A Woman Rice Planter (Classic Reprint): Patience Pennington - Softcover

Elizabeth W. Allston Pringle

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1331652049 ISBN 13: 9781331652045

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2018

Synopsis

Remarkable real‑life farming leadership from the Civil War era to the present

This candid account follows a Southern woman who runs two large rice plantations, facing harsh floods, shifting economies, and the daily demands of plantation life. Skill, persistence, and a compassionate spirit come through in a plainly told narrative that centers on practical work, steady management, and the challenges of adapting when old systems collapse.

Her story offers a window into how one woman navigates logistics, crop cycles, and community needs in a demanding agrarian world. It presents the practical details of planting and caring for crops, managing labor, and weathering political and economic change, all told with human warmth and an eye for resilience.

• A firsthand look at plantation administration and crop management during a time of upheaval
• Everyday tasks described clearly, from planting to harvest to household duties
• Reflections on leadership, resourcefulness, and the role of women in running large estates
• Context on the social and historical backdrop of the era, tied to a personal, ongoing diary

Ideal for readers of historical memoirs and women's history who value grounded, character-driven narratives about endurance, work, and community.

About this title

About the Author

Elizabeth Allston Pringle grew up on the antebellum rice plantation of her father, a former South Carolina governor. Once the owner of seven plantations and 15,000 acres, her father, at the time of his death, was bankrupt. Left to struggle for income to regain the property and position the family held prior to the war, Pringle turned to writing and eventually published a column on Southern culture in the New York Sun under the pseudonym Patience Pennington. In 1913 she collected and reshaped these newspaper columns and compiled them into one volume, A Woman Rice Planter. Her descriptions of the vagaries of rice planting, of her relationships with former slaves and the first generation of free-born African Americans, and of her life in the early Reconstruction period are important to our understanding of the prevailing attitudes and persistence of the Old South in the New

From Publishers Weekly

Written by a white woman in post-Civil War South Carolina, this portrait offers opinions of male-dominated society, former slaves and the first generation of free-born African-Americans. Illustrated.

Copyright 1992 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1331652049
• ISBN 13: 9781331652045
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 472