Idealizing birth and motherhood in the Antebellum south -- Conception and pregnancy: southern women's experiences of reproduction -- Childbirth: commonalities and divisions -- Motherhood: infant nurturing and identity -- Fatherhood and the southern patriarchy -- Birth and professional identity in the Antebellum south -- Birth, motherhood, and the sectional crisis
Summary
"In 'Born Southern, ' V. Lynn Kennedy addresses the pivotal roles of birth and motherhood in slaveholding families and communities in the Old South. She assesses the power structures of race, gender, and class -- both in the household and in the public sphere -- and how they functioned to construct a distinct antebellum southern society"--Cover