Module 2: Women in History 16 th -19 th Century

Module 2: Women in History16th-19th Century HTY/SSC-335

New Term: Miscegenation • Term originates in the 19th Century • Currently considered offensive • Refers to the “mixing” of different racial groups • Through marriage, sexual intercourse, cohabitation, or child-bearing

White Women in the Colonies and Early Republic • Class differences • Wives and mothers • Roles and work • Necessary purity and the fear of despoilment • Political Involvement

White Women in the Colonies & Early Republic: Class Differences • Specific time period had a major impact on class • Who you were in Europe vs. who you became here • Old Money vs. Nouveau riche • North vs. South • Really began with the formation of the Massachusetts Bay and Virginia colonies • Upper class vs. Lower class • All depended on who your father or husband was • Strict series of behavioral standards among the upper class • Lower classes ironically often had more freedom to act

White Women in the Colonies & Early Republic: Wives & Mothers • Motherhood as the epitome of womanhood • Dutiful wives • Essentially became the property of their husbands • “Barefoot and pregnant” • The duration of marriage in the early days of Colonial America was about 7 years • Married women had virtually no property rights or legal right to their children

White Women in the Colonies & Early Republic: Roles and Work • Indentured servants seen as having few/no rights during term of service • A woman could work inside the home (“cottage industries”) • Crafts, sewing, laundry, etc. • Few acceptable occupations outside of the home • Many of the well-paying occupations were seen as indecent

White Women in the Colonies & Early Republic: Necessary Purity & Fear of Despoilment • Captivity narratives • Maidenhood and the “ruined woman” • A woman’s status as a pure being was invaluable • A woman who lost her virginity to anyone but her husband was seen as ruined • It did not matter if the loss of virginity was voluntary or not

White Women in the Colonies & Early Republic: Political Involvement • Women’s movement began with state conventions • Intention was to begin the discussion • Seneca Falls, New York convention • 1848 • Widely thought to be the real beginning of a national women’s movement • Abolitionist movement

Native American Women • Roles and work • Wives and Mothers • Involvement in the community

Native American Women: Rolls and Work • Important to recognize that Native American tribes were not homogenous • Strict division of labor • Different, but equally important and , tasks • Value of the work of women would decline after contact with white culture • Women were responsible for child-rearing and often ran villages/farming endeavors in the absence of the hunter-gatherer men • Most menial labor was the province of women • Men were seen as hunters and warriors

Native American Women: Participation in the Community • Among the Iroquois (New York), women could nominate and recall chiefs • Among the Blackfoot (Montana), women owned everything they worked for • Including the family home

Native American Women: Wives and Mothers • Iroquois women could decide how many children they wanted to have • Women were revered because of their ability to create life • Husbands and wives had a complementary relationship • Not one of a superior and a subordinate

Black Women • Miscegenation • Wives and mothers • Roles and work • Political Involvement

Black Women: Miscegenation • Early Colonies allowed black/white marriage • Virginia law • White woman who bore illegitimate child with a black father would have to choose: • pay 15 pound fine • become indentured servant for 5 years • Child of female slave and white master would be a slave (1662) • Way to perpetrate slavery • Particularly once the influx of slaves from Africa ceased • Change in the commonly accepted way of inheritance of status imported from Britain • Previously status was inherited from the father • Sexual relations were often non-consensual or consent would be dubious at best

Black Women: Wives and Mothers • Slave women were generally housewives, in addition to other duties • Expected to raise their own children • Expected to cook and clean for husband • Husband might be her choice or the choice of her owner • Slave marriage was not officially recognized but was often encouraged • No guarantee that family would be allowed to stay together indefinitely

Black Women: Roles and Work • Very different experience for free and slave • Most of the original blacks to come to America were indentured servants • Life expectancy was too short to make buying a slave cost effective • Indentured servants were freed once their term of service was over • Emancipation continued on a case-by-case basis until the Civil War

Black Women: Roles and Work:Slave Women • A slave woman’s most valuable asset was her ability to bear children • No choice about who the father would be • Pregnant women were treated better • Some female specific duties • Nurses • Midwives • Seamstresses • Cooks • Non-gender-specific duties • Field work • Servants in the house • Gardeners • Little opportunity to improve one’s situation • One exception: Charleston’s market

Black Women: Roles and Work:Free Women • Very different social constraints than white counterparts • Often went into business for themselves: • Boarding houses • Beauty salons • Restaurants • Catering • Food markets • Charleston’s was famous • Relaxed atmosphere as long as the number of blacks in America remained small

Black Women: Political Involvement • Both the abolition and women’s movements were popular amongst free blacks and escaped slaves • The two movements saw themselves as natural allies • Sojourner Truth was one of the first black women to win a court case against a white man • Protesting the illegal sale of her son • She went on to become an advocate of both abolition and women’s rights

Sojourner Truth (1797-1883): Ain't I A Woman?Delivered 1851 Women's Convention, Akron, Ohio Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about? That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman? Then they talk about this thing in the head; what's this they call it? [member of audience whispers, "intellect"] That's it, honey. What's that got to do with women's rights or negroes' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full? Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him. If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them. Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say.

Module 2: Women in History 16 th -19 th Century