Back to Results
Cover image of The People of Rose Hill
Cover image of The People of Rose Hill
Share this Title:

The People of Rose Hill

Black and White Life on a Maryland Plantation

Lucy Maddox

Publication Date
Binding Type

What was antebellum life like for the two communities of people—one white and one black—who lived and worked on a plantation on the Eastern Shore of Maryland?

Thomas Marsh Forman was in his early twenties when he returned from the Revolutionary War to take over the proprietorship of Rose Hill plantation from his father. The estate lay alongside the Sassafras River in Cecil County, on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Rose Hill was a product of its historical moment, a moment in which men like Forman acted on their belief that the future prospects of the country required a continuation not only of their...

What was antebellum life like for the two communities of people—one white and one black—who lived and worked on a plantation on the Eastern Shore of Maryland?

Thomas Marsh Forman was in his early twenties when he returned from the Revolutionary War to take over the proprietorship of Rose Hill plantation from his father. The estate lay alongside the Sassafras River in Cecil County, on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Rose Hill was a product of its historical moment, a moment in which men like Forman acted on their belief that the future prospects of the country required a continuation not only of their energy, their skills, and their desire to improve the lives of Americans but also of the slave economy they had done so much to shape.

A focused study of this one plantation, The People of Rose Hill illuminates the workings of the entire plantation system in the border region between the end of the Revolution and the approach of the Civil War. Lucy Maddox looks closely at the public and private lives of the people of Rose Hill, who labored together in a profitable agricultural enterprise while maintaining relationships with one another that were cautious, distant, sometimes secretive, and often explosive. Making extensive use of the letters of wife, Martha Ogle Forman, Maddox places the experiences of Rose Hill's inhabitants (enslaved and free) within the context of the cultural, economic, and political history of the state. Piecing together the scattered information in these documents, she offers readers fascinating insights into life and labor on the plantation, from grueling daily work schedules to menus for elaborate dinners and teas. Her account includes comparative analyses of family structures and social practices within the Forman family and in the community of enslaved workers. Individual sections profile thirty-eight of the fifty enslaved people at Rose Hill, identifying, as far as possible, that person's primary work responsibilities, family connections, and history at the plantation, thus giving each a recognized place in the larger history of plantation slavery in the Upper South.

Maddox's discussion of Rose Hill extends to the places around it where the slave culture of the plantation found confirmation and support: churches, law courts, social gatherings, agricultural fairs and societies, the parlors and sitting rooms of the Eastern Shore elite. The People of Rose Hill is a fascinating look at the intersection of the constricted world of the plantation with the larger world of early America.

Reviews

Reviews

A thoughtful and readable book that revolves around a very good case study. Lucy Maddox will keep you engaged.

Lucy Maddox's impressive study of Rose Hill plantation recreates the everyday world of the people who lived and labored there, including its proprietors, the people they enslaved, kith and kin, clergymen, legal authorities, agriculturalists, physicians, and slave catchers. Their stories show how slavery entangled personal relationships and shaped Maryland's history from the Revolution to Civil War.

A valuable contribution to the history of Maryland and the experience of plantation life and slavery in a border state. Maddox approaches this difficult past with empathy and critical awareness, expertly weaving together fascinating micro-histories alongside erudite commentary. A thoroughly readable and illuminating addition to our understanding of the plantation world and those enmeshed within it.

Dr. Maddox has produced a riveting account of the people of Rose Hill during the antebellum period. In this carefully laid out, highly readable narrative, she fills in important gaps in our understanding of the critical decades before the Civil War. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the local history of Maryland's Eastern Shore.

About

Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
224
ISBN
9781421440958
Illustration Description
3 b&w photos, 1 b&w illus
Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1. The Diary of a Lady
Chapter 2. The Forman World
Chapter 3. House and Farm
Chapter 4. The Enslaved Community
Chapter 5. On Sassafras Neck
Chapter 6. Home and Exile
Chapt

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1. The Diary of a Lady
Chapter 2. The Forman World
Chapter 3. House and Farm
Chapter 4. The Enslaved Community
Chapter 5. On Sassafras Neck
Chapter 6. Home and Exile
Chapter 7. World's End
Notes
Index

Author Bio
Featured Contributor

Lucy Maddox

Lucy Maddox is Professor Emerita of English and American studies at Georgetown University. She is the author of The Parker Sisters: A Border Kidnapping and the editor of Locating American Studies: The Evolution of a Discipline.