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Women's Rights From 1877 To The 1970s

Decent Essays

The extension of women’s rights from 1877 to the mid 1970s, has changed over time along with the ideals of the different eras. From the original traditional values to those wild and free spirits that dominated the culture in the seventies, since then women and their rights have changed.
The improvement of women’s rights began back when Republicans first began to work on the Fifteenth amendment, this amendment was ratified in 1870 and it made the denial of voting due to race, illegal. The exclusion of women from this amendment caused women’s right’s activists to start to take a stand and raise their voices for what they thought they deserved. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was quoted with saying, “think of Patrick and Sambo and Hans and Ung Tung who …show more content…

(Schaller 592) From the poor work conditions, the immigration levels continued to grow thus feeding the endless cycle. With the new flow of immigrants, meant the rise of a younger generation who would cut ties with the older traditions. Some young working women turned against parental rules, and control. The gained their independence by keeping money for themselves to spend on clothes and go out and socialize, in ways that previous generations hadn’t. They also rejected the normal things such as arranged marriages, embracing more American ways of love. (Schaller 631) Middle class women began to embrace this style and it became known as the “New Woman.” They slowly began to move away from what was then the ideal woman, and become more athletically involved in things such as: hiking, camping, bicycling, tennis, and many other sports. (Schaller 634) Soon after they broke away from their stereotypical housewife facade, they began to raise their voices on controversial issues other than women’s rights. Jane Addams was inspired by her stay at Toynbee …show more content…

The most common ways women of different ethnicities were held back were by being barred from certain jobs. Black, and Latina women were not allowed to work in the southern textile industry, or hold a secretarial job like many white women did. Instead they were forced to become maids, and laundresses. (Schaller 594) Another example of the lack of improvement for women in minorities is the percentage of young Italian girls who were withdrawn from school, in order for them to help support their family. Roughly 90% left school at the age of 14 to find work. (Schaller 629) Even though white women were steadily making progress towards equality with their own organizations, african american women did not see such immediate progress. So they decided to create their own similar groups such as the National Association of Colored Women. This group took its stance on it’s own separate set of issues such as lynching, and defending the respect of black women. (Schaller 686) Ida B. Wells, a founding member of the NAACP took the lead on the lynchings, her crusade lead her to flee the south before she eventually settled down in Chicago. She continued to receive death threats had she returned to Memphis but, she continued her campaign and ended up taking it abroad. There she would form London’s Anti-Lynching Committee, this would causes waves all the way to Memphis, where

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