{"id":{"repo_id":"uno","oai_identifier":"oai:scholarworks.uno.edu:td-2165"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uno/oai:scholarworks.uno.edu:td-2165","repository":{"repo_id":"uno","name":"University of New Orleans","base_url":"https://scholarworks.uno.edu/do/oai/"},"display":{"title":"\"I Have Told You about the Cane and Garden\": White Women, Cultivation, and Southern Society in Central Louisiana, 1852-1874","abstract":"This thesis examines cultivation in the lives of Sarah and Columbia Bennett between the years 1852 and 1874. The Bennett women's letters convey an intimate sense of the agro-economic preoccupations (and gardening pleasures) of these slave-owning white women, and the centrality of cultivation in mid-nineteenth-century rural Louisiana within a landscape of country stores, plantations, and people. As the lives of the Bennett women illustrate, white women's gardening knowledge and practice formed a cornerstone of central Louisiana society. The Bennett women's gardening knowledge and skill were primary components in the creation of a self-sustaining plantation household. By cultivating produce and other foodstuffs for consumption, the Bennett women made possible the family's participation in the lucrative market for cotton and other cash crops, a market that also tied their household to plantation economies elsewhere in the transatlantic world.","abstract_html":"This thesis examines cultivation in the lives of Sarah and Columbia Bennett between the years 1852 and 1874. The Bennett women&#x27;s letters convey an intimate sense of the agro-economic preoccupations (and gardening pleasures) of these slave-owning white women, and the centrality of cultivation in mid-nineteenth-century rural Louisiana within a landscape of country stores, plantations, and people. As the lives of the Bennett women illustrate, white women&#x27;s gardening knowledge and practice formed a cornerstone of central Louisiana society. The Bennett women&#x27;s gardening knowledge and skill were primary components in the creation of a self-sustaining plantation household. By cultivating produce and other foodstuffs for consumption, the Bennett women made possible the family&#x27;s participation in the lucrative market for cotton and other cash crops, a market that also tied their household to plantation economies elsewhere in the transatlantic world.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Swindler, Erin"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"M.A.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"History","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Mitchell, Mary N.","Atkinson, Connie","Powers, Madelon"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2010,"date_issued":"2010-05-14T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2010-05-14T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:29:08Z","subjects":["Sarah Bennett","Ezra Bennett","Columbia Bennett","rural","Louisiana","Rapides Parish","Avoyelles Parish","cultivation","gardens","gardening","cash crops","sugar cane","cotton","filibustering","Cuba","slavery","women","transatlantic"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1182","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Mitchell, Mary N.","Atkinson, Connie","Powers, Madelon"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Swindler, Erin"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["History"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.A."]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Sarah Bennett","Ezra Bennett","Columbia Bennett","rural","Louisiana","Rapides Parish","Avoyelles Parish","cultivation","gardens","gardening","cash crops","sugar cane","cotton","filibustering","Cuba","slavery","women","transatlantic"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1182"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This thesis examines cultivation in the lives of Sarah and Columbia Bennett between the years 1852 and 1874. The Bennett women's letters convey an intimate sense of the agro-economic preoccupations (and gardening pleasures) of these slave-owning white women, and the centrality of cultivation in mid-nineteenth-century rural Louisiana within a landscape of country stores, plantations, and people. As the lives of the Bennett women illustrate, white women's gardening knowledge and practice formed a cornerstone of central Louisiana society. The Bennett women's gardening knowledge and skill were primary components in the creation of a self-sustaining plantation household. By cultivating produce and other foodstuffs for consumption, the Bennett women made possible the family's participation in the lucrative market for cotton and other cash crops, a market that also tied their household to plantation economies elsewhere in the transatlantic world."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["\"I Have Told You about the Cane and Garden\": White Women, Cultivation, and Southern Society in Central Louisiana, 1852-1874"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Mitchell, Mary N.","Atkinson, Connie","Powers, Madelon"],"dc:creator":["Swindler, Erin"],"dc:description.abstract":["This thesis examines cultivation in the lives of Sarah and Columbia Bennett between the years 1852 and 1874. The Bennett women's letters convey an intimate sense of the agro-economic preoccupations (and gardening pleasures) of these slave-owning white women, and the centrality of cultivation in mid-nineteenth-century rural Louisiana within a landscape of country stores, plantations, and people. As the lives of the Bennett women illustrate, white women's gardening knowledge and practice formed a cornerstone of central Louisiana society. The Bennett women's gardening knowledge and skill were primary components in the creation of a self-sustaining plantation household. By cultivating produce and other foodstuffs for consumption, the Bennett women made possible the family's participation in the lucrative market for cotton and other cash crops, a market that also tied their household to plantation economies elsewhere in the transatlantic world."],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1182"],"dc:subject":["Sarah Bennett","Ezra Bennett","Columbia Bennett","rural","Louisiana","Rapides Parish","Avoyelles Parish","cultivation","gardens","gardening","cash crops","sugar cane","cotton","filibustering","Cuba","slavery","women","transatlantic"],"dc:title":["\"I Have Told You about the Cane and Garden\": White Women, Cultivation, and Southern Society in Central Louisiana, 1852-1874"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["History"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.A."]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:29:08Z"}