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The American Woman in the Nineteenth Century
The American Woman in the Nineteenth Century
The American Woman in the Nineteenth Century
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The American Revolution was a political upheaval that brought many changes to America by greatly altering the popular understanding of women’s partisan status and creating a widespread debate over the meaning of women’s rights. White women had large, essential roles in America’s victory in the American Revolution creating new opportunities for women to participate in politics and support different parties. Women were able to take advantage of these opportunities until a conservative backlash developed by 1830 that stopped any political advancement of women. In Rosemarie Zagarri’s book, Revolutionary Backlash, the author talks about the many things that played a part in causing a backlash against women in the early republic starting when women’s
In the book Ar’n’t I a women the author, Deborah Gray White, explains how the life was for the slave women in the Southern plantations. She reveals to us how the slave women had to deal with difficulties of racism as well as dealing with sexism. Slave women in these plantations assumed roles within the family as well as the community; these roles were completely different to the roles given to a traditional white female. Deborah Gray White shows us how black women had a different experience from the black men and the struggle they had to maintain their sense of womanhood against all odds, resist sexual oppression, and keep their families together. In the book the author describes two different types of women, “Jezebel” and “Mammy” they
Kirsten E. Woods wrote Masterful Women. This book was published by The University of North Carolina Press in 2003, and is a nonfiction historical book that is 198 pages long, without the notes and focuses on the struggles and accomplishments of slaveholding widows during the American Revolution through the Civil War (1765-1865). Women didn’t have any major rights until they were widowed, due to women being viewed as vulnerable and fully dependent on men. In this book, Kirsten Woods argues that women were viewed as dependent on men and they could not do anything for themselves. As a reader goes on through this book women prove that this statement is incorrect and women can therefore do most everything that a man can do.
Author and Lecturer Deborah Gray White is a professor at Rutgers University who currently serves on the Board of Governors Professor of History and lectures over the Women’s and Gender Studies. She was also the co-director of “The Black Atlantic: Race, Nation and Gender” project at the Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis in the 90s (Web). White has authored numerous works throughout her educational career, and continues to do so, however, it is the extraordinary work she did on her Ph.D. dissertation that later turned into a much anticipated manuscript she is most known for. Ar 'n 't I a Woman? Female Slaves in the Plantation South gave the world insight into the considerable marginalized plight of the enslaved women of color in the
Gender, Race, and Rank in a Revolutionary Age, was written by Betty Wood and surveys the diverse groups of women around the time of the revolutionary era. Dr. Betty Wood is a prominent scholar and has written many articles and books in the specific areas of early American and African American history in the colonial and revolutionary era Lowcountry. Because women’s history during that era is not well documented, her analysis of early American women during the revolutionary era is important. This book shows how women were linked by gender but divided by their race and social positions; it survey’s how their race and social standings affected their relations and encounters with each other during the fast growth of a slave based plantation society.
After the American Revolution the American society had been fundamentally changed. The Revolution changed the American society in the political, social, and economic fields. After breaking away from what appeared to be a corrupt government in England, American leaders formed the concepts of their ideal society. The American Revolution succeeding in accomplished the securing of rights for the citizens of America, however by not creating a sound economic base, the Revolution failed by not ensuring that the new government would be strong enough to protect rights.
However, with the coming and the completion of the American Revolution, women’s status did change slightly. In fact, women’s position improved the greatest of the aforementioned groups. Nevertheless, women were treated inferior before the Revolution was common. Part of this could be that women lacked an education similar to men’s.
The government of the United States indirectly suppressed women almost as much as African Americans and other minorities. Throughout the 1700’s and early 1800’s, a woman’s place was in the household and not in the work force. Women remained innocent in the mind of the public, but eventually they used this consensus to their advantage. During the Civil War, as a result of the split in the nation, women were overlooked when it came to their opinion. Women used this alienation to seek information that they wished to give to the side in which they supported.
Women were considered inferior to men; they had to rights and most of all no voice. Typically, as the old saying goes ‘they were to be seen and not hear’. Revolutionary Mothers, by Carol Berkin tells of the general stereotypes of women in America, the roles in which they played during the America revolution, and lastly it tells the story of the women through their own words. Stereotypes of Women In chapter one, Berkin states “God had created her to be a helpmate to man….and formed her for this purpose…to be frugal, and obedient (2005, p.4)”.
While reading about American history the thing that I found most appealing was the limited rights that women had during this era. Although women gave the early settlers longer life expectancy and brought hope to their future, women still were not considered equal to a man. Women were discriminated against and didn’t play an important role in early American history. Generally, women had fewer legal rights and career opportunity than men because they were considered weak and not able to perform certain tasks. Different women came from different ethnic backgrounds and were all created equal in the eyes of men.
During the 1800s women faced many different types of discriminations and stereotypes. Women didn’t have an education which they couldn’t pursue a career. After they would get married they were still not able to vote or even own their own property. They were seen as second-class citizens because their rights were always inferior to the men that were actually dominant in the society. Their responsibilities were just to keep their home under control and their family.
For most of history, we have lived in a patriarchal society, where men have been the rulers and the leaders. Women in general have always been second in society, especially women of color. During the colonization area, women were going to the new homeland to start a new life for them and their families. The gender norms of the time were to be the husband was the bread winner and went out and the women stayed home and took care of the children. Throughout this colonization time, certain women were challenging their status quo and paving the way for more women to have more rights in society.
American history and the history of the “Old West” have often been portrayed as a story of white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant men. Despite this, there are many other groups that have left a significant impact on society then and even today. These groups have made valuable contributions to the development and settlement of the West. Throughout history, both Women and African-Americans have gone through hardship, oppression, and many other struggles; however, both of these groups fought back against oppression and reformed history for the better. For instance, women left their mark on history by advocating for policy changes and reform.
Women were, and arguably still are, oppressed due to misogyny, or the dislike, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women. An example of a misogynistic belief is the idea that women are inherently intellectually inferior to men, or that women shouldn’t have authority over their own bodies while men should. This is usually caused by sexist stereotypes and beliefs that are present in the media (“Shocking: What [female celebrity] Looks like with No Makeup On!” “New Covergirl Is a Man!?”) and in children’s upbringing (“boys are strong, girls are weak”, “boys go to
Throughout history discrimination has had a negative impact on people and has cause certain groups of people to suffer. Discrimination can be against people of different race, religion, gender and sexuality and in the late 1800’s women were one of the groups that were discriminated. Women had to fight hard to obtain the rights they now have in the 21st century and many of the women who fought for equal rights didn’t get to experience those rights since laws in their favor weren’t passed until years and years of fighting. In the late 1800’s American women were discriminated because they were not granted the same rights as men in the workforce, women had to be obedient to their husbands in their marriage and society had certain norms that women
