Date of Award
8-31-2026
Document Type
Campus Access Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Historical Archaeology
First Advisor
Dr. Nedra Lee
Second Advisor
Dr. Stephen Mrozowski
Third Advisor
Dr. Christa Beranek
Abstract
In the early nineteenth century, the work of dairying was primarily done by and associated with women. Dairy products like butter and cheese were an important part of everyday life and almost all women, especially those living in the rural North, engaged in dairying. Past studies of dairying as gendered labor have focused on the role of dairying in the lives of white, middle-class women. This thesis builds on that body of work by specifically studying the dairying labor done by free Black women working at Sylvester Manor, a Northern plantation in Eastern Long Island. In the context of emancipation-era New York State, free Black women had to navigate the social and economic reforms of the nineteenth century while also being subject to marginalization based on their race and gender. This thesis uses documentary and archaeological evidence from nineteenth-century Sylvester Manor to better understand the ways in which free Black women used dairying to support themselves and their families during this transformative period. By highlighting the fact that free Black women engaged in the skilled labor of dairying, this work aims to disrupt narratives that erase their presence from rural Northern landscapes and obscure their work as competent, independent farm women.
Recommended Citation
Ross, Claire, "Gendered Labor and Dairying on a Northern Plantation" (2026). Graduate Masters Theses. 966.
https://scholarworks.umb.edu/masters_theses/966
Comments
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