Scholars Thought White Women Were Passive Enslavers. They Were Wrong. (New York Times, November 22, 2024).
For generations, scholars argued that white women were rarely involved in the active buying and selling of Black people. A growing body of research says otherwise.
When this article from the New York Times was published recently, we wondered—how many enslavers in Montgomery County, MD were women, and how many enslaved persons did they claim?
The Naming the Enslaved Committee at MoCoLMP has been busy transcribing the typed 1867 Slave Census for Montgomery County, which was created to record: the names of county enslavers in 1864; how many persons they enslaved; and, the estimated value of the enslaved. The enslavers hoped to be compensated by the federal government for the loss of their human property during the Civil War. (This didn't happen.)
We found some interesting numbers in the census. Here in Montgomery County:
137 of 467 total enslavers were women (listed in the 1867 Slave Census), which totaled 29% of all listed enslavers.
These 137 women owned 25% of all listed enslaved persons—832 enslaved women, men, and children out of 3,347 total.
These women claimed an average of 6 enslaved persons apiece—anywhere from 1 to 34, working in homes and out on plantations.
32 (23%) of the women enslaved 10–34 persons.
80—over half (58%) of these women enslaved 5 or fewer persons.
If you’d like to help us uncover more hidden history, email MoCoLMP.
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