The Untold Horrors Of Black Male Slaves By White Women White women were not passive bystanders to the slave economy. They were co-conspirators. They bought, sold, and owned slaves. In fact, about 40% of the slave owners were white women. The more slaves a woman had, the more power she held. Parents gave their daughters more enslaved people than land. So, to a white southern woman, owning slaves became tied to her very identity. This is the true story of how white women treated their black slaves.