Hailey Duncan

Dr. Michael Gagnon

Social History of Ante-Bellum America 4000

19 November 2002

Southern Belle: The Elite Women of the South

            “If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now, it’s just a spring clean for the May-Queen.” These are words from a song made famous by a popular band, Led Zeppelin, in the 1970’s. The intended meaning of this phrase is of no importance here, but what is important is their use of the May Queen. What is a May Queen? Who is she? What is her purpose and to whom does she appeal?  The answers are easy and they all correspond to the elite class of women who presided in the southern United States, and Athens, Georgia, will be the main concern for this paper. These women are wealthy and aristocratic, the wives of prominent slave-holding gentlemen. Southern elite women are more than just mythical “southern belles.” They are actually well-versed and educated ladies. The “southern belle” is supposed to be the natural product of aristocratic breeding[1]. While the natural breeding does apply, southern elite women are also associated with grand occasions of higher education. They live lives of prestige and wealth, and lives where they find themselves entertaining the most powerful and intelligent people of the day. These ladies embody so much, not only of their elite class status, but also their southern culture and proud heritage.

            The elite of the southern women are profound in many different and extraordinary ways. Their contributions to charities and fund- raisers are numerous. They are also involved in many church activities and are active members of their various parishes. They enjoy the finer aspects of life, from food and clothes to leisurely escapades and other forms of entertainment. Their role to play in society is one of the utmost care and refinement. The education one receives, on being an elite southern woman, especially in an intellectual-oriented cultural hub such as Athens, Georgia, is one of excellent opportunity and quality.  In the Ante-Bellum period, education for women is a real privilege and only the upper classes can be expected to have any education.[2] Respectable fathers, and then husbands, want their daughters and wives to be culturally and socially perfected in every way. Men of high power and position need a woman who is intelligent and can properly entertain the guests of parties, where topics of conversation are sure to include politics and literature. Proper, elite ladies, therefore, are well educated. They are also the perfect models of such high esteemed southern virtues as piety, purity, and patience, in which a great deal of emphasis is placed. They are concerned and dedicated wives, mothers, teachers, helpers, learners, activists and models of decorum and behavior.     

            While it is widely speculated that the “southern belle” constituted a large portion of the population, in actuality, her existence is quite small. The “southern belle” is an extraordinary example of how a small minority of the wealthy and elite in a region can soon become one of that region’s ultimate trademarks, as seen in the movie “Gone With The Wind,” for example. Only five percent of the elite southern women actually lived on huge plantations, with a hundred or more slaves. These women are considered the role models of their towns. Quite often they have created careers in church work and voluntary associations.[3] In the city of Athens, especially, they put on fairs and other fund-raising events to help collect money for the poor. Elite women served actively on the visiting committees of the Benevolent Society.[4]  This societies particular function is to evaluate the needs of the families that seek charitable help. Providing such help for the needy, including education when it is possible, is one of the primary tasks elite women undertake. The lives of the elite women of Athens are not all work though, and these ladies still have plenty of time to indulge in their life’s expensive taste.

            The wealthy women of this time will occasionally visit the North for the latest fashions. They wear dresses made of the finest materials, like Italian and French silk and velvet. These belle also wear crinolines, or hoop skirts, corsets, and stockings (often made of silk). They can chose from kid, morocco, leather, sealskin, and other types of shoes.[5] which they wear at all times. Gloves can also be worn for looks and for protecting a woman’s delicate and soft hands. They enjoy all the latest and most exquisite fashions. Their clothing is often custom-made by their personal seamstress. By the early 1840’s, the southern elite have their hair styled by visiting specialists.[6] Their hair is kept long and elegant, but is worn in an upward style at all times. It is considered improper and unladylike to let one’s hair down in public or to attempt to fix or redo one’s hair in the company of others. Hair is held up and in place with the use of combs made of expensive gemstones, such as pearls, rubies, and sometimes diamonds. The most common type of jewelry seen at this time are bracelets, neck chains, lockets, coronet and filigree ear ornaments  and most commonly, a string of pearls.[7] These women also use several kinds of various perfumes. These perfumes are often wished upon their male counterparts who insist on smoking, much to the belles dismay.

