Women In The South During The Antebellum Period

The antebellum time period was a difficult time in American history for women. White women and African American women faced multiple challenges and social stereotypes that bonded them together and divided them. These Social ideals followed them through marriage, the bearing of children, and the raising of children. Women in the South during the antebellum times were idolized for their importance in society. These views though, brought women together and divided them in a few ways. During this time marriage and having a family were important parts of life. Women were expected to marry when they were of age. These expectations shifted based on the women’s social class and race during this time. “…They simply ignored the legal realities and their …show more content…
However the standards of society during the antebellum period overwhelmed this bond with prejudice for each other due to skin color. Division as seen in this paper has shown that not only did it exist in the legal realm of the time, but also carried over to other events in a woman’s life. Overall the author, after reading Born Southern, sees the differences between the women as more influential in the South during the antebellum time period. There are a few main reasons supporting this. First, the way the women were treated before and after birth were more based on what race you were. The white women never tried to intervene nor, improve these conditions for the enslaved women. Second, white women in the South were not helping their own gender, by completely overlooking the fact that the African American women were being held against their will. They also did not speak up about this to their husbands to do anything as there was not much legal standing for any women during this time. Third, even though white women understood the bond between mother and child the women did not try to protect this right for enslaved women as