Discovering Independence:
Elite Plantation Women’s Identity in the Civil War South
Abstract:
Scarlett O’Hara has become the iconic image of elite southern women before, during, and after the Civil War. Through her struggles in a war torn society, she develops a completely new identity from frivolous and dependent to independent and strong. While Scarlett is a fictional example in a Civil War love story, there were many elite plantation women who experienced many of the trials Scarlett endured. For these plantation women, the war turned their world upside down and as they struggled to redefine themselves, they overcame tasks that were outside of the typical jobs of their gender. Through working voluntarily as nurses and in aid societies these women developed a public identity, something they were restricted from prior to the war. Staying on their own land these women took over their husband’s job managing the plantations and developed and independence previously unknown to them. Even while on the road as refugees, living in desolation these women developed an identity as the provider for their families. Throughout the course of the war these elite plantation women’s identity changed from dependent and private into independent, public figures.