Letitia M. Burwell’s account of life on a prosperous Virginia plantation depicts the institution of slavery in its most idyllic form. This book was originally published in 1895 and records her memories of the antebellum upper-class Southern culture. Her accounts of life on the plantation recall pleasant pastoral scenes of a Virginia family involved in their daily routines. Burwell recollects the stories passed down from neighbors and family members, which she believes epitomize the excellence of life in the South. She gives pleasant narratives of dances, food, the bond that her family had with their slaves and staunchly shields the South against the criticisms by outside observers. Although in no way defending slavery as an economic institution, Burwell does point out that in some ways the quality of life in the antebellum South, even for slaves, was better than life in many parts of England, France, and the rest of the world at the time, and that the American South did much to advance the African race, a fact appreciated by many of their servants.
Letitia Burrell believed that people who owned no servants were fortunate. She reminiscences how her mother and grandmother sat up nights with sick servants, and how those two ladies spent much time in discussing the wants and needs of the Negroes "entrusted" to them.
Burwell's allusion to Negroes as an "inferior race" will likely raise eyebrows. It must be understood that she was a woman of her time. It was a fact that most people of that era, north and south, whether they supported the institution of slavery or not, had this conviction. The idea existed among the northern abolitionists, and there is ample historical proof that even Abraham Lincoln believed this. However, this memoir presents a view as seen by one who lived it. It is an honest historical chronicle of antebellum life as Burrell experienced it, and deserves a thorough examination, regardless of the reader's race.
The editor has interpreted some of the more difficult dialect, and added explanatory notes in select places, but the original text has not been altered. This book has been professionally formatted for e-books, and e-book applications.
