The Stacks Ep. 364 They Were Her Property by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers — The Stacks Book Club (Tembe Denton-Hurst)
Mar 26, 2025
Tembe Denton-Hurst, a keen author and journalist, returns to share her insights on Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers' pivotal book, They Were Her Property. They delve into the complex roles of white women in the American South, revealing their active complicity in slavery's brutality and the economic systems built upon it. The conversation explores how societal norms masked this involvement, the eerie rituals of mastery in slavery, and the underlying economic motivations behind seemingly benevolent acts. Tembe encourages readers to confront these hard truths.
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White Women Were Active Slaveholders
- Stephanie E. Jones‑Rogers shows white women were active, not passive, participants in slavery across many cases.
- The book reframes scholarship by using abundant archival evidence to prove systemic female agency in slavery.
Why The Book Feels Repetitive
- Academic history often repeats evidence to meet peer review and to restore suppressed voices.
- Tracy notes Stephanie included many firsthand testimonies to build a durable archive for future historians.
Slaveholding As Mastery And Culture
- The authors treat slaveholding as a learned, masterful practice with rituals, manuals, and status.
- Tracy and Tembe call it 'mastery'—a cultivated skillset for running the economy of human property.