As Union troops made their way through the south freeing enslaved people, white women would move enslaved people farther from the soldiers’ path. One woman, Martha Gibbs, even took enslaved people to Texas and forced them to work for her at gunpoint until 1866, a year after slavery’s formal abolition.

Women's reverse Underground Railroad.

After the Civil War, southern white women sought to recreate slavery through exploitative work contracts

They really haven't changed. They still use exploitative work contracts in 2022 and the exploitative contract of marriage is one of their most precious assets.