Gender Roles During The Reconstruction Era

Women during the Antebellum Period we held to high expectations of how they were to behave. They had virtues that they adhered to. After the war broke out, the lives of women changed, and the roles they played significantly impacted the way women were viewed following the war. The Civil War was the result of decades worth of tensions amongst the northern and southern states that had ultimately ended with a war. The states had been feuding over many issues including expansion, slavery, and state’s rights (History.com Staff “American Civil War History”). The Civil war broke out in 1861 and continued until 1865. Prior to the war women stayed home and kept up things at the house, but after the war broke out, women felt they needed to help the

During the colonial times, men expected women to follow strict rules. Women could not cross certain boundaries in society, so they silently obeyed the rules that were provided before them. They had not have a public voice and had to follow certain restrictions. It was hard being a woman in the colonial times mostly due to the unequal rights and practices that were used. Women were expected to dress and act a certain way, or they would be disowned or punished. Disobeying was not taken lightly for the puritans and punishing those who disobey was mandatory. Women struggled with everyday life of obeying their fathers or husbands. Women were separated from men in categories such as jobs and responsibilities. They were told to stay inside the house and maintain the family all day. Women were labeled as weak and fragile through a man’s eyes. Women had standards that they had to follow in order to live a successful life, according to the puritans.

Females across the nation started speaking out against gender inequality. Discrimination in areas such as the workplace, marriage, and government had become overwhelmingly obvious and women started fighting back (Banks 207). This uprising coincided with the Civil Rights Movement. During the same time, African-Americans were standing up against segregation and for racial equality. These two movements went hand-in-hand, as they both had similar motives. Both women and blacks were fighting against oppression in their own country, and they benefitted from each other’s successes. But it wasn’t strictly these two minority groups standing up for themselves during this time, as Mexicans and Native Americans joined the cause too. They also spoke out against inequality by hosting similar protests and demonstrations as the black and women’s rallies. This showed how the 1960’s were a popular time for minority groups to take a stand and make their voices heard, and women were only one of the many groups of people who rallied for change during that time.

The reconstruction era was a time that then affected America in positive facets and negative aspects as well, and still affects America today. Thanks to the reconstruction era, there are several implementations that geared the world on the path in which it is today. Had it not been for some of the laws that were set in place African Americans may have not had many of the opportunities that were presented during the reconstruction period, therefore the years of oppression and cruelty might still be present.

America was in disarray following the events of the Civil War. Southern economy was in shambles while congress was struggling to find a middle ground between the radical republicans and Lincoln’s lenient policies. Many Southerners faced the aftermath of uprooting their society and their way of life while thousands of newly freed slaves struggled to find a way to support themselves. The country needed a strong leader, however on the 14th of April, 1865 President Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in the Ford Theatre in Washington (Farmer). Without the man that had once held the nation together, the country now faced an enormous obstacle; reconstructing American economics, politics and social life.

During the reconstruction era, the women’s right was shaped. As explained in chapter 6 reconstruction period was a term that was use to describe the history after the civil war. America was in the process of building its nation back up from the war, which included the writing of the amendment, constitution and the rights for African American and women. In addition, the word reconstruction can also covers the period in U.S history, when the U.S economy was completely constituted on industrial capitalism. Even though the slave trade may have ended, there came to be a matter of workers being paid little for their hard labor. Yes, the U.S economy was building but it was not being shared equally. In fact, the gap between the rich and poor was so huge that it created tension between workers and owners. After slavery was eliminated, society could no longer ignore the division in class. It was during this time women started to reconstruct their lives as well. In 1865 up until 1866, women’s right activist called for the suffrage to be joined with African American and women.

When the government implemented the Reconstruction plan, every citizen- Northerners, Southerners, African Americans, Whites, Females, Males- had diverse views on the government’s actions. In a letter written to a newspaper editor, a former slave shared his negative opinions on the government regarding the treatment of freemen and freewomen after the ratification of the 13th amendment. Samuel Childress responded negatively by saying “It would seem that it was regarded as a greater crime to be black than to be a rebel.” He claims a former slave’s life is unjust because they works with little pay and often can only find working using the skills they already know. Most of the freemen have only learned how to farm and are forced to work for their

In the Reconstruction Era, great strides were made towards giving the freed slaves the same freedoms as a white man. Reforms allowed the freedmen to enjoy economic independence, public education, the right to vote and even the ability to hold public office. It seemed that blacks were well on their way toward equality and escape from their former “inferior” status. This changed with the violent rise of the Democratic Party to control every state in the South. They fashioned themselves as “Redeemers”; their platform was white supremacy and subjugation of the black race (Foner 652).

