The First American Women Summary

During the colonial period women were frequently found to work alongside their husbands and brothers to punish newspapers as a family business. It was also very common to find wives become the publisher of the newspaper after their husbands became ill or died, usually until their son could take over the newspaper. Elizabeth Timothy was America’s first female newspaper publisher and editor, in 1738 after her husband died. Mrs. Timothy became the publisher of South-Carolina Gazette in Charleston, she ran it for seven years in partnership with founding father Benjamin Franklin. Since Elizabeth was a women she wasn’t allowed to publish under her own name, she used her 13-year-old son’s name, Peter. Anna Franklin was the first women to be involved

The book First Generations: Women in Colonial America written by Carol Berkin shares the power of control of a women’s role in the early part of American society was linked to her race and where she lived. In the book Berkin does a great job of giving examples of the life of the colonists. For example, we know that women white women had more freedom than slaves African Americans especially when it came to marriage. If a African American would want to get married to a white man it would be considered a “criminal offensive” ( Berkin 109).

In her journal article, “The Evolution of White Women’s Experience in Early America,” Mary Beth Norton submits there is a common misconception that the initial empowerment of 17th and 18th century Colonial America women was completely and solely influenced by the unique economic factors and disrupted social framework of New World life--arguing instead that this revolution of empowerment was the result of a more complex set of factors.. Thus, as Colonial American society was one in which all members of the family had to work together in order to survive, it has been

Perdue’s topic is the gender construction and distinctions in 19th Century Cherokee Indian society, the traditional roles that women played and how cultural progression affected them specifically. Cherokee women lived in a world that was disrupted by trade and war which resulted in a shifting for

I would argue that it is not unprecedented. The issue between us could be what unprecedented represents to you and me. Women have played large roles in warfare throughout history. Women in the Norse culture were very strong and Roman women influenced politics. For the most part, it has been an uneven history for women. Looking at America, women were instrumental during the colonial period. Frontier women often ran the household due to the husband dealing with other issues. A lack of an industry is one major difference between women of the colonial or revolutionary period and the women of the Civil War. What is unprecedented are the male casualties that we see during the war.

Prior to colonization, women were builders, warriors, farmers and craftswomen. A woman was in charge of gathering materials and building homes. They also made tools and weapons that her husband would use for hunting. Women were well known for their craft work, played a significant role in healing and had the responsibility for taking care of religious items. Their strength was what allowed the tribes to survive. Although women did not have traditional political power, they did have the right to divorce and if her husband did not meet her needs, he could find himself homeless. On the contrary, colonial women were expected to help the men in physical labor tasks so that her family could survive. As time progressed, colonial women took on traditional roles which consisted of house and farm work and raising her children. The men now dominated the women and he chose how many children they would have. She did not have the right to vote and her belongings also belonged to her husband.

The land of the freedom for new settlers from England and Europe was for many seen as an opportunity to open new frontiers of prosperity, and land to own. The strong clash of culture, customs, religion and language was without a doubt a challenge not only for new settlers, but also for natives Americas in how to live from then on. English colonial women faced also this challenge when some of the women were abducted by Natives Americans and some of them decided to stay, due to the lack of rights, husband’s oppression, illiteracy, the inequality of jobs and gender roles.

women was an effective way to assimilate them and change their gender roles. An analysis of the

The desire of the Founding Fathers to make America a successful republic played a significant part in changing the many roles that women found themselves in after the Revolution. The role of women as wives became more important as republican ideals established an emphasis on marriage. Society saw marriage as a miniature representation of a republic. Therefore, republican ideals like independence and the freedom from arbitrary power allowed women as wives more value and power within their families. The roles of women as mothers also became more important in the republic, as patriarchy loosened and the nation depended on mothers to educate American children in the republican way. And finally, the role of women in politics was theoretically

Gender roles are not normally looked upon as the culprit of rape culture. However, most do not understand the underlying effect of the stark differences between gender roles in Native American communities and settler communities. Native American women are set up to be profoundly undervalued in the minds of non-Indian settlers according to their ideologies of true womanhood.

Andrea Smith’s book Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide read passionately about Native American Indians experiences relative to violence and related topics. Part of Smith’s goal is to aid understanding of Native women’s plight and spotlight how treating their sufferings separately was limiting the pain they lived through to this day. Smith pointed out that though other writers have keen interest in bringing native women’s plight mainstream, these writers fell short of taking an intersectional look at how sexual violence, race, and gender connected equally to the Native women’s history. She believed separating these issues was wrong. Smith cited theorist Kimberlee Crenshaw, (Smith 7) a woman of color, for pointing this issue out.

Prior to Western colonization, American Indian women played an important role in their communities. Many women were valued for their contributions socially, politically, spiritually, and economically and were viewed as leaders (Poupart p.171). Men and women each held different duties in their communities; women had important tasks to fulfill such as the taking ownership of land, crops, and decision-making. Viewing genders as equals was important in the Native communities because their differences were seen as complementary and balanced when used together. In some communities, women were seen as slightly inferior to men because they contributed offspring in the sacred creation of life. Oral history stories say that women were seen as the wisest of the group. Women were viewed as the “Light of Knowledge” and were said to “come first and light the way for males…because they are not created with an automatic connection to the Atisokanak World” and need to be guided (Boatman p.61). The roles of American Indian women were respected and honored in communities, unlike in Western culture.

Chapter 1, Sexual Violence as a Tool of Genocide, discusses the history of and gives us an introduction to genocide. The author talks about the treatment of bodies, in particular Native bodies, and how colonial thought and theory regards Native people as inherently “rapable” and “violable,” a colonial conviction that stretches past the physical bodies of Natives, to Native independence and lands as well. She explains that patriarchy is the foundation by which power is established over Native women's bodies because hierarchal, patriarchal authority and control systems of society are seldom found within native societies. Europeans, on the other hand, have long depended on these methods to suppress and infuse fear into their people.

When European settlers arrived, they had a pre-decided vision of what women ought to behave like based on the European women, which the indigenous women didn’t align with. Indigenous women were comprehended and characterized in ambiguous and conflicting terms. They could firstly be viewed as “noble savages” where they were seen as classic Indian Princesses, virginal, childlike, naturally pure, beautiful, helpful to European men, and open and willing to

The exploitation of women in history is a frequent occurrence, however, just because it was commonplace, does not mean that it was right. Columbus was documented encouraging the sexual assault and rape of innocent native women and girls, which by today's standards, disqualify him from the title of “hero.” In a letter by Michele de Cuneo, Columbus was recorded to have given him a captured, native woman, with whom he promptly beat and raped (cite). While the original letter made by Cuneo was lost, this copy (which has been scrutinized about its authenticity, but has been accepted by many historians to be true) captures the brutal, and demeaning mentality of Columbus and his crew towards women. Ignoring the many rapes that likely occurred but