Existing comment:
Making Do, and Doing Without
A Union naval blockade and the needs of the Confederate armies and a Union naval blockade led to shortages of food, fuel, and clothing. Many white women were forced to learn household skills -- such as spinning, weaving, and braiding straw -- either to outfit themselves or to sell or barter for food and other items. Black women also suffered wartime deprivations, but the institution of slavery taught them to make do with scarcity.
Richmond's "Bread Riot" of April 2, 1863, was the largest of a series of civil disturbances across the South -- led mainly by poor women -- as the Confederate economy buckled. |