Major Problems in American Women's History
DOCUMENTS AND ESSAYS
SECOND EDITION
EDITED BY MARY BETH NORTON CORNELL UNIVERSITY RUTH M. ALEXANDER COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
D. C. HEATH AND COMPANY Lexington, Massachusetts Toronto Contents
CHAPTER 1 Defining Women's History Page I ESSAYS Gerda Lerner • Placing Women in History 1 Gisela Bock • Challenging Dichotomies in Women's History 8 Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham • Afro-American Women in History 14
CHAPTER 2 The Impact of Christianity on Native American Women Page 20 DOCUMENTS Father Le Jeune on the Importance of Native American Women, 1633 21 Native Women Resist the Jesuits, 1640 22 The Trial of Sarah Ahhaton in Massachusetts, 1668 22 Experience Mayhew Describes the Pious Wampanoag Women of Martha's Vineyard, 1727 23 ESSAYS Carol Devens • Resistance to Christianity by the Native Women of New France 25 James P. Ronda • The Attractions of Christianity for the Native Women of Martha's Vineyard 34 Ann Marie Plane • The Adultery Trial of Sarah Ahhaton 40
CHAPTER 3 Witchcraft in Seventeenth-Century America Page 46 DOCUMENTS The Execution of a Witch at Sea, 1654 47 Account of Father Francis Fitzherbert's Voyage to Maryland 47 The Testimonies of Two Witnesses 48 The Trials of a Witch 49 Elizabeth Godman v. Goodwife Larremore, et ah, 1653 49 New Haven v. Elizabeth Godman, 1655 52 vm Contents IX
ESSAYS John Putnam Demos • The Poor and Powerless Witch 54 Carol F. Karlsen • The Potentially Powerful Witch 66
CHAPTER 4 The Impact of the American Revolution Page 76 DOCUMENTS Abigail and John Adams's "Remember the Ladies" Letters, 1776 77 The Sentiments of an American Woman, 1780 78 Sarah Osborn's Narrative, 1837 80 Thomas Jefferson's Slaves Join the British, 1781 82 ESSAYS Joan Hoff • The Negative Impact of the American Revolution on White Women 83 Mary Beth Norton • The Positive Impact of the American Revolution on White Women 94 Jacqueline Jones • The Mixed Legacy of the American Revolution for Black Women 103
CHAPTER 5 The Cult of Domesticity Page 108 DOCUMENTS . ^ Lydia H. Sigourney's "Home," 1850 109 . "Maternal Instruction," 1845 110 Sarah Alden Ripley's Letters, 1809-1810 and 1859 111 Benjamin Hawkins Talks to Creek Women, 1796 112 Laws of the Cherokee Nation, 1819, 1825, 1829 113 ESSAYS Barbara Welter • The Cult of True Womanhood, 1820-1860 115 Carroll Smith-Rosenberg • The Female World of Love and Ritual 122 Theda Perdue • Southern Indians and the Cult of True Womanhood 132
CHAPTER 6 The Lives of Enslaved Women Page 138 DOCUMENTS Cornelia's Life on a Tennessee Farm 139 Rose Williams's Forced Marriage in Texas 141 X Contents
Fannie Moore's Memories of a South Carolina Childhood 143 Two Letters from Enslaved Wives, 1840 and 1852 144 ESSAYS Christie Farnham • The Position of Women in the Slave Family 145 Thelma Jennings • The Sexual Exploitation of African-American Slave Women 155
CHAPTER 7 Varieties of Nineteenth-Century Activism Page 161 DOCUMENTS "Defence of Factory Girls," 1840 162 Mary Paul's Letters, 1845-1848 \64 Miss Mary Downing's Address to Fire Engine Company 18, New York City, 1841 166 The "Declaration of Sentiments" of the Seneca Falls Convention, 1848 167 Catharine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe on Why Women Should Not Seek the Vote, 1869 168 ESSAYS Thomas Dublin • Women Workers in the Lowell Mills 169 Ruth M. Alexander • The Martha Washingtonians 177 Steven Buechler • The Origins of the Women's Rights Movement 183
