History 267:

Gender, Ethnicity and Race in Nineteenth-Century America

Fall 2003

 

Professor Carol Lasser                                                                                   
Rice 313
X56712

Carol.lasser@oberlin.edu                                                                               

 

Course Description:

This course explores the historical construction of gender in nineteenth-century America by looking at the variations and changes in the experiences of women from diverse racial, ethnic, religious and cultural groups of women from the late years of the eighteenth century through the early decades of the twentieth century We investigate at women on and of  "the middle ground"--the rapidly changing geographic, social, political and economic terrain of the  nineteenth-century  United States--and the areas that became part of the United States, seeing both differences and similarities in several ethnic and racial communities.  We explore how changing economic, social and political conditions both affected women of different groups and were, in turn, affected by women. We examine women as subjects and as agents, as conservators of culture and as mediators within and between communities and identities. Women, through work and family, kinship and sexual congress, both forced and chosen, inherited and forged racial and ethnic identities; they  both adapted to changing work and resisted new forms; they sustained "private" worlds and sought public identities as citizens. We follow all these themes as we explore how varieties of nineteenth-century American women made history although not always under conditions of their own choosing.

 

A Note on Class Format:

            This class meets for two 75 minute periods per week. Although I will give some lectures (and even then only for a portion of the class period), and we will watch some videos, our primary mode of instruction will be through structured discussion and collaborative exploration. To make this interaction productive, students are expected to complete reading assignments before class, and come prepared to use materials from the reading in class. The timely completion of readings and assignments will be essential to the class. If you have questions about readings or assignments, please contact me to talk.

 

Course Requirements:

• Class Participation: you are expected to do the assigned reading and come to class prepared to participate based on your understanding of the reading.
• Class Attendance: You cannot participate in class if you are not present.  Absence without notification will be noted, and grades will be adjusted accordingly.
• Blackboard Posting : September 11
• Blackboard Posting: September 16
• Short Paper : Followup to Blackboard Posting: September 19
• Short Paper: October 7
• Blackboard Posting: October 14
• Guided Primary Source Paper , including
• Research Prospectus Due: November 4
• Paper Due: December 4
• Take Home Final Exam: Scheduled for Examination Period

Students may choose to rewrite any paper (except the take-home final) or posting to improve their grade. You must consult with me to discuss your paper with me before you rewrite it and to set a due date for your rewrite.

 

Books to purchase:

Thomas Dublin, Farm to Factory: Women’s Letters, 1830-1880, revised edition

Louise Newman, White Women’s Rights: The Racial Origins of Feminism in the United States

Peggy Pascoe, Relations of Rescue: The Search for Female Moral Authority in the American West

 

September 2

Introduction: Women and “the Long Nineteenth Century:”

The Transformation of Martha Ballard’s World

 

September 4

Hearing Women’s Voices

 

September 9

From Martha Ballard to Models of Domesticity: The Strengths and Limits of the New England Model of Women’s History

Required Readings:

• Barbara Welter, “The Cult of True Womanhood, 1820-1860,” American Quarterly, 18 (Summer 1966): 151-174 Link to this article in JSTOR
• Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Volume  II, Part III, Chapters 9-12 , ("Influence of Democracy on the Family;" "Education of Girls;" "The Young Woman as Wife," and "How Equality Helps to Maintain Good Morals in America."  Hyperlink to Democracy in America, then click on appropriate chapters.

Questions to consider when you do this reading:

• What different formats do the two readings represent? What was the purpose of the piece?When was each written? What difference does the historical context for the production of each piece make in the way you read the piece? What “evidence” did each author use?

Can you determine the basic argument of each author? What makes sense to you about the argument? WHY? What puzzles you? What annoys, irritates, or infuriates you? WHY?

