Women of the Reform Era - Module Ten

Women were very involved in the reform movement in the United States as they were not considered to be the equal of men in any way. They were considered to be too emotional and did not have the capacity to make sound judgments and decisions. They staged many protests and formed suffrage groups to attempt to make their voices heard throughout the reform era. This was a time of reform on many different levels for many groups of people and the women were finding their voice and reaching out for equality (Foner, 2008). 

                                                

In Lowell Massachusetts, a famous center of textile manufacturing during the market revolution, the factory set up boarding houses for the women and girls that were employed by the mill. The boarding houses had strict rules for personal behavior to encourage families to send their family members and also established lecture halls and churches. Most women enjoyed the opportunity to make money and have some independence (Foner, 2008). 

                                              

In 1834 the women at Lowell walked off the job to protest lower wages and then again in 1836 due to the factor owners setting up tents at the boarding houses. The conditions in Lowell were “prison-like” (Zinn, 2003, 228) and the women often got no more than bread and grave to eat. The rooms they worked in were poorly lit and very hot in the summer and freezing in the winter (Zinn, 2003).

The women were demanding fair treatment as "daughters of free men" stating they felt they were being oppressed almost to the point of enslavement (Foner, 2008). The requests they made were not unreasonable. They wanted decent housing and fair wages which do not seem to be too much to ask. Of course the management would object to these demands. The profit was the main concern of the factory owners and slavery was something that was accepted by many people as a way to increase profit. Considering women were not valued as a citizen and had no political voice, it makes sense to me that they would be treated unfairly. 

                                              

Angelina and Sarah Grimke were daughters of slaveholders who found that the rights of slaves were similar to their own as women. They lectured in public about the evils of slavery and felt that whatever men should be allowed to do women should be allowed to do as well. They argued that it was a morality issue and that all people should be treated equally (Foner, 2008). Frederick Douglass was said to state, "When the true history of antislavery cause shall be written women will occupy a large space in its pages" (Foner, 2008, 448).

The reform movement gave women a voice that they otherwise did not have. This was an opportunity to be involved in the politics of the era even though they were still not allowed to vote, by circulating petitions, lecturing, marching and teaching about the different causes they were fighting for. Like the Grimke sisters, the women involved in the abolitionist movement began to see how their own status in the community was not valued and that they had very few legal and moral rights afforded to them. The participation in the antislavery movement gave them the experience and the inspiration to fight for their own rights as a group (Foner, 2008).

                                         

In 1848 the first women’s rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York. This marked a long and tenuous battle for women's suffrage that would span over the next seventy years. Besides voting, many issues were addressed at this meeting such as unequal access to education and employment, the husbands control over the women’s property and money, the issues of child rearing and custody in the event of a divorce and the general idea men had that women were inferior to men (Foner, 2008). The concept of marriage being like slavery was part of this train of thought. Many women felt that in marriage they were not much more than a slave to their husband. Ernestine Rice, a reform feminist stated, “Woman is a slave, from the cradle to the grave. Father, guardian, husband-master still. One conveys her, like a piece of property, over to the other" (Foner, 2008, 455). 

                                            

The men during this time believed that women were inferior but did not necessarily equate women as slaves. The role of women had been long-standing and had not been challenged up until this time. It was difficult for men to understand why women would even want change as they considered them ill-suited for any kind of logical thinking or capable of making business decision due to their fragile and sensitive nature. The men had control physically as well and were allowed to physically abuse their wives and inflict corporal punishment if they deemed it necessary. The courts often did not want to interfere unless the abuse was considered to be extreme (Foner, 2008). Women wanted to have rights to their own bodies along with the political and social rights they desired.

During the civil war women took advantage of the labor shortage and began to move into the workplace in professions that men had dominated before. Women were actively involved in the war serving as nurses, laundresses, clerks, and organizing support and bazaars to raise money. It is sad to say that even after the war that women were still not considered worthy of rights. The fourteenth and fifteenth amendments gave men of all races the right to vote, but did nothing for the women of any color. Women became divided after these amendments were put into action and formed tow separate organizations, the National Women's Suffrage Association, led by Elizabeth Stanton and the American Women Suffrage Association led by Lucy Stone. Stanton's group felt that white women were entitled to vote before men of any other color while the other Stones’ felt that the amendments were a step in the right direction and supported the decision. These two groups would not reunite again until the 1890's (Foner, 2008).

                                           

The era of reform was a time of great change for women but did not achieve the changes that the women wanted. It would take many more years and much struggle to finally win the right to vote. Even after that right was won women still had many challenges ahead due to wage discrimination and unequal access to education. Alice Paul (1885-1977) eventually saw her dream after writing the original Equal Rights Amendment in 1923, but the amendment did not reach the Senate until 1972. 

