Mutinous women : how French convicts became founding mothers of the Gulf Coast / Joan DeJean.
Material type: TextPublisher: New York : Basic Books, 2022Copyright date: ©2022Edition: First editionDescription: ix, 437 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cmContent type:- text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9781541600584
- 1541600584
- How French convicts became founding mothers of the Gulf Coast
- Gulf States -- History -- To 1803
- Frontier and pioneer life -- Gulf States
- France -- Colonies -- America -- Biography
- French -- Gulf States -- Biography
- Women prisoners -- France -- History -- 18th century
- Female offenders -- France -- History -- 18th century
- Convict ships -- France -- History -- 18th century
- Mutine (Frigate) -- History
Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book | Main Library | NonFiction | 976.02 D326 | Available | 33111010830483 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
The secret history of the rebellious Frenchwomen who were exiled to colonial Louisiana and found power in the Mississippi Valley
In 1719, a ship named La Mutine (the mutinous woman), sailed from the French port of Le Havre, bound for the Mississippi. It was loaded with urgently needed goods for the fledgling French colony, but its principal commodity was a new kind of export: women.
Falsely accused of sex crimes, these women were prisoners, shackled in the ship's hold. Of the 132 women who were sent this way, only 62 survived. But these women carved out a place for themselves in the colonies that would have been impossible in France, making advantageous marriages and accumulating property. Many were instrumental in the building of New Orleans and in settling Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, and Mississippi.
Drawing on an impressive range of sources to restore the voices of these women to the historical record, Mutinous Women introduces us to the Gulf South's Founding Mothers.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
"On December 12, 1719, a ship named La Mutine, or the Mutinous Woman, sailed from the French port of Le Havre, bound for the vast North American territory then referred to as "the Mississippi." La Mutine was loaded with goods that the fledgling French colony urgently required for its survival, basic foodstuffs such as flour and lard. But its principal commodity was a new kind of French export: women. The women who arrived in the New World from that frigate would go on to found Gulf dynasties, but their beginnings were less auspicious. Falsely accused of sex crimes-some for reporting rape, others because their families were obscenely poor and it was financially expedient to imprison them-these women were prisoners, shackled in the ship's hold. Of the 98 women who were shipped to the colony, only 44 survived. Despite the bleakness of these women's origins, they achieved unlikely triumph across the Atlantic. They managed to carve out a place for themselves in the colonies that would have been impossible in France, making advantageous marriages and accumulating property. Many were instrumental in the building of New Orleans, founded only a year before their arrival, and in settling Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. Today, hundreds of thousands of Americans can trace their lineage La Mutine. Drawing on an impressive range of sources to restore the voices of these women to the historical record, Title TK introduces us to the Gulf's Founding Mothers-the "mutinous women" of La Mutine"-- Provided by publisher.
Preliminaries: A Second Coast, a Second Ship -- Part I: France. False Arrests and trumped-Up Charges -- John Law's Louisiana Gold Rush -- "Merchandise" for Louisiana -- The Roundup -- Chains and Shackles -- Part II: The Second Coast. "The Islands" of Louisiana -- The Desert Islands of Alabama and Mississippi -- Biloxi's Deadly Sands -- Putting Down Roots in Mobile -- Building a Capital in New Orleans -- Women on the Verge in Natchitoches, Illinois, and Arkansas -- Louisiana's Garden on the German Coast -- Natchez, John Law's Folly -- Pointe Coupée in the Shadow of Natchez -- The End of the Women's Era -- Coda.