CHAPTER 8 Women in the Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century West Page 189 DOCU MENTS A Citizen Protests the Rape of Indian Women in California, 1862 190 Mrs. A. M. Green's Account of Frontier Life, 1887 191 Sadie Martin's Memories of Desert Life, 1888 192 Helen Sekaquaptewa's Wedding, 1919 194 Samuel Bryan Reports on Mexican Immigrants in the United States,1912 195 Jesusita Aragon, Midwife and Factory Worker in New Mexico, 1950s 197 ESSAYS Albert L. Hurtado • Culture and Family on the California Frontier 199 John Mack Faragher • The Separate Worlds of Men and Women on the Overland Trail 204 Contents
Sarah Deutsch • Hispanic Women and Intercultural Relations in New Mexico and Colorado 209
CHAPTER9 Victorian Sexuality Page 217 DOCUMENTS A Warning to Mothers from the Female Moral Reform Society, 1839 218 Dr. William Sanger Questions Women on Their Reasons for Entering Prostitution, 1859 219 Two Doctors Describe a Case of Perverted Sexual Instinct in a Young Female, 1883 220 Carlton C. Frederick, M.D., on the Manifestations of Nymphomania, 1907 221 Elizabeth Blackwell, M.D., on Sexual Feelings in Women, 1902 222 Extracts from the Mosher Survey, 1892-1913 223 M. Carey Thomas on Loving Other Women, 1872-1877 228 Harriet Jacobs on Interracial Sex in the Slave South, 1861 229 ESSAYS Carol Groneman • Nymphomania: Physicians and Female Sexuality in Victorian America 230 Christine Stansell • Working Women and Prostitution in Nineteenth- Century New York 239 Martha Hodes • A Brief Dialogue on Illicit Sex Between White Women and Black Men in the Slave South 246
CHAPTER10 The "New Woman ": Suffrage and Social Reform Page 253 DOCUMENTS Mary Church Terrell, "Club Work of Colored Women," 1901 254 Mary Church Terrell, "Lynching from a Negro's Point of View," 1904 256 Harriet Wheeler Moyer on Organizing a School for Mothers, 1909 257 Jane Addams on the Political Role of Urban Women, 1906 257 A Working Woman Explains Why She Wants the Vote, 1911 258 Mary Ritter Beard Defends the Place of the Congressional Union in the Suffrage Movement, 1916 258 ESSAYS Elinor Lerner • Jewish Involvement in the New York City Woman Suffrage Movement 261 Xll Contents
Robyn Muncy • Female Reformers Create the U.S. Children's Bureau 267 Eileen Boris • Black and White Women Bring the Power of Motherhood to Politics 275
CHAPTER 11 Work Culture in the Early Twentieth Century Page 284 DOC U M E NTS Clara Lanza, "Women Clerks in New York," 1891 285 Harriet Brunkhurst on the Home Problems of "Business Girls," 1910 288 Fannie Barrier Williams, "The Problem of Employment for Negro Women," 1903 291 The Survey Reports on a Protest of Unemployed Women in New York City, 1914 293 Marion Bonner on the Women of the Southern Textile Strikes, 1929 295 ESSAYS Elizabeth Clark-Lewis • Community Life and Work Culture Among African- American Domestic Workers in Washington, D.C., 1910-1940 297 Susan Porter Benson • The Work Culture of Sales Clerks in American Department Stores, 1890-1940 303 Jacquelyn Dowd Hall • "Disorderly Women" and Labor Militancy in the Appalachian South, 1920s 312
