{"product_id":"life-in-black-and-white-family-and-community-in-the-slave-south-paperback","title":"Life in Black and White: Family and Community in the Slave South - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eBrenda E. Stevenson\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLife in the old South has always fascinated Americans--whether in the mythical portrayals of the planter elite from fiction such as \u003cem\u003eGone With the Wind\u003c\/em\u003e or in historical studies that look inside the slave cabin. Now Brenda E. Stevenson presents a reality far more gripping than popular legend, \u003cbr\u003eeven as she challenges the conventional wisdom of academic historians. \u003cem\u003eLife in Black and White\u003c\/em\u003e provides a panoramic portrait of family and community life in and around Loudoun County, Virginia--weaving the fascinating personal stories of planters and slaves, of free blacks and poor-to-middling\u003cbr\u003ewhites, into a powerful portrait of southern society from the mid-eighteenth century to the Civil War.\u003cbr\u003e Loudoun County and its vicinity encapsulated the full sweep of southern life. Here the region's most illustrious families--the Lees, Masons, Carters, Monroes, and Peytons--helped forge southern traditions and attitudes that became characteristic of the entire region while mingling with yeoman\u003cbr\u003efarmers of German, Scotch-Irish, and Irish descent, and free black families who lived alongside abolitionist Quakers and thousands of slaves. Stevenson brilliantly recounts their stories as she builds the complex picture of their intertwined lives, revealing how their combined histories guaranteed\u003cbr\u003eLoudon's role in important state, regional, and national events and controversies. Both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, for example, were hidden at a local plantation during the War of 1812. James Monroe wrote his famous \"Doctrine\" at his Loudon estate. The area also was\u003cbr\u003ethe birthplace of celebrated fugitive slave Daniel Dangerfield, the home of John Janney, chairman of the Virginia secession convention, a center for Underground Railroad activities, and the location of John Brown's infamous 1859 raid at Harpers Ferry.\u003cbr\u003e In exploring the central role of the family, Brenda Stevenson offers a wealth of insight: we look into the lives of upper class women, who bore the oppressive weight of marriage and motherhood as practiced in the South and the equally burdensome roles of their husbands whose honor was tied to their\u003cbr\u003eability to support and lead regardless of their personal preference; the yeoman farm family's struggle for respectability; and the marginal economic existence of free blacks and its undermining influence on their family life.\u003cbr\u003e Most important, Stevenson breaks new ground in her depiction of slave family life. Following the lead of historian Herbert Gutman, most scholars have accepted the idea that, like white, slaves embraced the nuclear family, both as a living reality and an ideal. Stevenson destroys this notion, \u003cbr\u003eshowing that the harsh realities of slavery, even for those who belonged to such attentive masters as George Washington, allowed little possibility of a nuclear family. Far more important were extended kin networks and female headed households.\u003cbr\u003eMeticulously researched, insightful, and moving, \u003cem\u003eLife in Black and White\u003c\/em\u003e offers our most detailed portrait yet of the reality of southern life. It forever changes our understanding of family and race relations during the reign of the peculiar institution in the American South.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrenda E. Stevenson\u003c\/strong\u003e, a native of Virginia, is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the editor of \u003cem\u003eThe Journals of Charlotte Forten Grimke.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 496\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.41 x 9.2 x 6.17 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e November 06, 1997\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52403488358705,"sku":"9780195118032","price":111.31,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0958\/3486\/5969\/files\/eU9kSTRvYU82UWFxMS82OUhTbUVjZz09.webp?v=1768918505","url":"https:\/\/www.welibooks.com\/products\/life-in-black-and-white-family-and-community-in-the-slave-south-paperback","provider":"Welibooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}