This semester, I’m taking an English class called “Early American Women Writers.”
I just finished our first reading in a book called Transatlantic Feminisms in the Age of Revolutions by Lisa Moore, Joanna Brooks, and Caroline Wigginton…incredibly long title, I know. The first three pages were devoted to explaining what the title actually means. Anyway, as I was reading, I came across some great anecdotes of strong women in the pre-revolutionary and revolutionary era.
These women were tough. They did not have the right to vote or the right to own property, and they were not allowed in formal education. Most of their adult lives were spent either in pregnancy of nursing a child.
However, they were still strong, funny, and pushed for a world that was more inclusive for women. It is thanks to these ladies that today that we have the right to vote, the right to an education, and have made vast strides toward a more equal society.
Some anecdotes from the first 30 pages:
1. Abigail Adams, who wrote to her husband in 1776 while he was in Philadelphia, demanded that the newly-formed Congress “Remember the Ladies.”
2. While male authors crafted female characters that could not resist men, American feminist Judith Sargent Murray wrote essays on resisting seduction and pursuing education.
3. Along these same lines, authors Helen Maria Williams and Leonora Sansay published stories that shattered the typical role of female in literature, depicting their female characters as strong, survival-oriented heroines.
4. Even though women were entirely excluded from the public sphere, they gathered together in their homes, sewing circles, and at their tea tables to discuss literature, read the newspaper, and debate topics in philosophy,
5. Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, Irish aristocrats who scorned marriage laws in the 1700s eloped twice in the 1770s.
Anyway, I thought it would be a nice way to start off the week with a shout-out to these incredible women. Let’s try to live up to the standard of independence and strength that they set!
Source: Moore, Lisa L., Joanna Brooks, and Caroline Wigginton. Transatlantic Feminisms in the Age of Revolutions. Print.