The everyday life within a plantation manor was anything but easy. The dominant figure within the house was the husband, called the master, who controlled not only the slaves but his family. One’s interpretation of marriage today is not the same as the married life on a plantation. Mistresses were held to stringent rules of a southern lady and were known to not live lives of leisure. They lost almost all of their property rights once married and were only allowed to leave the manor under the watchful eye of a chaperone. This caused most women to stay at home and become very lonely except for the few parties in which they had to do all the planning and supervising. Masters, on the other hand, could come and go as they please. Women had to manage all duties within the manor which included the slaves, and child-rearing with the help of a slave nanny.
As for the children on the plantation, daughters were brought up to become southern ladies and were normally sent to boarding schools. They courted at an early age, some with sons of other plantations to bring the plantation families closer together. Sons were brought up to manage the plantation. Also, there were times when masters had affairs with slave women. The sons and daughters from this miscegenation were regarded as property of the master. He had the right to do with them as he deemed necessary, including selling them to another plantation owner.
REFERENCES
Roark, James L., Michael P. Johnson, Patricia Cline Cohen, Sarah Stage, Alan Lawson, Susan M.
Hartmann, 4th ed. 2009. The American Promise e-Book with Reading the American Past.
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