Death and Funerals in the Antebellum South: A Mini-Essay

     Like everything in the antebellum South, death and mourning was governed by a strict series of rituals that supported class, gender, and race relations. At the onset of death, the extended family, from aunts and uncles to cousins and siblings, were summoned to the deathbed.[1] Along with tending to the ailing, women – mainly the dying’s mother or wife – were responsible for attending to the needs of visiting family and relating via written correspondences the final moments for those who were unable to travel due to distance or delay.[2] Following death, the funeral became a reflection of the deceased individual’s social class and wealth, with everything from the coffin to those in attendance at the ceremony attesting to the dead’s socioeconomic status.[3] Funerals, too, reinforced gender roles as women were forced to remain in the background during burials (in Louisiana, they were barred from attending the entire funeral), tasked with entertaining mourners at the reception and in the weeks following, and reorganizing family affairs during the months-long grieving period.[4]

 

Works Referenced 

Clinton, Catherine. The Plantation Mistress: Woman’s World in the Old South. New York: Pantheon Books, 1982.

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[1] Clinton, 158-159.
[2] Clinton, 158-159.
[3] Clinton,159.
[4] Clinton,159.