During their teenage years, white elite women focused on finding a suitable husband with wealth and status (Weiner, 1998). Unlike the white women, black marriages were not recognized. Nevertheless, it was acceptable and valid in the black community. Also, for white males they desired a white woman with an education. “An educated southern woman reflected well on her family name and social class” (McMillen, 2002, p. 91). Only a handful of enslaved black women were taught to read and write. Many did not receive a proper education. Usually, the slave girls would be taught by the plantation mistress. For example, Harriet Ann Jacobs was one of the few slaves that learned to read and write. She later in life she would write Incidents in the Life