                                        

 In my generation I have had the pleasure of watching women gain their independence in our country. The women of the revolution were the ones who saw the need for women to have the same rights as men and without their struggle and sacrifice we would not have achieved that today.

Foner, E. (2008). Give me liberty! An american history. New York, NY. WW

Norton & Co. 

Zinn, H. (2003). A people’s history of the united states. New York, NY.

Harper Collins Publishing. 

Slavery-Module Eight

I find it extremely interesting that during the reform movement against slavery the white people were trying to find a reason that slavery could be beneficial to the black culture. The view of the rich white man was very different than that of the slave I am quite sure. In reading George Fitzhugh’s  and James Hammond’s arguments about the good points of slavery  I was shocked by how much they seemed to really believe what they said (Fitzhugh, n.d.)(Hammond, 1858).

Fitzhugh especially seems very disillusioned as he states that the women “do little hard work, and are protected from the despotism of their husbands by their masters”. This we have found to be completely false as women were the primary field workers on the rice plantations and the women were often raped by the masters who felt the women were their property and could do with them as they wanted. In all actuality it was the negro men who could not protect their women from the white men (Foner, 2005).

                                                                      

Slave women’s lives had to be extremely difficult. They worked very hard often from before sunrise until long after sunset and not only were they being physically and sexually abused by their masters, but they were torn apart from their children as either punishment or simply for the master’s profit. The children were bought and sold like cattle and the women were expected to work hard and not show any remorse over this. If they showed any type of rebellion they would be beaten. Even though the women faced the threat of losing their families they still most often married in a ceremony called “jumping the broomstick” and attempted to have some peace and harmony in their family life when possible. These weddings were not honored by the white and the women lived in constant fear of the family being torn apart (Foner, 2005).

                                                                         

Fitzhugh describes a vision of the slaves working only when they want too and having time to sit around and lay in the sun, perfectly happy and content (Fitzhugh, n.d.). His vision is so far from what we know the truth to be today that you have to wonder if he really was delusional or just a complete lunatic. For the sake of argument, if the slaves were so happy in there confinement why did so many strive to be free? Why were so many families split up and why were they afforded no civil rights?

Hammond answers that question with a statement he makes at the end of his prose even though he intends it to be meant for the white slaves,

“If they knew the tremendous secret, that the ballot-box is stronger than "an army with banners," and could combine, where would you be? Your society would be reconstructed, your government overthrown, your property divided, not as they have mistakenly attempted to initiate such proceedings by meeting in parks, with arms in their hands, but by the quiet process of the ballot-box." (Hammond, 1858)

Hammond foresaw the power of the vote and was very aware that if any liberty was given to the people in our country that they could raise up and fight. I am not sure that he felt the slaves were actually capable of the intellectual strength to achieve this, but it had to be a question that was always under the surface even if it wasn’t spoken aloud, at least not in public.

It would seem there would be a general consensus in the United States at that time, even in the North, to want to believe this train of thought. The Northern States, even though they claimed to be liberated and against slavery, was profiting highly from the labor of the slaves in the south. The factories were bustling and the railroads and steam lines were growing astronomically (Foner, 2005). It is difficult to believe that the men that were getting rich from the processing of these goods would wish for their livelihood to come to an end. 

                                                                    

I have to think that I have heard similar stories today in regards to the illegal Mexicans coming over the border. We get upset that they come over illegally yet I don’t see any white or black people lining up to go out and work in the fields. The majority of housekeepers and gardeners are Hispanic in my area and since they are often illegal they live in constant fear of deportation and have no say in the countries politics as they cannot vote. I don’t believe in illegal immigration myself, but I do think we should make it easier for people to come to our country and work here.

References

Fitzhugh, G. (n/d). George Fitzhugh advocates slavery. Retrieved from http://webct.dvc.edu/SCRIPT/HIST120_5183_FA11/scripts/student/serve_page.pl?1219012956+readings120_onlinea.htm+OFF+readings120_onlinea.htm

Foner, E. (2005). Give me liberty! An American history (2^nd ed). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Co.

Hammond, J. (1858). James Henry Hammond advocates slavery. Retrieved from http://webct.dvc.edu/SCRIPT/HIST120_5183_FA11/scripts/student/serve_page.pl?1219012956+readings120_onlinea.htm+OFF+readings120_onlinea.htm

Women of the Revolution (Module 5)

Throughout the late 1700's and early 1800's women continued to be oppressed but were slowly finding their way towards the inevitable women's movement for equality.  The women of the revolution were still basically “invisible” per Zinn (2003, 103)and were taught that they were inferior. Zinn has an excerpt from a best-selling pocket book called Advice to a Daughter which was published in London in the 1700’s which basically says that men have the “larger share of reason bestow’d upon them” (Zinn, 2003,107) which means, in other words, that women are less intelligent leaving us to be more prepared to be compliant with the men’s wishes. Women still regularly rebelled however in various ways.