During the Civil War, women took a unique role in America,by essentially taking the place of the men who went to war. When the men left, home life changed completely. Women now had to do many of the things that the men would have taken care of around the house, as well as the things that the women would normally do themselves. During the war, however, some women got more of a taste for life outside the home than others. They had to reconfigure themselves in the world and find where they belonged without the aid of men.

She speaks out with characteristic passion questioning female and black suffrage. Anthony states, " My right as a human being is as good as any other human being. If you have a right to vote at 21 years, then I have. All we ask is that you should let down the bars and let us women and Negroes in...." Women's suffrage distracts and is danger to cause of black rights (Garland). Anthony and Stanton decided to split the work to convince legislation. Stanton would write and deliver speeches to joint meetings of state senators. Anthony would circulate petitions supporting revised property laws (Weisberg). They also formed the American Equal Rights Association, AERA, which disbanded in 1869 (Garland). The goal was to organize national effort towards women suffrage and to stir up the recognition of women's right throughout the world ("Five Women"). On June 27th 1867 Anthony and Stanton testified in Albany, New York to try to get the word "male" out of the New York Constitution (Colman

Women’s Suffrage issues became prominent in America’s culture when women began leaving their traditional roles as homemakers. Women became more involved in their communities by seeking jobs and fulfilling leadership roles in which they could improve society. In the 1830’s, thousands of women were involved in the movement to abolish slavery. The first organized gathering devoted to women’s rights in the United States was held in July of 1848, in Seneca Falls, New York. Elizabeth Stanton would draft a “Declaration of Sentiments, Grievances, and Resolutions,” based on the Declaration of Independence, proclaiming, “All men and women are created equal” (History.com).

In Gendered Strife and Confusion: The Political Culture of Reconstruction, Laura Edwards studied how gender, race, and class shaped not only the political terrain of the South during Reconstruction, but also its private and public foundations. Edwards viewed the Southern household during this period as a “highly contested political issue.” Following the war, changes swept southern society regarding how households were defined, who were the heads of those households, and what rights these heads and their dependents held. She argued that African American and common white women became a very loud and “vigorous public presence both during and after the Civil War.” Being poor, black, or both, these women demanded that concerns for their family’s welfare and safety, such as issues of rape and physical violence, be heard. Therefore, these women “moved private issues onto the public stage.” Within her work, Edwards extended Reconstruction to the end of the nineteenth century. She stated that “racial and class hierarchies appeared as ‘natural’ as gender hierarchy, and the political power of poor white and African-American men appeared as pointless as that of women.” She discussed that the end of Reconstruction concluded at different times in different places throughout North Carolina, ultimately ending with the white supremacy campaign in 1898 leading to disfranchisement. Before 1898, many African Americans and “dissenting whites retained their grip on local power,” which

In a time period that redefined the nation, two completely different stories were unfolding within the two regions of the country. Shortly after the American Civil War, the United States took on changes the young country had not seen before and has not seen since. With the northern states thriving in an economy driven by industry, the south watched as their land quickly turned into lost wishes. This time period is known as “The Reconstruction Era.” As the Civil War was coming to a close, President Lincoln had already made plans of rebuilding the war-torn south. As a result of the 13th Amendment, very few southerners were fond of African-Americans. Due to the hatred that was instilled into the minds of the youth in the south, a new group was

This election saw the first female candidate for president, even though women had not yet achieved suffrage. Victoria Woodhull, a radical social campaigner and one of the first female stockbrokers, had announced her candidacy in 1870. She was officially nominated by the Equal Rights Party in May 1872, with abolitionist Frederick Douglass as her alleged running mate. However, it is not certain that he ever accepted the position. Woodhull was imprisoned the day before Election Day for “publishing an obscene newspaper.” Several suffragettes attempted to vote for her, including Susan B. Anthony, who was arrested. In the end, Woodhull received approximately zero electoral votes. (Hampson, Pressreader) The 1872 presidential election is the only election

The women’s movement began in the nineteenth century when groups of women began to speak out against the feeling of separation, inequality, and limits that seemed to be placed on women because of their sex (Debois 18). By combining two aspects of the past, ante-bellum reform politics and the anti-slavery movement, women were able to gain knowledge of leadership on how to deal with the Women’s Right Movement and with this knowledge led the way to transform women’s social standing (Dubois 23). Similarly, the movement that made the largest impact on American societies of the 1960’s and 1970’s was the Civil Right Movement, which in turn affected the women’s movement (Freeman 513). According to