HIS 265 - History of Women in America
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
History of American Women, with particular emphasis on the mid-19th through mid-20th centuries. Major themes include the family, work, social ideas about women, and feminism. Prereq: HIS 109 or consent of instructor. It is recommended that you have strong writing skills.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
In this course, the student will
- survey some of the major events of American history with regard to gender.
- identify some of the major social themes in American history and how they tie in to the experience of American women.
- survey some of the feminist historical writings and others.
COURSE OUTLINE:
- VIGNETTE: MARY ROWLANDSON'S CAPTIVITY
THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: A FRONTIER SOCIETY
- A Necessary Good
- Housewifery and Trade
- Servants and Slaves
- Indian Women and Colonizers
- Prophets and Saints
- Invisible Furies
- VIGNETTE: ELIZA PINCKNEY AND REPUBLICAN MOTHERHOOD
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: THE EVE OF MODERNITY
- Wives and Widows
- Character and Capacity
- Legal Institutions
- Diversity of Cultures
- The Cradle of the Revolution
- The Pursuit of Happiness
- Fathers and Daughters, Mothers and Sons
- VIGNETTE: SARAH HALE AND THE LADIES MAGAZINE
PROMOTING WOMAN'S SPHERE, 1800-1860
- The Home and the World
- Piety and Purity
- Academy and Common School
- Readers and Authors
- Factory and Mill
- City and Frontier
- White Women in the Antebellum South
- VIGNETTE: FRANCES WRIGHT AT NASHOBA
BENEVOLENCE, REFORM, AND SLAVERY, 1800-1860
- Origins of Association
- Moral Reform
- Women in Slavery
- Abolition and the Woman Question
- Communitarian Alternatives and Legal Rights
- The Women's Rights Movement
- VIGNETTE: THE SHIRTWAIST STRIKE OF 1909
WOMEN AT WORK, 1860-1920
- Civil War and Women's Work
- The Black Experience
- Immigrants, Cities, and Working Girls
- Women in Industry
- The Union Experience
- Office, Store, and Classroom
- VIGNETTE: THE FOUNDING OF HULL-HOUSE
THE RISE OF THE NEW WOMAN, 1860-1920
- Shrinking Families
- The College Woman
- The Professional Woman
- Clubwomen and Crusaders
- Educated Homemakers
- Social Housekeepers
- VIGNETTE: THE CRISIS OF THE NWSA
FEMINISM AND SUFFRAGE, 1860-1920
- An Independent Suffrage Movement
- Finding a Constituency
- The Argument over Suffrage
- Voices on the Left
- Peace, War, and the Woman's Party
- Women and the Vote
- VIGNETTE: DIRECT ACTION -- MARGARET SANGER'S CRUSADE
CROSS-CURRENTS: THE 1920'S
- Feminists in Conflict
- Aspiration and Career
- The New Morality
- "Pals" and "Partners"
- Companions and Consumers
- Contraceptive Politics
- VIGNETTE: HUMANIZING THE NEW DEAL, 1933
EMERGENCIES: THE 1930'S AND 1940'S
- Depression Families
- Working Women
- Women's New Deal
- "Front Page Woman"
- The Impact of World War II
- Postwar Prospects
- VIGNETTE: TURNING POINTS -- THE EARLY 1960'S
HIGH EXPECTATIONS: 1950-1975
- Suburban Housewives
- Working Mothers
- Mixed Signals
- Black Women in Postwar America
- Civil Rights and Women's Liberation
- Legitimizing Feminism
- VIGNETTE: THE THOMAS HEARINGS -- RESPONSES TO ANITA HILL, 1991
IN SEARCH OF EQUALITY: SINCE 1975
- Feminism at Stalemate
- Women in the Workplace
- Families in Transition
- Immigration, Ethnicity, and Diversity
- The Gender Gap
SAMPLE WRITING ASSIGNMENT:
Three written assignments are required. These must be typed double spaced, one inch margins and a minimum in length of five pages. Students will also be required to discuss their papers in class.
Suggested Topics (books are in all caps):
Native American Women
Anne Hutchinson
Pocahontas
Salem Witch Trials
The Quaker Family
LIBERTY'S DAUGHTERS
THE WAY OF DUTY: A WOMAN AND HER FAMILY IN REVOLUTIONARY AMERICA
The First Ladies
Elizabeth Blackwell
Emily Blackwell
Susan B. Anthony
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Lucretia Mott
Mother Jones
Margaret Sanger
Alice Roosevelt
DISORDERLY CONDUCT: VISIONS OF GENDER IN VICTORIAN AMERICA
The Shakers
Catherine Beecher
Antislavery Society
Seneca Falls
Harriet Beecher Stowe
THE REMEMBERED GATE: ORIGINS OF AMERICAN FEMINISM
FEMINISM AND SUFFRAGE
THE BONDS OF WOMANHOOD
MOTHERS OF FEMINISM: THE STORY OF QUAKER WOMEN IN AMERICA
FRONTIER WOMEN
WOMEN TEACHERS ON THE FRONTIER
Women and Labor
Mount Holyoke College
Vassar College
Wellesley College
Mary Ellen Lease
Jane Addams
Women's Christian Temperance Union
Women's Trade Union League
Eleanor Flexner
WHEN AND WHERE I ENTER: THE IMPACT OF BLACK WOMEN ON RACE AND SEX IN AMERICA
WOMAN'S PROPER PLACE