Overview
The "southern belle," or just "belle," was a colloquialism for a wealthy white unmarried woman in the planter class, particularly in the Pre-Civil War Antebellum South (1815-1861). The belle became a popular archetype, and, alongside the southern lady, served as the female equivalent of the southern gentleman. The southern belle image was popularized in the decades following the Civil War and became a key fixture of Lost Cause narratives.