Race and Family in the Colonial South

Race and Family in the Colonial South edited by Winthrop D. Jordan and Sheila L. Skemp with essays by Thad W. Tate, Patricia Galloway, Daniel Blake Smith, Philip Morgan, Russell R. Menard, and Robert Middlekauff is a volume of papers from the Porter M. Fortune Chancellor’s Symposium in Southern History held at the University of Mississippi in 1986. This volume questions what was distinctively "southern" about the colonial South. Although this region was diverse and displayed the kind of provincialism that characterized other English colonies during this period, the editors find it difficult to characterize the colonial South as unique. However, the roots of southern distinctiveness were beginning to take hold in the years before the American Revolution, as the papers in this volume attest.

In the opening essay, Tate surveys recent historical scholarship on the period and identifies trends for further study. Galloway examines Indian-French relations in eastern Louisiana during the 18th century. Smith focuses on the family unit and examines the various forces that worked against its formation. Morgan’s essay sheds new light on colonial slavery, which he argues operated within a harsh patriarchal system emphasizing "order, authority, and unswerving obedience." Menard’s essay is also about slavery, specifically the unique system in the Low Country of South Carolina. In the final paper, Middlekauff assesses each of the preceding papers and suggests subjects for future studies of the colonial South.

Winthrop D. Jordan (1931-2007) was an author, historian, and professor of history and Afro-American studies at the University of Mississippi. Sheila L. Skemp is a professor of American history at the University of Mississippi.