Paper #1
Taylor Speer-Sims
Women's History
University of Nebraska - Kearney
November 3, 2013
The first half of the class introduced many
different books, authors, subjects, and time periods. There
were differences,
but there were also similarities. Arguments by each author introduce ideas that
were
precise and obvious. There were assumptions and biases, which brought each
book its’ own interpretation.
Each work, however, was about women and her
triumphs.
Laurel Thatcher
Ulrich, the very first in the series for the class, includes extracts from
Martha Ballard’s diary. It was also a biography written by Ulrich; therefore
the book was both a primary and a secondary source. Ulrich gave her reader an idea about what daily life was like for
a woman of local respect. Martha Ballard was a midwife, thus she had a higher
position than most women in the area. Yet, she was still below male doctors,
her husband, and even her son. As the men rested from their day, the woman
still worked on into the evening, “a woman’s work [was] never done.” [1]
Ulrich also
included an idea called the “social web.” This was important to the area where
Ballard lived, but also to the book as a whole. It was a social “structure of
relations in a community” that linked together like a spider web.[2]
Martha Ballard met with everyone in town, if not for midwifery, then for
medicinal support as a type of doctor, nurse, apothecary, or in death where she
wraped bodies. The idea of the social web continued as others helped out
Ballard in the community, and it continued on throughout time. This was really
an anthropological idea.
The only obvious
political scene within the text was the area where President Washington died.
The town held parties and parades, but Ballard was too busy to attend any of
these.[3]
Could this have been a political statement that Ballard was not interested in
politics at all? Was Ballard trying to prove her point that she was more busy
than any man, or in fact any one in the town? More to the point, the idea that
Ulrich included this almost in passing gave the reader the idea Ulrich was
biased, that women did work more, and harder, than any of the men at that time.
There was not much
more that Ulrich could have used within her text to improve her point. This
book was very well written and included Ballard’ diary material as most points.
Ulrich used opposing and congruent information from contemporary letters,
estate manifests, petitions, etc. There were some secondary sources, but the
book was based mainly on primary documents. Ulrich fully researched her subject
before she came up with her argument, at least within this area of history.
Linda K. Kerber
included many time periods in history, where Ulrich only had the one. Kerber
began her book with the Daughters of Columbia and concluded with the New
Republic. Yet, she still included information on the Victorian era, and even
postmodern times.[4] Kerber’s
main idea is that historiography should be explored and the book traced “the
intellectual development” of Kerber through the essays included within.[5]
Interpretation of history changes throughout time, including social studies and
women’s studies. There are essays that compare women directly with their male
counterparts, and then later she targets relational connections or
discrepancies.
Because this book
was on several essays, fluidity was somewhat choppy between lectures. Just as
Ulrich, Kerber emphasized differences in women’s and men’s positions. Most of
the sources Kerber used were professional discussions, lectures and/or papers
She included quite a lot of historiography on each page within the footnotes.
She obviously created a well-regarded set of essays.
The next week
found that students read two different works, one from Gerda Lerner and another
by Corrine Field. Field’s article was about defining age as sections in one’s
life, as well as the different ages and points for white men, minority men and
all women. Field pointed out that antebellum women’s argument was that women
were always dependent on men, they were minors and that “ her sphere is
circumscribed, not by her ability, but by her sex.” [6]
Field included an anthropological view on aging. The obvious issue with this
work compared with the others, was the limitation due to length. Kerber also had
essays; she just had more of them.
Gerda Lerner’s
book was a full biography just like Ulrich’s. However, The Grimke Sisters was
not primarily diary based. Lerner had a bibliography of thirteen pages that was
separated into sections within primary and secondary documents. Another
difference was that Lerner wrote on two women, not just one. Lerner argued that
the Grimke sisters came from a comfortable life to took up a cause greater than
themselves, that of abolition. The “sisters from South Carolina had become the
first female abolitionist agents in the United States.”[7]
These women were
by far the most visual than any that the class studied. Other writers included
these women within their texts, but Lerner does not point that out to her
readers. Her words flowed from one chapter to another with the idea that the
reader knew nothing about the pair. Lerner wrote subtly, yet clearly. This was
done by mentioning how great these women were to their contemporary society
such as how Sarah Grimke’ was the “first woman to write a coherent feminist
argument,” yet they “lived their faith, with stubbornness, courage and
dedication.”[8]
The Grimkes were
probably the most important sisters in history, they were the first women
speakers in the U.S. Angelina was the first woman to address a legislative
body. Both women based their arguments on humanity and Christianity. Even with
this recognition, Lerner pointed out that they were considered “masculine, old
hens, and unable to attain husbands,” which was a main argument against women
mentioned in almost all of the forthcoming books.[9]
The book on
Sojourner Truth was about another great woman in the antebellum period. Nell
Irvin Painter wrote a biography about one woman more similar to Lerner than to
Ulrich’s. Where Ulrich based her book largely on a diary, Painter’s used many
more secondary sources. Sojourner Truth “built networks of human contact…
[that] sustained her materially and spiritually,” similar to Martha Ballard’s
social web.[10]
A difference
between Lerner and Painter was that Painter had no bibliography, using his
notes to show information as well as sources. Painter wrote in the fashion of
Lerner, so that the reader understood that woman were instrumental to history.
