Seneca Falls Convention: The Battle For Gender Equality

Combining with the motif of protest was the issues of women rights. Women celebrated the 50th anniversary of the 19th amendment, and liberal abortion laws in the year of 1970. No longer merely entertainment, popular music became a powerful means of protest and an effective force for social change. The whole feeling of fighting for what is right was often found in lyrics and music of the time. Although women had been in the music industry for centuries the song of the seventies that backed the idea of woman’s push for power was “I Am Women,” by Helen Reddy. The first line simply stats the mood of the whole song by stating, “I am women, hear me roar.”

Music is one of the most influencing media within our time and generation, especially Rap and hip-hop. Demoralizing women has

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.

Only two of the participants of the convention were able to live to see the addition of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.

Women’s music came from radical, grassroots origins in the 1970s thanks to contributions by brave women, mostly lesbians (Mosbacher, 2002). These women used non-violent, peaceful force to forge their own way into the music industry. It was a peaceful yet political revolution of togetherness and liberation. It brought together women of different backgrounds who produced easy-listening, mellow harmonies played with lyrics filled with tumultuous

The Seneca Falls Convention was the first woman’s rights convention in the United States. The assembly was organized by many women who were present in abolition and temperance movements, and lasted for two days, July 19–20 on 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York. The convention’s main purpose was to bring attention to unequal treatment of women, and brought about 300 women, including around 40 men. The Seneca Falls Convention played a major role in women’s rights throughout the United States and is composed of important before, during, and aftermath history.

During 1850, American society was catching fire in terms of influential women and men whom would set out to change history. Elizabeth Cady Stanton being denied entrance at a London Convention due to her gender inspired the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, which discussed women 's rights as well as introduce Sojourner Truth as a speaker. Sojourner accounted her life as a slave laborer, who could do any job better that a man, thus giving reason to why women should be treated equally to men rather than a subordinate. Fredrick Douglass, a former slave and eminent human rights leader in the abolition movement, was the first black citizen to hold a high U.S. government rank. Then there is Celia, a slave, whose story rattled America to its core through the raising of fundamental questions regarding a slave’s right to fight back against traumatizing years of abuse.

In the 1920’s, blues was a very popular and dominating genre in the music industry. Generally, the blues was sung by African American women because according to the book entitled, “Blues Legacies and Black Feminism” by Angela Davis, “…The most widely heard individual purveyors of the blues—were women.” (Davis 4) The blues delivers certain emotions such as sadness, loneliness, love, sex, and feelings about the certain circumstances the artist may be going through at the time. Two women who dominate this style of music are Gertrude “Ma” Rainey and Bessie Smith. As stated by “Gay & Lesbian Biography”, “The careers of Rainey and Smith are closely interwoven.” Ma Rainey is a woman who is admired for both her amazing vocals and her ability to entertain. Bessie Smith is a woman who started off as a background dancer for her peer Ma Rainey, but then went on to emulate her by outdoing her success. Both women are very talented musicians who can not only sing and entertain, but they also create an impact as two of the most influential feminists during the 1920’s who helped shape the blues into what it is today.

The Convention of Seneca Falls was held in central New York. The convention lasted for two full days on the dates of July 19 and 20th in the year 1848. Elizabeth Stanton decided to hold a gathering to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman. Stanton led the convention with the help of friend Lucretia Mott. The articles states that the Convention of Seneca Falls is what helped to open up the idea of equality for both genders saying that it “marked the beginning of the seventy year struggle for women’s suffrage.” Stanton and Mott had first became acquainted in England at the World Anti-Slavery Convention. This was the same conference that refused to accommodate Mott and other representatives due to the fact that they were women. Lucretia Mott was a woman in her mid-forties, she was a Quaker minister, feminist, and abolitionist. Stanton composed a document called the Declaration of Sentiments. The Declaration of Sentiments was a document declaring the given rights of women. This document is what defined the convention. It was slightly based off of the Declaration of Independence. The Convention of Seneca Falls was announced to the citizens by a small, unsigned notice placed in the Seneca County Courier. The first day of the convention was reserved solely for women to discuss and debate on the Declaration of Sentiments document. On the second day of the convention, they opened it for all people to attend. Frederick Douglass gave a powerful speech

Prior to the Seneca Falls Convention and the women’s rights movements, women were mistreated and limited in many ways. The Seneca Falls Convention brought a lot of attention to women’s rights and eventually led to what they are able to do today. In 1831, the Second Great Awakening was happened across the northern part of the United States. Charles Grandison Finney allowed women to lead prayer with men. In 1832, William Lloyd Garrison called for women to be involved in the anti-slavery movement. Lucretia Mott met Elizabeth Cady Stanton when both attended the World Anti-Slavery Society convention in London in 1840. When denied a place on the floor with the rest of the female delegates, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton resolved that what was needed was a meeting for women to

In the early 1800's, many of the women in the United States were plain and simple getting fed up with their lack of writes. Men had dominated everything in the past and they were still continuing to do so. Women were finally ready to come forward and voice their opinions about how men and women are created equal. It was now time for women to go out and become what ever they want to be and not have to worry about the fact that they are females. The Seneca Falls Convention would soon be one of the biggest victories for women's rights.

Out of all the topics for our assigned Research Paper, I decided to write about the forgotten history of African Americans, the systemic oppression we faced and how that in turn affected the way society views black women blues music. There could be many reasons why so many students are never taught the untold history African american culture and how black woman helped shape the blues. All throughout my experience in the education system I can remember very select few times where I was taught about African Americans that did something positive for our community besides Martin Luther King Jr, Harriet Tubman, and the same famous historical scholars that we always repeatedly learn about throughout the school system. I was always taught to have

The exact beginning of feminism cannot be known as it was a movement sparked in many parts of the United States by women that had finally reached the threshold of their patience with their maltreatment. Many believe feminism did not truly begin until the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, but women had been resisting their lack of control far before then. Since the technical emergence of feminism in 1848, the goals of those women and men who have been and still are fighting have developed and adapted to fit into the societal norms of each respective time period.

In the twenty first century there are a few men in this world that admits when you think of artist, you don’t typically think of women. Women rights and racism play a strong role when it comes to African American female artist. For decades’ African American woman have always had a permanent double bull’s eye on their back. Their skin and gender was their worst enemy. In the 1700 century women rights movements started to rise. But if you look up women right movements starting in the 1700 century, the face of women rights is predominantly white women. Between books and the internet, they show that it was mostly white women who helped woman rights. If we still struggle to shine light on African American Women now in the 21st century, you cannot

Music can have a big influence on society or a person individually, this can be because everyone has personal feelings and perceives music differently. For this song assignment I choose If I were a boy by Beyonce Knowles. I choose this song because of how gender is seen in society and the differences between men and women and it’s impact in our world. The reason this song makes me think in a sociological manner is because we as people don’t know what it is like to be one gender or the other. Also, there are differences between the genders and we blame society for creating these differences, however we don’t actually stop assuming or agreeing with these differences. I think that personally I don’t always understand how there is such a big difference