Women and Revolution
1) How were the gender roles of white women reshaped and redefined during the Revolutionary era? How were these changes specifically related to the Revolutionary War and Great Awakening? How were the changes experienced by Native American women and African American women different from those of white women?
2) Examine the poetry and letters written by Phyllis Wheatley on pages 169-173 of Through Women's Eyes. Historians have few written sources from eighteenth century African-American women, thus the work of Wheatley is important. What conclusions can be drawn from the language she used in her writings? What emotions do you think she was trying to convey? Given her particular circumstances, should generalizations about African-American women's lives be drawn from the study of Wheatley? Why or why not?
Textbook Through Women's Eyes
by Ellen Carol Dubois/ Lynn Dumenil
Hello. The solution below is concise and comprehensive based on the word of US Historians Dumenil & Dubois. To expand, please check with your current materials, and indicated references below. Good luck!
OTA 105878/Xenia Jones
Gender Roles in the Revolution
Even during the Revolution, white women whose families and husbands owned slaves and had land or were affluent were under the law of coverture. In the ongoing conflict with England, it still hasn't changed that men controlled their legal identity, they cannot sue or get sued, they cannot vote nor have a say in how their bodies and the lives of their children as well as their properties are managed. Only single women or widows can have legal identity if they reach a certain age or stature in society. Even then, for Colonial women during the revolution this was a given. While they questioned such matters, their voices are limited to the sala of their homes and in the company of other women. Together in support of their husbands and the men in their families and as a form of general agreement, they supported the ideals of the revolutionaries, refusing to purchase British textile and finding ways to be self reliant. Openly, support of British commodities among women was shunned, and self-reliance grew into a textile industry manned by slave women spinners or white women in servitude in the South. Men using women names as pseudonyms in writing about revolutionary ideas led to more intellectual and political commentaries from actual women writers, creating public awareness about women's opinions and take on the Revolution. From this, the idea of 'Daughters of Liberty' grew with the likes of Clementina Publishing the 'Virginia Gazette' for the consumption of ...
The solution is a comprehensive narrative answering specific questions on the topic of Women & the Revolution in American History based on the book 'Through Women's Eyes' by US Historians Dumenil & Dubois (see original problem/long description for specific questions). The solution is a 1,124-word essay that includes a passage from the poetry of freed slave Phyllis Wheatley. References are provided. A word version of the solution is attached for easy printing.