They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South

Wornall/Majors Book Discussion

Date: April 8, 2021
Time: 7:00 PM
Online Event – please RSVP for meeting link

In a discussion led by women’s history scholar Savannah Lore, we will work through the key topics of They Were Her Property, as well as help attendees make connections to Missouri history and how white women related to enslaved people and the slave economy in the Kansas City region.

Described as a “bold and searing investigation into the role of white women in the American slave economy,” historian and author Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers shows that slave-owning women were sophisticated economic actors who directly engaged in and benefited from the South’s slave market.

Lore is currently Cataloguing Technical Processor at Mid-Continent Public Library and previously served as Archives and Education Director at Jackson County Historical Society. She has also worked with Wornall/Majors House Museums and LaBudde Special Collections at UMKC. She holds an MA in History from UMKC and has a special interest in women’s history.

Please support local bookstores! We recommend purchasing books from local stores like Rainy Day Books, Afterword Tavern & Shelves, or Willa’s Books. Most local libraries, including Johnson County Library, Kansas City Public Library, and Mid-Continent Public Library also have several copies in their catalogs.

Register here!

Past Events:

Secret Kansas City: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

Author Event with Anne Kniggendorf

Date: February 20, 2021

Most visitors know all about Kansas City’s barbecue, jazz, and football success, but there are hidden gems and wild pieces of trivia around every turn in Missouri’s largest city. Is the giant Hereford bull anatomically correct? Can a seed that’s been to outer space still grow into a normal tree? And who really killed President William Henry Harrison? You’ll find answers to the questions you didn’t know you had in Secret Kansas City: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure.

Join us as author Anne Kniggendorf discusses some of her favorite historical stories from Secret Kansas City. In addition, Wornall/Majors Curator Sarah Bader-King will also give attendees a sneak peek into the surprising history of an item in the museums’ collection not currently on display.