Of course, Painter’s subject did not begin in a comfortable situation, but as a
slave. Truth also based her arguments on humanity and Christianity. Painter
told a story about a slave born and kept in the North, and who escaped to be
one of the most respected black and/or woman abolitionists in Antebellum America.
Antebellum America
had women participate in suffrage movements along with abolition. Jean H.
Baker’s book Sisters: The Lives of America’s Suffragists was not about
sisters in the biological sense as Lerner’s was, although it does mention the
Grimke sisters. Baker had chapters that focused on one person, or groups of
women. Eeach section played a role in the next chapter, so the flow was easy.
Just as Lerner wrote that women were masculine, Baker emphasized “women, in the
conventional wisdom of the day, were considered asexual and passionless.”[11]
Baker shared the
fact that women formed groups that battled for women’s suffrage, that women
were individuals; they were like others, yet still different. Baker wrote about
strong women, and about how those organizations ran mainly on volunteerism.[12]
Painter’s and Lerner’s books coincide with Baker’s and the idea of lesbianism
being written between the lines. Baker wrote many thought “the African race was
entirely composed of males,” yet “women – black and white – were still
invisible even to reformers and sympathizers,” just as Painter emphasized. [13]
Lucy Stanton and Angelina Grimke found romance and married, and they both were
the only females within their books. Baker argued that these women came
together (and grew apart) to seek social change for America.
The second time
where two sources were used within one week brought a paper by Carole Shammas.
This paper’s thesis argued that the Married Women’s Property Acts were “in
certain respects… analogous to the emancipation proclamations and related acts
concerning enslaved persons.”[14]
Even though this was a paper, the subject was nothing like that of the former
one. Nor was it truly similar to the other books. This document did have a lot
of information about property rights. However, it was not a legal document. The
main fault of this paper was Shammas included only basic information on dower
rights. She did not include all information. She wrote that a woman could not
do with her dower property as she wished. (Women were able to rent out and
improve these properties) While she cited many legal books for this
statement, there was not one primary document. She did have primary documents
throughout the piece. So, not including contradictory information showed her
bias.
Margaret D.
Jacobs, however, included many contradictory statements within her book. This
was obviously a great book because it won the 2010 Bancroft Prize.[15]
This was one of the longest, yet easiest to understand. The flow was almost
continuous, yet the subheadings and chapters separated it each section for easy
reading. Painter wrote about a minority, so too did Jacobs. Also just like
Painter, Jacobs’ subjects had to contend with racism as well as sexism. The
author had a section on terms and abbreviations, unlike the others. However,
Cott had something similar in her book. Jacobs used many secondary sources, and
her primary sources were mostly records and interviews.
Jacobs wrote that
Native children were stolen away from their families and sent to a school where
“if they [ran] away from their slavery there” they were hunted down like
convicts.[16] Therefore,
Lerner and Jacobs wrote on legalized bondage. Jacob’s title brought out what
happened to Truth, as well as to her own subjects. Jacob’s book included all
aspects of the problem and included opposing views. Elizabeth Cady Stanton in
Baker’s book, was interested in parental rights just as many of the women in
Jacobs’ book either claimed to be, or actually was.
Nancy F. Cott
wrote in the introduction that her book was “about the time when the word
feminism came into use in the Untied States, and the women who used it.”[17]
Cott used a flow that was chronological and discussed feminist groups like that
of Baker. However, Cott wrote that even though there were some organizations,
many did not get together for one purpose. As Baker’s organizations were mostly
volunteer based, Cott argued that post suffrage groups had mostly employees.
Cott included that some people said women were not a sex, but human.
Women thought that they were “morally and superior to men” as apposed to women
in the other books who thought that that’s what they were fighting for.[18]
Cott gave direct information on lesbianism and how women’s friendships became
scrutinized. As the women in Jacob’s books began to feel free with their own
sexuality, so too did women in Cott’s book. While women were still “masculine”,
this was the book that introduced the idea that women were thought to be
communist or socialist if they agreed with disarmament[19]
The last book of
this module was another biography. Blanche Wiesen Cook’s work on Eleanor
Roosevelt was also the longest book that the class read. Cook, like Painter,
did not have a bibliography, but used notes at the end of the book. Like
Kerber, Cook had quite a bit of historiography within her notes. Just as
Ulrich’s and Painter’s subjects, ER used her connections within family and
friends. However, only like Truth did ER use her influence for political
purposes. Cook used a chronological flow that was easy and exciting to follow.
Just like Lerner
and Ulrich, Cook chose to write on only one person. However only as Lerner,
Cook’s subject was on a famous woman, a woman that became more historically
visual. As the Grimke sisters were of middle class social status, Elizabeth
Cady Stanton was from the upper-middle class, and Cook’s subject, but Eleanor
Roosevelt, was from high-society. Just as Sojourner Truth, Eleanor Roosevelt
changed herself into a woman of conviction, wisdom and courage. While Roosevelt
appeared to have been the least interested in Christianity as an argument, she
was very much interested in human rights.[20]
Eleanor Roosevelt was certainly the most well known throughout time than any of
the other subjects to more people in the world.