One woman, Anne Hutchinson, was a religious mother of thirteen. She challenged the church stating that women could interpret the bible as well as a man. She was a good speaker and held meetings at her home and soon had many followers, even a few men. She ended up being tried twice, once by the church for heresy and once by the government for challenging their authority, before being banished from the colony and killed by Indians (Zinn, 2003).

                                                                

Deborah Sampson was the daughter of a poor farmer in Massachusetts. In 1782, at 21 years old, she disguised herself as a man and enlisted in the Continental Army. She was very courageous and fought in several battles. She even took a bullet out of her own leg so the doctor would not discover she was a  woman. Her commanding officer apparently discovered her secret but did not tell anyone and she was given an honorable discharge. She was awarded a soldiers pension many years later (Foner, 2005).

Many women, such as Abigail Adams and Lucy Knox attempted to draw a line where their husbands were concerned as to the equality of the woman in the household yet coverture still remained the law meaning a man still held legal authority over his wife, her property and her choices in life. Women were not allowed to vote  or have any political participation. Men generally considered women to be “naturally submissive and irrational and therefore unfit for citizenship” (Foner, 2005, 239) so any discussion of women's roles centered around domestic family issues and obligations to their husbands. Women's lives and relationship with society was primarily based around her relationship with her husband and their rights were all derived from their roles as wives and mothers (Foner, 2005).

                                                                        

Women did have a few very important roles in society that were at the time taken for granted. They were raising the next generations of Americans. Education was done primarily in the home so it became up to the women to teach their young children. Women also had specific jobs such as soap and candle making, tanning leather and spinning cloth, sewing, , brewing, food preparing, pickling and preservation (Zinn, 2003).  In reality, America would not have survived without the women who were here struggling to keep it alive along with the men.

In 1851 Amelia Bloomer suggested that women adopt a new style of dress that was shorter skirts and pants so they could have more freedom of dress but her ideas were attacked and called socialist and radical.

                                                                       

Chastity and prudence were valued and women were encouraged instead to be timid and submissive; showing any displeasure at any act the husband made, did or said was looked down upon (Zinn, 2003).

In the late 1700s many young women began getting jobs in spinning mills. Some of the earliest industrial strikes took place in these factories as 80-90% of the employees were women who were payed very little, perhaps 25 cents a day, for a 16 hour day of work.

                                                                      

The conditions were terrible, with little time allowed to eat and the women would have to be standing up most of the day. Most times the strikes were unsuccessful and sometimes the women fought with sticks and stones and would break in and stop the looms from operating (Zinn, 2003).

                                                      

Women became the primary education teachers during the late 1700’s and early 1800’s and they began reading and writing more and communication began to open up. Women’s publications began to be popular. Women began working in healthcare and slowly started forming movements working to fight against double standards in employment, politics and education.  This Revolutionary era truly was the foundation of  the women’s movement that emerged in the 1840’s.

Foner, E. (2008). Give me liberty! An american history (2nd ed.). New York, NY: W.W Norton & Company, Inc.

Zinn, H. (2003). A people’s history of the united states. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers.

Arawak Women...an example we ignored-Extra tidbit

I am appalled by the treatment of the Arawak Indians, and all the indigenous people of the Americas for that matter, by Columbus and his men. It was savage and brutal. But I have found in my readings that the Indian women were much more liberated than their European counterparts during the colonial eras. In Zinn's book about the history of America he tells of women in the Arawak people in Haiti as being able to pick and choose their mates, and they were able to leave a relationship if they were unhappy. The women carried babies and birthed without difficulty according to Bartolome de las Casas who was a young priest who quickly became angered by the Spaniards treatment of natives as well and wrote at length in very descriptive narrative about the horrible cruelty of the Spaniards and Columbus himself.They could use herbs to induce an abortion and it was considered the woman's choice.   The women and the men alike had no sense of shame over their naked bodies which the Spaniards found to be sinful. Las Casas writings are very descriptive about the women and how well they were treated by the native men (Zinn, 2003). It is a shame to me that we brought our religious and intolerant viewpoints over and forced them on what appears to be a happy and content people who held women in respect and treated them with love and kindness.

Zinn, H. (2003). A people's history of the united states. New York, NY. Harper Collins Publishing.

Module Two-Sources: American Women: Where we started and how we've changed

I am not a feminist. At least not in the way people think of most feminists. I never burned a bra, and I don't hate men. Actually I love them. But I do believe in women having equal rights to everything and being strong individuals and not having to rely on men for anything if we don't want too. It hasn't always been that way.