            The southern elite women of Athens are like the southern elite elsewhere when it comes to their growing concern over certain virtues and values. It is their place and role in society to help improve not only their men, but society at large. They feel compelled to do this for many reasons.  It is seen as their duty as strong and able southern women to uphold and defend the southern virtues that are held so dear, such as piety, purity, and domesticity. These elite southern women encourage men to quite drinking and smoking. Smoking at social functions and the use of tobacco in general, is an indulgence which some Athens ladies become disturbed by in the late 1820’s.[8] Certain ladies try and make deals with the men, that they will ensure proper and elegant dress and decorum, as long as men relinquish their tobacco. These proposals, however well intended, do little to actually end the corrupt behavior of men, but the attempt by upstanding wealthy women is recognized.

            Not only do the elite women of the south participate in reform, but they are also active participants of the educational system. While Athens’ citizens primarily concerned themselves with the education of their sons, the town also provided cultural resources for the finishing of their daughters and the educational entertainment of their families.[9] Women in wealthy families, especially in Athens, enjoy the privilege of obtaining access to a wide and varied curriculum to better expose them to the knowledge of refinement and conversation. The Athens Female Academy taught courses consisting of Spelling and Reading, Grammar, Arithmetic, Geography, Chemistry, Rhetoric, Logic, Philosophy, Chronology, and History. A few years later, the school added Latin, Greek, and Mathematics, and the students could purchase are and music instruction for an extra fee.[10] Courses such as these are thought to enhance the well-rounded character of an elite lady.

            Education is a very important part of the up-bringing and nature to which these elite young women are involved. Their education is one of the main ways that they are distinguishable from the rest of the regular citizens of a town. Education is taken very seriously. Some female schools experience some turmoil in staying in business, but the inability to consistently remain open did not drastically interfere with the education, and status, of the female children of the most elite in Athens, who could find a place in one of the small primary schools run by widowed European aristocrats.[11] A coherent system of state controlled and financed education was only just beginning when Georgia left the Union; for virtually the entire Ante-Bellum period, therefore, such education as was available invariably went to the wealthy.[12] The continuous demand that the wealthy remain educated is evident in all their social encounters. Not only is education seen as a mandatory requirement for the women to gain knowledge and wisdom, but it is also seen as a marker of their rank and class standing in society.

            Parents see a woman’s education in Athens as beneficial to their daughter in many different ways. Parents can chose to move to the city of Athens or simply board their daughters there. One letter to the newspaper explained that people moved to Athens in order to educate both sexes of their children, because, as the university would provide the future legislators of the state, the town’s girls school would provide the wives and friends of those future legislators.[13] This is one of the most important reasons why the elite women must be educated, because above all else, they are respectable wives and mothers. Education for women is not entirely limited to the town of Athens though. There appears an article in the Southern Banner which tells of the beginning of the fall term of the Wesleyan Female College at Macon.[14] This shows that education for the wealthy woman is prevalent in places other than just Athens.

            Just as important as education to these women of wealth and prestige are their cultural means of entertainment and extracurricular activities. Music instruction became permanent fare for both sexes in Athens.[15] So music, along with dancing, become very important pastimes. The social and educational activities for these women increased over time, and this included concerts, theater performances, circuses, lectures, and various other diversions.[16] Women in the Antebellum period spend a lot of their free time engaging in these activities. Lyceum lectures, literary magazines, debates and orations, as well as fencing demonstrations are available for female passive participation.[17] The elite women of the south love these leisurely hobbies and find great pleasure in participating in these events. Such events as fencing are seen as very enjoyable pastimes for these women and promote active involvement in the community. Southern belles readily attend these functions and cheer on their male counterparts.

            Women take part in not only these cultural pastimes, but they also enjoyed spending time in their extracurricular courses. Like the boys, they could take extracurricular courses in art, music, dance, and even penmanship.[18] Again, this is another example of how certain educational opportunities are available to both men and women. Women are actively engaging their time with literary magazines and articles in newspapers. They contribute their time in many differing ways, especially in ways and areas that deal with popular culture of the time. The ladies performed ceremonial roles in militia celebrations on Independence Day, and they held fairs to raise money for the poor, as well as for additions and repairs of their churches.[19] It is seen as their duty and obligation to society to serve the needs of others, especially the poor and destitute. Elite women often volunteer their time and services to such organizations as those dedicated to helping those in need, which is seen as a very valuable and respectable why in which to spend their time. These women also like to enjoy themselves and show off their own skills in other ways.

