In my Father's House Are Many Mansions

Burton traces the evolution of Edgefield County from the antebellum period through Reconstruction and beyond. From amassed information on every household in this large rural community, he tests the many generalizations about southern black and white families of this period and finds that they were strikingly similar. Wealth, rather than race or class, was the main factor that influenced family structure, and the matriarchal family was but a myth. This detailed treatment of the economics, patterns, and rhythms of rural life, including analyses of religion and religious themes in the agrarian community, will advance our understanding of rural history and race relations in the South.

First sentence: Midway between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean, Edgefield County (a "district" until 1868) was on the western border of South Carolina, separated from Georgia by the Savannah River (see Map I).

Year

1985

Language

English

Publisher

The University of North Carolina Press

Editions

3

Pages

501

ISBN

9780807841839

Data source: Wikidata