Eunice White Beecher (who married Henry Ward Beecher and published under the pen name “The Minister’s Wife”) was an early proponent of class segregation in the home, believing that servants should “know their place”.

Oh, the Beechers. Theirs was, by all indications, a turbulent union. He was both an abolitionist and an adulterer. She was a xenophobe who weaponized her own piety in the service of vindictive assaults on those less fortunate. Hypocrisy was their love language.

Yet in certain circles, they were the influencers of their day.

For context: Eunice herself appears not to have been terribly likable. (She was referred to, on more than one occasion, as Beecher’s “ailing and wailing wife”.) It’s likely that Beecher himself was not a fan: indeed, his interests seemed to lie well outside the marriage. In what would later be called the most sensational 'he said, she said’ trial in American history, Beecher was tried on adultery charges in 1875. (He was exonerated a year later.)

All the while, his wife continued to publish books extolling the virtues of domestic bliss. Motherly Talks with Young Housekeepers. All Around the House. How to Make Homes Happy.

Believing that a servant’s “erroneous views about privilege” led to domestic anarchy, Mrs. Beecher was adamant. Such unreasonable opinions, she urged her readers, would only turn a recently-arrived “modest stranger” into an entitled girl who resisted direction.