When my mom was growing up, she wanted to be a doctor, but that wasn't something a poor little girl from Detroit thought she could achieve back in 1950. My grandma? She wanted to have a home and raise kids. She collected to-go containers and tiny little figurines. She raised five kids and watched her husband die at an early age of a heart attack. She never really aspired to anything more as it just wasn't done. Her mother? She was unable to vote for much of her life. She never imagined what her fellow women were doing and the road they were paving for their granddaughters. Women in America, and the majority of the world for that matter, have historically been treated as lower class citizens. Only recently, in perhaps the last forty years, have we had opportunities that were once available only to men become available to us.

If you look back in history many societies held women in esteem and the women as well as the men were leaders and held high status in the culture. In many Native American cultures the women held status in the tribe. They could own property and men traditionally joined the women's family. Their lives were defined by their family, however they had many rights and could own their own dwellings and tools. They participated in religious ceremonies and were able to hold positions of power among the elders and could ask for a divorce if their marriage was unhappy (Foner, 2008).

Women in New Netherlands also seemed to have more freedom and independence than many other women in early colonized America. They were able to retain their own identity after marriage and could own property and borrow money. They were often left money in their husbands wills and were able to have business relations with others (Foner, 2008). 

Early America was very male dominated and the main purpose of a woman was to make babies and to take care of the children, the home, and were often treated with little respect. Women were not often allowed to learn to read and had to do so in private, unless they were very wealthy. 

                                                        
"Woman is a slave, from the cradle to the grave," wrote Ernestine Rose (Foner, 2008). This was such a true statement indicative of the times in the 1700's and early 1800's. Mary Wollcroft published a pamphlet called A Vindication of the Right's of Women in 1792 where she declared that women should have rights similar to those of men and by 1794 American editions of this pamphlet were published and being read by American women who were beginning to secretly hope for independence and access to education and employment (Foner, 2008).The women's suffrage movement of the 1800's was like the Underground Railroad for women. Women were considered treasonous to talk of such things and could be arrested and prosecuted (Foner, 2008). After marriage a woman basically became her husbands property to do with as he wished.

It was practice that when a woman married she gave away her legal identity and became part of her husbands identity. This practice was called "coverature". She could not own property, sign contracts, keep wages that she might earn, write her own will and testament or even ask for a divorce. She was technically her husbands indentured servant, both as a household laborer and for sexual satisfaction (Foner, 2008) I suppose the lucky woman found a husband she truly loved and was treated kindly, but the majority were bound into loveless marriages and had no idea of what it meant to be free to make choices of their own. Carol Berkin, in her book First Generations: Women in Colonial America, describes colonial women as being "legal incompetants" and in the same category as children, idiots and criminals (Berkin, 1997)

Women were valued more in Colonial America than in Europe as the lifestyle there was much more demanding. There were fewer women than men and the work was very hard. Women did most of the labor around the house, prepareing the food and made the household neccesaeties such as candles, soap and clothing-while the men did the more strenuous labor such as building, plowing and repairs. Without a woman in trhe household the family was unlikely to survive. This did not however mean that the women were considered men's equal. It was far from that, but through their family the had interaction with the community (Sage, 2007).

It is hard to imagine what our lives would be like now if women had remained oppressed. To be bound to a man for my entire life who did not love me and treat me with affection sounds like torture. To have no say in my own welfare, unable to make my own decisions and have no say in what was going on around me would be unbearable. I cannot imagine that our country would have fared well at all, considering that women are huge contributors in all aspects of everyday life. Women still bear the children but also carry many other burdens and wear many other hats as well.

I have to say I do appreciate what our predecessors did for us. Being a woman is something I take great pride in. I am a single mom with a great career, free to choose who to love and when and where to do it. I own my home and I have my own money. I have a life that is full of love and joy and very fulfilling. I know many other women who feel the same way. We have been empowered and will continue to empower our daughters to aspire to even more greatness as they follow in our footsteps. The women of Colonial America that worked so hard never imagined what their great-great grandaughter would be achiveing due to their hard work and sacrifices.

This is all owed to the brave, pioneering women who saw the future before it had happened. They saw what could be and they reached out for it with both arms and took it. Not just for themselves, but for all women. Without these extraordinary women who fought for our civil rights I would not even have had the chance to do any of it. I love being independent and having options. I can't imagine any other way. I give thanks to all the wonderful women who fought before me.

Berkin, C. (1997). First generations: Women in colonial america. New York, NY. Hill and Wang Publishing Co.

Foner, E. (2008). Give me liberty! An american history (2nd ed.). New York, NY: W.W Norton & Company, Inc.

Sage, H. (2007). Women in colonial america. Retrieved from http://www.academicamerican.com/colonial/topics/women.htm