Summary of Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers's They Were Her Property

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 White southern girls learned how to be slave owners through an instructional process that spanned their childhood and adolescence. They practiced techniques of slave discipline and management, made mistakes and learned from them, and eventually decided what kind of slave owners they wanted to become. #2 Before the American Revolution, primogeniture was the practice of leaving all the family property to the eldest son. But after the Revolution, Americans looked upon primogeniture unfavorably, as it disadvantaged many young men and women. #3 The wills of slave-owning parents and relatives would leave decisions about equitable distribution up to the executor. Under these circumstances, estate administrators would arrange drawing ceremonies in which they portioned out the slaves. #4 Slave-owning parents allowed their daughters to assume the roles of instructor and disciplinarian early on, and they forced enslaved people to use the salutations Master and Mistress when referring to their children.