Enslaved Women in America: An Encyclopedia

This book looks at the experience of enslaved women in America, focusing particularly on the period before and during the American Civil War when slavery in the Old South was an accepted way of life. Through contributors from the USA, and Europe, the encyclopaedia seeks to examine the daily life of enslaved women including action and agency, the notion of property, the body, biography and autobiography, legal rights, education, parenting and sexuality.

Daina Ramey Berry, editor in chief of the encyclopaedia, makes the point that often, studies of slavery during this period seem to concentrate on male narratives, or at...