In the sugar parishes of Louisiana, enslaved people endured high mortality rates and declining populations at the height of the harsh slave regime in the mid-twentieth century. This resulted from regional disease, brutal working conditions, and a skewed sex ratio where enslaved men consistently outnumbered enslaved women. Following emancipation, freedwomen attempted to rebuild their families and community amid the tumultuous environment that defined the sugar parishes. This thesis utilizes Freedmen's Bureau records, American Missionary Association correspondence, census data, and local newspapers to argue that freedwomen sought to gain control over their labor, bodies, relationships, and children in the postbellum era as they were legally free from slavery's constraints. By building upon both Richard Follett's and John Rodrigue's studies of Louisiana's sugar parishes, this thesis places African American women's experiences at the forefront of the region's historiography, where women have been noticeably absent. Through an analysis of labor complaints and domestic disputes filed by freedwomen in the 1860s, this study illustrates that freedwomen were active participants in the transition from slavery to freedom in Louisiana's sugar country.
","abstract_html":"<p>In the sugar parishes of Louisiana, enslaved people endured high mortality rates and declining populations at the height of the harsh slave regime in the mid-twentieth century. This resulted from regional disease, brutal working conditions, and a skewed sex ratio where enslaved men consistently outnumbered enslaved women. Following emancipation, freedwomen attempted to rebuild their families and community amid the tumultuous environment that defined the sugar parishes. This thesis utilizes Freedmen's Bureau records, American Missionary Association correspondence, census data, and local newspapers to argue that freedwomen sought to gain control over their labor, bodies, relationships, and children in the postbellum era as they were legally free from slavery's constraints. By building upon both Richard Follett's and John Rodrigue's studies of Louisiana's sugar parishes, this thesis places African American women's experiences at the forefront of the region's historiography, where women have been noticeably absent. Through an analysis of labor complaints and domestic disputes filed by freedwomen in the 1860s, this study illustrates that freedwomen were active participants in the transition from slavery to freedom in Louisiana's sugar country.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Talbot, Elizabeth Michelle"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":"History","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Max Grivno","Louis Kyriakadous","Heather Stur"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2013,"date_issued":"2013-08-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2013-08-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:06Z","subjects":["Arts and Humanities","History","United States History"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/560","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Max Grivno","Louis Kyriakadous","Heather Stur"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Talbot, Elizabeth Michelle"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2018-11-26T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["History"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Arts and Humanities","History","United States History"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/560"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["In the sugar parishes of Louisiana, enslaved people endured high mortality rates and declining populations at the height of the harsh slave regime in the mid-twentieth century. This resulted from regional disease, brutal working conditions, and a skewed sex ratio where enslaved men consistently outnumbered enslaved women. Following emancipation, freedwomen attempted to rebuild their families and community amid the tumultuous environment that defined the sugar parishes. This thesis utilizes Freedmen's Bureau records, American Missionary Association correspondence, census data, and local newspapers to argue that freedwomen sought to gain control over their labor, bodies, relationships, and children in the postbellum era as they were legally free from slavery's constraints. By building upon both Richard Follett's and John Rodrigue's studies of Louisiana's sugar parishes, this thesis places African American women's experiences at the forefront of the region's historiography, where women have been noticeably absent. Through an analysis of labor complaints and domestic disputes filed by freedwomen in the 1860s, this study illustrates that freedwomen were active participants in the transition from slavery to freedom in Louisiana's sugar country.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["From Servitude to Freedom: Gender, Labor, and Domestic Relations"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Max Grivno","Louis Kyriakadous","Heather Stur"],"dc:creator":["Talbot, Elizabeth Michelle"],"dc:date.available":["2018-11-26T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["In the sugar parishes of Louisiana, enslaved people endured high mortality rates and declining populations at the height of the harsh slave regime in the mid-twentieth century. This resulted from regional disease, brutal working conditions, and a skewed sex ratio where enslaved men consistently outnumbered enslaved women. Following emancipation, freedwomen attempted to rebuild their families and community amid the tumultuous environment that defined the sugar parishes. This thesis utilizes Freedmen's Bureau records, American Missionary Association correspondence, census data, and local newspapers to argue that freedwomen sought to gain control over their labor, bodies, relationships, and children in the postbellum era as they were legally free from slavery's constraints. By building upon both Richard Follett's and John Rodrigue's studies of Louisiana's sugar parishes, this thesis places African American women's experiences at the forefront of the region's historiography, where women have been noticeably absent. Through an analysis of labor complaints and domestic disputes filed by freedwomen in the 1860s, this study illustrates that freedwomen were active participants in the transition from slavery to freedom in Louisiana's sugar country.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/560"],"dc:subject":["Arts and Humanities","History","United States History"],"dc:title":["From Servitude to Freedom: Gender, Labor, and Domestic Relations"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["History"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:06Z"}