Cook argued that ER
didn’t care about a person’s social status or income she cared about human
beings. ER knew about changing needs of the planet long “before most of
America’s leadership” did.[21]
Roosevelt was another woman that suffered, yet used her experience to help others.
Cook used large quotes within the text to not only emphasize her point, but to
get the reader into the story, and to make it feel completely authentic.
Photo Credit: :Women's Suffrage," 1820, University of Louisville:
Bibliography
Baker,
Jean H. Sisters: The Lives of America’s Suffragists. New York: Hill and
Wang, 2005.
Cook,
Blanche Wiesen. Eleanor Roosevelt, Vol I, 1884-1933. New York:
Penguin Books,
1992.
Field,
Corinne T. “Are Women… All Minors?:
Woman’s Rights and the Politics of Aging in
the Antebellum United States”, Journal of Women’s
History, Winter 2001, Vol 12, Issue 4. in Ebsco Host. (2013)
http://0-web.ebscohost.com.rosi.unk.edu/ehost/detail?sid=bb38942b-4199-4b5f-9e73-a7be63a93213%40sessionmgr14&vid=1&hid=19&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=aph&AN=4146774
(accessed November 3, 2013)
Jacobs, Margaret D. White Mother to a Dark Race {Settler Colonialism, Maternalism, and
the Removal of Indigenous
Children in the American West and Australia, 1880-1940} Lincoln, NE:
University of Nebraska Press, 2009.
Kerber, Linda K. Toward an Intellectual History of
Women, Essays by Linda K. Kerber.
Chapel Hill: University of North
Carolina Press, 1997.
Lerner, Gerda. The Grimke’ Sisters From South Carolina:
Pioneers for Woman’s Rights and
Abolition. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1998.
Shammas, Carole
"Re-Assessing the Married Women's Property
Acts," Journal
of
Women's History 6:1.
Spring 1994, in Ebsco Host. 2013 http://0-web.ebscohost.com.rosi.unk.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=bf2d520f-3730-4aa1-9cbc-c3ca11507260%40sessionmgr13&vid=2&hid=19
(accessed November 3, 2013)
Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher. A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of
Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary,
1785 – 1812. New York:
Vintage Books, 1990.
[1] Laurel
Thatcher Ulrich, A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her
Diary, 1785 – 1812. (New York: Vintage Books, 1990), 210.
[2]Ibid, 75.
[3] Ibid, 32.
[4] Information
from this chapter is being used by author for a full paper in another class
entitled “Columbia Cried: The Poetic, Romantic, and Enchanted Rituals of
Mourning for George Washington.”
[5] Linda K.
Kerber, Toward an Intellectual History of Women, Essays by Linda K. Kerber.
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997), back cover.
[6] Corinne T.
Field, “Are Women… All Minors?: Woman’s Rights and the Politics of Aging in the
Antebellum United States”, Journal of Women’s History, Vol 12, Issue 4
(Winter 2001) in Ebsco Host. (2013)
http://0-web.ebscohost.com.rosi.unk.edu/ehost/detail?sid=bb38942b-4199-4b5f-9e73-a7be63a93213%40sessionmgr14&vid=1&hid=19&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=aph&AN=4146774
(accessed November 3, 2013)
[7] Gerda
Lerner, The Grimke’ Sisters From South Carolina: Pioneers for Woman’s Rights
and Abolition. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 110.
[8] Ibid, Xviii;
274.
[9] New
Hampshire Patriot, (August 15, 1837._ quoted in ibid.
[10] Nell Irvin
Painter, Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol. (New York: W. W. Norton
& Company, 1997), 113.
[11] Jean H.
Baker, Sisters: The Lives of America’s Suffragists. (New York: Hill and
Wang, 2005), 75.
[12] Ibid, 125,
156.
[14] Carole Shammas, "Re-Assessing the Married Women's Property
Acts," Journal of Women's History 6:1 (Spring 1994), in Ebsco Host. (2013) http://0-web.ebscohost.com.rosi.unk.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=bf2d520f-3730-4aa1-9cbc-c3ca11507260%40sessionmgr13&vid=2&hid=19
(accessed November 3, 2013)
[15] Margaret D.
Jacobs, White Mother to a Dark Race {Settler Colonialism, Maternalism, and
the Removal of Indigenous Children in the American West and Australia,
1880-1940} (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2009), front cover.
[16] Ibid, 165.
[17] Nancy F.
Cott, The Grounding of Modern Feminism. (New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1987), 3.
[18] Ibid, 17.
[19] Ibid, 257.
[20] Blanche
Wiesen Cook, Eleanor Roosevelt, Vol I, 1884-1933. (New York:
Penguin Books, 1992), 3, 17.
[21] Ibid, 19.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment