Bonds of womanhood slavery and the decline of a Kentucky plantation Delfino, Susanna 1949- creator author. text bibliography biography Biographies. Biographies. kyu 2021 monographic eng print ix, 201 pages : illustrations, genealogical table ; 24 cm "Class, race, and gender collide in this insightful examination of the life of Susanna (Susan) Preston Shelby Grigsby (1830-1890)-a white plantation mistress and slaveholder who struggled to participate in the economic modernization of antebellum Kentucky. Drawing on Grigsby's correspondence, author Susanna Delfino uses Grigsby's story to explore the complex cultural and social issues at play in the state's economy before, during, and after the Civil War. Delfino demonstrates that Grigsby engaged in certain kinds of abolitionist activism, such as hiring white servants as a way of conveying her support for free labor and avoiding ever selling an enslaved person. Despite her beliefs, however, Grigsby failed to hold to her moral compass when faced with her husband's patriarchal authority or when she experienced serious economic trouble. This compelling study not only illuminates how white women participated in the South's nineteenth-century economy, but also offers new perspectives on their complicity in slavery"-- Susanna Delfino. Includes bibliographical references and index. n-us-ky Grigsby, Susan Preston Shelby 1830-1891 Ethics Women, White Kentucky 19th century Biography Social change Kentucky 19th century Women, White Kentucky Social conditions 19th century Women, White Kentucky Economic conditions 19th century African American women Kentucky Social conditions 19th century Slavery Economic aspects Kentucky 19th century Slavery Social aspects Kentucky 19th century Grigsby, Susan Preston Shelby 1830-1891 African American women Social conditions Ethics Slavery Economic aspects Slavery Social aspects Social change Women, White Kentucky 1800-1899 fast F445.N4 D45 2021 976.9/03092 B 9780813154831 0813154839 9780813154886 9780813154855 2021049365 NcU/DLC 211026 20220322093144.0 in00004562515 eng