CHAPTER 12 Women and Politics in the 1920s Page 321 DOCUMENTS Two Statements on Race Relations 322 Women's Council of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1920 322 Southeastern Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, 1921 323 Elsie Hill on Why Women Should Have Full Legal Equality, 1922 325 Florence Kelley Explains Her Opposition to Full Legal Equality, 1922 326 Alice Drysdale Vickery, "The Place of Birth Control in the Woman's Movement," 1925 327 Carrie Chapman Catt Explores the Cause and Cure of War, 1928 329 Emily Newell Blair, "Why I Am Discouraged About Women in Politics," 1931 331 ESSAYS Nancy F.Cott • Across the Great Divide: Women in Politics Before and After 1920 333 Contents Xlll
Joan G. Zimmerman • Women's Rights, Feminist Conflict, and the Jurisprudence of Equality 340 Rosalyn Terborg-Penn • Discontented Black Feminists 348
CHAPTER 13 Decades of Crisis: The Great Depression and World War II Page 357 DOCUMENTS Ann Marie Low on Life in the Dust Bowl, 1934 358 Louise Mitchell on the "Slave Markets" Where Domestics Are Hired, New York City, 1940 360 Mary Sweet on the Difficulties of Organizing Black Garment Workers, 1939 361 Dr. Leslie Hohman Asks, "Can Women in War Industry Be Good Mothers?" 1942 363 Hortense Johnson on Black Women and the War Effort, 1943 365 Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, A Schoolgirl at Manzanar, 1940s 367 ESSAYS Alice Kessler-Harris • Gender Ideology and Family Survival During the Depression 370 Karen Tucker Anderson • Persistent Discrimination Against Black Women During World War II 377 Valerie Matsumoto • Japanese American Women During World War II 385
CHAPTER 14 Women and the Feminine Ideal in Postwar America Page 398 DOCUMENTS Louisa Randall Church, "Parents, Architects of Peace," 1946 399 Marynia F. Farnham and Ferdinand Lundberg on Modern Woman, the "Lost Sex," 1947 401 Pauli Murray on Why Negro Girls Stay Single, in the Negro Digest, 1947 404 A Letter to the Editor of The Ladder from an African-American Lesbian, 1957 407 Extracts from the Ladder Survey, "Why Am I a Lesbian?" 1960 409 Joyce Johnson on Obtaining an Illegal Abortion, New York City, 1955 412 ESSAYS Elaine Tyler May • The Reproductive Consensus in the Postwar Era 415 xiv Contents
Joanne Meyerowitz • Competing Images of Women in Postwar Mass Culture 420 Donna Penn • The Meanings of Lesbianism in Postwar America 430
CHAPTER 15 Political Activism and Feminism in the 1960s and Early 1970s Page 438 DOCUMENTS Betty Friedan on "The Problem That Has No Name," 1963 439 Casey Hayden and Mary King, "A Kind of Memo" to Women in the Peace and Freedom Movements, 1965 443 NOW's Statement of Purpose, 1966 445 Redstockings Manifesto, 1969 447 Frances Beale, "Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female," 1970 449 Mirta Vidal on Chicanas and the Women's Liberation Movement, 1971 453 ESSAYS Anne Standley • The Role of Black Women in the Civil Rights Movement 456 Alice Echols • White Women and the Origins of the Women's Liberation Movement 464 Margaret Rose • Gender Awareness Among Chicanas and Mexicanas in the United Farm Workers of America 472
CHAPTER16 An Elusive Sisterhood: Women and Politics Since 1972 Page 482 DOCU ME N T S The Equal Rights Amendment, 1972 483 Roev. Wade, 1973 483 Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 1992 487 Jerry Falwell Condemns the ERA, 1980 491 Connaught C. Marshner Explains What Social Conservatives Really Want, 1988 492 American Booksellers Ass'n, Inc. v. Hudnut, 1985 496 Anita Hill's Testimony Before the Senate Judiciary Committee, 1991 499 ESSAYS Rosalind Pollack Petchesky • Antiabortion and Antifeminism 502 Alida Brill • Feminists and the Debate on Pornography 515 Kim A. Taylor • Invisible Woman: Reflections on the Clarence Thomas Confirmation Hearing 522