Query
Hello folks,
I am new to the H-South list. I am currently working on my master's degree at Georgia State University. I hope to write a thesis focusing on the theory of paternalism as it applies ( or actually does not apply) to plantations owned by absentee landlords, concentrating specifically on the Manigaults of South Carolina. First I was wondering if anyone could suggest good secondary sources or supplementary primary material(extra opinions always help).
Secondly, I was wondering if anyone could suggest good programs for Phd. work in Southern anetbellum and colonial history. I would like to eventually examine patriarchical structure in the colonial South. Also, could anyone suggest a good way to locate grants, etc? Georgia State unfortunately gives very little in the way of networking support. Lastly, I want some honest opinions about the future of the job market for historians. I have attempted a broad program -- Southern US before 1860, colonial Africa, and a heavy does of women's studies. I'm only 25, and it's not too late to flee academia if prospects for a good job are dim!! I've been reading *Perspectives* too much recently not to be a little nervous. Thanks for your time!
Angie
Date: Thu, 20 Jun 1996 14:15:24 -0400 From: Rick Halpern
The place to start is Bill Dusinberre's just published _Them Dark Days: Slavery in American Rice Swamps_ (NY: Oxford 1996). Of sepcial importance are the six chapters that make up part One entitled "Gowrir: a Manigault Estate". See also (of course!) the "debate" between James Oakes and Genovese about the nature of planter paternalism.
You might want to think comparatively as well. In addition to Peter Kolchin's wonderful study of Russian serfdom and American slavery, see Sheaerer Bowman Davis on planters and Prussian Junkers, and Charles van Onselen's work in South African History. Finally, there is some excellent work in progress in my own department on paternalism and landed elites in the American South and southern Italy.
Rick Halpern
Department of History
University College London
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT
UK
Date: Thu, 20 Jun 1996
From: Chris Morris
Subject: Re: Plantation Paternalism Query
Angie: On the Manigaults, you should look at, if you haven't already, a new book, William Dusinberre, _Them Dark Days: Slavery in the American Rice Swamps_ (Oxford Universiyt Press, 1996). This book devotes over a hundred pages to Charles and Louis Manigault's Gowrie plantation.
Chris Morris
Univeristy of Texas at Arlington
Date: Thu, 20 Jun 1996
From: L. Schwalm
Subject: Re: Plantation Paternalism Query
In response to Angie's inquiry for secondary sources on the plantation South, I would recommend William Dusinberre's *Them Dark Days: Slavery in the American Rice Swamps* (Oxford, 1996), a third of which is devoted to the Manigault holdings. Another recent work, one which focuses on Loundon County, Virginia, is Brenda Stevenson's *Life in Black & White: Family and Community in the Slave South* (Oxford, 1996). I highly recommend Stevenson's work, in part for its sophisticated analysis of gender conventions and gender relations in the context of plantation life.
As for the job market for historians, it may be somewhat less dismal for 19th century specialists than for those in the 20th century. Certainly your combined fields suggest that you could bring significant breadth to a small department that might rely on its members to wear more than one hat.
Good Luck!
Leslie Schwalm
Dept. of History
University of Iowa
Date: Sat, 22 Jun 1996
From: Daina L. Ramey
Angie,
You may want to read Philip Morgan's "Three Planters and Their Slaves: Perspectives on Slavery in Virginia, South Carolina, and Jamaica" in Winthrop Jordan and Sheila Skemp's (eds.) _Race and Slavery in the Colonial South_ 1987. Although Morgan does not discuss the Manigaults, he offers a nice discussion on the distinctions between patriarchialism and paternalism which I think you might find useful.
As a doctoral student,my advice for you is to research Ph.D. programs with people you may be interested in working under. Find out where people are who are conducting research similar to your interests, contact them, and seek out as much information as you can about the program. Also, don't worry about the job market, cross that bridge when it comes. Good luck! If you have any questions, feel free to email me anytime.
Daina L. Ramey
Doctoral Student
UCLA Department of History
Date: Sat, 22 Jun 1996
From: stephen paul budney
Angie:
Because someone replied with some comparative history suggestions, let me include the following. If you want to know more about paternalism and absentee landlordship, I can't think of a better place to start than the sugar plantations of the British West Indies; they have the added advantage of familial and slave trade links to South Carolina. A good primary source is _Journal of a West Indian Planter_ by Matthew G. (Monk) Lewis. Don't pass this one up. If you can't find a reprint, it was serialized in the _Edinburgh Review_ of 1834 and is available on microfilm. As for secondary sources, examining works by Douglas Hall and Phillip Curtin would not hurt because they will certainly lead you in helpful directions.
Steve Budney
University of Mississippi
Date: Sat, 22 Jun 1996
From: Randolph Hollingsworth
Dear Angie, your recent query and self-description drew me out of my lurking on this list.... I too am interested in antebellum South + women's studies I teach full-time (aware of the pains of partime work) at Lexington Comm Coll (next to the Univ of Ky) and there I celebrate the wildly eccentric role of expanding the curriculum to include women's studies and African history. I'm having a great time this summer buried deep in pamphlets, local news- papers and letters exploring the complexities of "paternalism" vs. "patriarchy" in Lexington in the 1840s. Meanwhile Theda Perdue as chair of my Ph.D. committee at the Univ. of Ky. has got me started reading lots of folks who talk about paternalism. I am in the midst of John B. Boles and Jack Temple Kirby who talk about the South's image in the nation's history; but I would re-read the wonderful tome _Within the Plantation Household_ by Elizabeth Fox-Genovese just to see why I was persuaded by her version of paternalistic planters away from Steven Stowe/Daniel Blake Smith/Jan Lewis/Bertram Wyatt- Brown/Wilbur J. Cash.... to name just a few fellows who are quite sure the ante-bellum household was patriarchal.
I'm wondering right now if we can separate issues of kinship from issues of class and gender. I think Joan Cashin's _A Family Venture_ has been a fun read for me because she raises this theoretical issue so well. Some historians feel that class makes gaping holes between women in the South, but I fear class in the South (aptly described in the 1960s by Eugene Genovese) is not so clear cut. Among women, personal relationships may transcend economic indicators that social historians might use to designate class. Orville Vernon Burton found number-crunching useful in determining a patriarchal nuclear family as the norm in South Carolina, but I'm not sure this pattern will hold true among the big white families in Kentucky. I'm finding out that familial relationships and the principles of reciprocity (as you learned from your studies in African history!) are resounding loud and clear in the papers I read.... no matter how rich or poor, and sometimes even crosses races. I'm still looking though.....
And you might want to consider the fact that it is going to take me quite a few summers (if I can afford the day care) before I feel confident about bringing these Kentuckians to print. Working full-time in a community college is wonderful, addictive and keeps us hoping to meet ends at the end of every month, but I never have time to do research other than what is needed specifically for one of my five classes. If you want to write and research then play the grant-writing game.... otherwise, get a job and hope to squeeze it in sometime in your spare time. That's my 2 cents worth! Thanks for writing!
Randolph Hollingsworth
Associate Professor of History
Lexington Community College
Lexington, Kentucky 40506-0235
(606) 257-3635 FAX (606) 257-4339
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