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396875074295000What does the story of Frances Anne Kemble reveal about slavery in the southern states of the USA?Who was Frances Anne Kemble? Frances Anne Kemble was born into a wealthy family in London on the 27 November 1809. In 1821, she left London for a boarding school in Paris to study art and music. In 1829 she began her acting career at the age of 20 at the Covent Garden Theatre, where she stared as Juliet in ‘Romeo and Juliet’. In 1832 Frances visited the USA with her father. Whilst living and acting in the city of Philadelphia, Frances met her future husband, Pierce Butler. Pierce was the grandson of a Founding Father of the USA and the heir to cotton, tobacco, and rice plantations in the state of Georgia. Hundreds of people were enslaved on these plantations. Slaves were used as free labour for these important crops. When Pierce came into his inheritance, he became the second largest slaveowner in the Georgia. He and Frances married in 1834. At first Pierce refused to allow Frances to accompany him on trips to his plantations. However, she was determined to see what plantation life was like and begged him to let her go. During her time at the plantations she wrote her famous ‘Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation, 1838-1839.’ Her experiences in Georgia of her husband’s plantations led to her opposition to slavery, and her journal takes a strong anti-slavery stance. Due to their intense disagreements over slavery, Frances left her husband in 1845 and consequently gave up her legal rights to their two daughters. How typical was Frances of white female slave owners in the USA? Frances married a slave-owner. The historian Stephanie Jones-Roger argues in her book, ‘Property: White women as Slave Owners in the American South’, that up to 40% of slave-owners were white women. These women, themselves, were disadvantaged as women, but advantaged for being white. For a long time, historians regarded ‘plantation mistresses’ as having a passive role in slavery. Stephanie Jones-Roger argues that ‘white women actively participated in the slave market, profited from it, and used it for economic and social empowerment,’ often employing management techniques that were as brutal as those used by slave-owning men. Frances was not typical as a white woman married to a slave owner who turned against slave owners and wrote about the harsh reality of plantation slavery.What can we learn from this quote from Frances’ journal?“In considering the whole condition of the people on this plantation, it appears to me that the principle hardships fall to the lot of the women…”We can learn that being female meant that a person was likely to have an even tougher life as a slave. Throughout her journal Frances showed a great deal of sympathy towards mothers. For example, she was appalled after hearing that Eddie, a young female slave, was due to start working on the fields just three weeks after giving birth to a stillborn child. Furthermore, Frances describes the number of sick female slaves in the dirty plantation infirmary, including women frightened to go into labour. Frances later wrote about the shocking number of babies who died, stating “death was indeed better than life for such children.” The journal is full of accounts of the crimes committed against enslaved people, such as the whipping of a mother of ten children, the separation of families at slave auctions and the hiring out of slaves for hard manual labour. In an attempt to improve the lives of the slaves on her husband’s plantations, Frances spent time cleaning the infirmary, reading to children, and holding Sunday services during which she would read them the Bible. How did Frances Anne Kemble become involved in the abolitionist movement?The manuscript of her journal was circulated amongst abolitionists in the USA before it was published. Abolitionists were people who wanted to see an end to slavery because it was cruel and inhuman. Most people in the USA were not abolitionists. Frances published her ‘Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation, 1838-1839’ in 1863. This was during the American Civil War, a conflict that saw the end of slavery in the United States, when the northern states defeated the southern states and forced them to end slavery. Frances purposely published her journal during the Civil War to help sway opinion against slavery. Hundreds of copies were sold in the first week in New York alone. Importantly, Frances’ journal was the first eyewitness testimony by a white woman to condemn slavery.Think!What does Frances’ early life tell us about travel opportunities for rich people during the nineteenth century?Why did slavery continue in the American South so long after the abolition of trading in slaves from Africa?What have you learnt about women and slavery from reading Frances’ story?Over to you!You can find out more about Georgia, slavery and Pierce Butler via an internet search for ‘The Weeping Time: A forgotten history of the largest slave auction ever on American soil’. Frances Anne Kemble also wrote poetry and became a friend of the novelist Henry James. You can find some of her poetry and more about her later life online. Teacher notes: ‘What does the story of Frances Anne Kemble reveal about slavery in the southern states of the USA?What is a slot-in?A slot-in is a short story from the past that is rich in historical concepts. You can use a slot-in as part of a longer sequence, or as cover work, or in those moments where you need something short. They are also useful for building connection and coherence across the history curriculum.The concept focus of this enquiryThe enquiry question here is ‘What does the story of Frances Anne Kemble reveal about slavery in the southern states of the USA?’ Frances’ narrative gives a unique insight into plantation slavery and women in nineteenth century USA. It may surprise students to learn that women were active participants in the slave system, and that a woman such as Frances could have such an important voice in the abolitionist movement.Curriculum LinksThis slot in could be used to complement the study of:The Trans-Atlantic Slave TradePlantation slavery in the American SouthAbolitionist movementsWomenTravelActivity suggestionsYou might just want students to read this story, make a connection to a wider topic and move on. However, you might decide to use this material for a whole lesson with activities. You could consider using it:As part of an evaluation of diaries as sources. To set up a contrast between Frances Anne Kemble’s journal and the journal of Ella Gertrude Thomas. The women have opposing views on slavery.To set up a contrast between Frances Anne Kemble’s role in the abolitionist movement and that of another woman. To set up a comparison of the life of a plantation mistress and that of female slaves.To delve deeper into the hardships that were unique to female slaves, such as childbirth and motherhood on a plantation.Misconceptions to dispelThat it was only men who could own property (slaves),Not all women in the past were heroic, many treated their slaves appallingly, That women were not simply passive.Useful places to link to for teacher knowledge…The Journal is available on this link: the American South has lots of slave narrativesIf you are interested in learning a lot more about plantation mistresses and female slaves, ‘Southern Women: Black and White in the Old South’ by Sally G. McMillen provides a comparison of the hardships facing both black and white women.Other diaries/letters written by plantation mistresses: ‘Mistress of Riversdale, the Plantation Letters of Rosalie Stier Calvert, 1795-1821’ edited by Margaret Law Callcott. Like Frances, Rosalie was not born in the US South and so had a broader view than the US South culture. ‘A plantation Mistress on the eve of the Civil War: The diary of Keziah Goodwyn Hopkins Brevard 1860-1861’ edited by John Hammond Moore. This diary is much more negative and shocking in regard to the way Keziah speaks about her slaves. ................
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