            The May Day festivals, which occur every year at the start of the month of May, are seen as glorious times of excitement and fun for the wealthy women of southern societies. Not to be outdone by the young men, the young women of Athens also demonstrated their oratorical skills at a May Day festival one year.[20] In the Southern Banner is printed an article describing this May Day event and the crowning of the May Queen, Mildred Cobb. She is presented with roses, one white and one red, by other elite women from her May Court. Mary A. Brown presents the May Pole, which is lined with beautiful and multicolored ribbons.[21] After this celebration, there occurs a May party by the young ladies.[22] May Day is a beautiful and remarkable avenue of showing off one’s wealth and prestige in society. This festival is usually elaborate and expensively designed. Most of the events sponsored by and for the elite are done this way and the same goes for their balls and parties.

            Besides merely putting on fancy spectacles for society, the elite southern woman entertained guests at home. She spends a great deal of time at the home and visits among the ladies and evening teas are quite the fashion.[23]Another widely talked about and visited area of interest for the elite, especially, in Athens, is the Botanical Garden. The Botanical Garden is a favorite resort of the ladies and gentlemen.[24]The beauty and peace encountered in this garden is a favorite pastime of the wealthy, and all for that matter. Young men and maidens find the Botanical Garden a lovely place, wherein to while away the hours.[25] This is also a favorite place for young couples to go while courting.             

            Courting rituals for the southern elite young women are very strict and structures. There are certain things a proper young lady may and may not do. The young male suitors will make their calls soon after sunset, and they are expected to depart by nine o’ clock.[26] The belles learned at a young age that they are different, because of their wealth, than the majority of their southern neighbors. They know and realize their responsibilities, which are to uphold virtue and be good role models to their families and their southern home. They are expected to marry rich, prestigious men of the same financial status as their own. Debutante balls, horse races, parties, and teas contribute to endless social activities and dozens of eligible suitors for elite females.[27] These men, when chosen as a husband, are supposed to protect their wife and provide her with all the luxury and finery she wishes. A “southern belles” status is never intended to decline or diminish through marriage or any other means. An elite woman might turn down a suitor because he evidenced no sign of his ability to support her in a manner to which she is accustomed.[28] In a sense, the elite southern woman is born into a state of wealth that she is never intended to leave. From a mother’s of father’s perspective, wealth, family, and status help determine a man’s eligibility.[29] 

            The elite southern women, especially those located in Athens, are highly educated individuals for whom life is entertaining, fun, and interesting. They live lives full of wonder, riches and excitement. They are surrounded by wealthy and powerful men and entertain guests in ways of exceptional taste and elegance. These are women to be looked up to and they are. Another article in the Southern Banner talks exclusively about the wealthy women of society being true, beautiful, angel-like, lovely, graceful, and smiling. This woman is the light of our home, the joy of our heart and the star in our night.[30] I believe that elite women are largely overlooked because they fall in the shadows of the men of their time. But women, especially the wealthy, contributed so much to their towns. 

            The southern elite woman was much more than a mere Scarlet O’ Hara stereotyped figure. While this image does conjure ideas of brains and determination, the average elite woman gave back to society in a selfless and giving manner, which is not depicted in movies of  “southern belles” such as Gone With the Wind. The educational opportunities for these women of money are slightly empowering for their time. A proper education for a young lady is a wonderful way in which she can show off her knowledge in later social circles. She can entertain and carry on conversations with the best of them. It seems as though southern elite women must have taken refined courses in hospitality, generosity and in being a gracious hostess, in all of which she excels. She has brains and refinement and at the same time is virtuous and upholds the high ideals and standards placed on her by society. She is a kind and caring wife, mother, and woman. I speculate that the true southern elite woman is not known by many, but that her alter ego, the “southern belle” or Scarlet O’ Hara, is widely known and accepted as true. But the real women of elite status in the south are ones of extraordinary poise, etiquette, and excellence. From their education and lives to their entertainment and responsibilities, they are prepared early on and modeled for life in the public eye. Their position of greatness in society, and all their many contributions, can not be undermined or ignored. She shines like a beacon of hope for many and wonder for all.