Intimate Partner Violence in New Orleans: Gender, Race, and Reform, 1840-1900

225 Pages·2017·2.013 MB·English

by  Ashley Baggett

Intimate Partner Violence in New Orleans
New Orleans Criminal Court Building, 1895. Louisiana Division/City Archives, New Orleans
Public Library.
Intimate Partner Violence in

NEW ORLEANS
Gender, Race, and Reform, 1840–1900
Ashley Baggett
University Press of Mississippi / Jackson
www.upress.state.ms.us
The University Press of Mississippi is a member
of the Association of American University Presses.
Copyright © 2017 by University Press of Mississippi
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
First printing 2017
∞
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Baggett, Ashley, author.
Title: Intimate partner violence in New Orleans : gender, race, and reform,
1840–1900 / Ashley Baggett.
Description: Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, [2017] | Includes
bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2017023657 (print) | LCCN 2017025890 (ebook) | ISBN
9781496815224 (epub single) | ISBN 9781496815231 (epub institutional) |
ISBN 9781496815248 ( pdf single) | ISBN 9781496815255 (pdf institutional)
| ISBN 9781496815217 (cloth : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Spousal abuse—Louisiana—New Orleans—History—19th century.
| Women—Abuse of—Louisiana—New Orleans—History—19th century. | Family
violence—Louisiana—New Orleans—History—19th century. | New Orleans
(La.)—Race relations—History—19th century. | African
Americans—Louisiana—New Orleans—Social conditions—19th century.
Classification: LCC HV6626.22.N66 (ebook) | LCC HV6626.22.N66 B34 2017
(print) | DDC 362.82/92097633509034—dc23 LC record available
at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017023657
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
To my husband and children—in the countless hours spent writing this,
you were always in my thoughts and gave me purpose.
To survivors of intimate partner violence—your voice matters.

Contents
ix Acknowledgments
3 Introduction
19 Chapter One
“Husbands Are Men, Not Angels”
Gender and Intimate Partner Violence in Antebellum New Orleans
43 Chapter Two
“We Are All Men”
Transforming Gender Expectations in New Orleans during the Civil War
and Reconstruction
63 Chapter Three
“Strike Me If You Dare”
Abused Women of New Orleans and the Right to Be Free from Violence
83 Chapter Four
“You Can’t Abuse Her in This House”
Family, Community, and Intimate Partner Violence in New Orleans
99 Chapter Five
“The Rule of Love Has Superseded the Rule of Force”
The Criminalization of Intimate Partner Violence in New Orleans
119 Chapter Six
“It Will Be Done to Maintain White Supremacy”
The Decline of Intervention in the South
135 Epilogue
Gender and Intimate Partner Violence in the Early 1900s
viii Contents
147 Appendix
153 Notes
187 Bibliography
209 Index
Acknowledgments
Many people contributed to the creation of this work, and I am thankful for
each and every one. For the women in my book, I hope I do justice to their
lives and am grateful for the opportunity to give voice to those who were pre-
viously neglected in the historical record.
I began my research in nineteenth-century intimate partner violence at
Louisiana State University. I ran into dead end after dead end and considered
abandoning the project after finding scant references to the topic. Charles
Shindo, Gaines Foster, and Alecia Long provided valuable feedback, guid-
ance, and support during the early stages of research. Without their dedi-
cation and mentorship I could not have written this book. Other faculty
members offered important insights at different points during my graduate
career, including Kodi Roberts, Rand Dotson, and Carolyn Lewis. LSU’s His-
tory Department and Women’s and Gender Studies program made me the
scholar I have become today, and I am immensely thankful for the guidance I
received there.
My colleagues at North Dakota State University helped me build upon my
earlier work through suggestions and funding for travel. The Northern Plains
Ethics Institute and the Department of History, Philosophy, and Religious
Studies generously provided funds allowing me to continue my research
across the country. Moreover, everyone in my department created a warm
and welcoming atmosphere, easing my transition into a new institution. They
offered advice and support, and I am grateful for such a group of colleagues.
This project required countless months in the archives, particularly in
Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The New Orleans Public Library’s Louisi-
ana Division/City Archives became a second home to me. In the care of the
library’s staff, I poured through more than twenty-five thousand cases, and
they tirelessly worked to ensure that the court records were pulled when I
needed them. Knowing that I faced time constraints with my travel, they
would quickly keep me supplied with a steady stream of cases, working up
to the last minute. Everyone remembered my methods for pulling cases and
how many I could get through in a day, even with a year between visits. Often,
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