 

September 11

Alternative Gender Systems: Native American Women

Readings: Required for ALL:

• Sarah Evans, “The First American Women,” Chapter 1 in Born For Liberty, pp. 7-19

In addition, you will be divided into reading groups, and each group will read one of the following:

• Group 1: Richard Godbeer, "Eroticizing the Middle Ground: Anglo-Indian Relations along the Eighteenth-Century Frontier," (Eres)
• Group 2: Lucy Eldersveld Murphy, "Autonomy and the Economic Roles of Indian Women of the Fox-Wisconsin River Region, 1763-1832," (Eres)
• Group 3: Theda Perdue, "Women, Men and American Indian Policy: The Cherokee Response to 'Civilization,'" ERes
• Group 4: Claudia Sue Kidwell, "Choctaw Women and Cultural Persistence in Mississippi," ERes
• Group 5: Mary C. Wright, “Economic Development and Native American Women in the Early Nineteenth Century,” American Quarterly, 33(1981): 525-536. Hyperlink to this article in JSTOR
• Group 6: Carol Douglas Sparks, “The Land Incarnate: Navajo Women and the Dialogue of Colonialism, 1821-1870” (Eres)

Before Class, post on Blackboard answers to some of the following questions. At the beginning of class, each group will meet briefly, for about 15 minutes, to determine the most important points to be presented to the class. Your group will have 10 minutes to present on the article to the class. Some questions to consider are:

·      What time period does the article discuss?

·      What tribe or group is the focus?

·      How would you characterize gender relations within the tribe before significant EuroAmerican contact?

·      What kind of contact did the tribe develop with EuroAmericans?

·      How were gender systems within the tribe affected? What happened specifically to women’s roles?

·      Does the author seem to have a particular point of view?

·      What is the major conclusion of the article?

·      What does this article contribute to our study of gender, ethnicity and race in nineteenth-century America?

 

September 16

Alternative Gender Systems: the Southwest

Readings:

• Group 1: Yolanda Chavez Leyva, “’A Poor Widow Burdened With Children,” (Eres)
• Group 2: James Brooks, “’This Evil Extends Especially to the Feminine Sex,’: Captivity and Identity in New Mexico, 1700-1846,” (Eres)
• Group 3: Albert Hurtado, “When Strangers Met: Sex and Gender on Three Frontiers,” (Eres)
• Group 4: Albert Hurtado, “Sexuality in California’s Franciscan Missions: Cultural Perceptions and Historical Realities,” (Eres)
• Group 5: Albert Hurtado, “Customs of the Country: Mixed Marriage in Mexican California,” (Eres)
• Group 6: Deena Gonzales, “Women in the Courts” (Eres)

Before Class, post on Blackboard answers to some of the following questions. At the beginning of class, each group will meet briefly to determine the most important points to be presented to the class. Your group will have 10 minutes to present on the article to the class. Some questions to consider are:

·      What time period does the article discuss?

·      What part of the Southwest or far West does the article discuss?

·      On what population does it focus?

·      What concerns does it raise about women’s lives and women’s status?

·      What kinds of evidence does it use?

·      Doe sthe author seem to have a particular point of view?

·      What is the major conclusion of the article?

• What does this article contribute to our study of gender, ethnicity and race in nineteenth-century America?

Assignment: After class, write a 2-5 page paper about the article your group presented. You may want to focus on questions of fact: what the article explored , the kinds of evidence it used, and the importance of the article in the study of gender, ethnicity and race in nineteenth-century America; or you may want to write a more analytic essay, in which you frame a thesis or question about the article. Your short paper is due Monday, September 19 at 9 am, and may be submitted electronically.

 

September 18

Women and Enslavement: White Women in the Plantation Economy

Optional Readings

• Joan E. Cashin, "According to His Wish and Desire: Female Kin and Female Slaves in Planter Wills," pp. 91-119 in Christie Anne Farnham, ed., Women of the American South: A Multicultural Reader (New York: NYU Press, 1997) (Eres)
• Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, "Family and Female Identity in the Antebellum South: Sarah Gayle and Her Family," pp. 15-31 and pp. 268-272 in Carol Bleser, ed., In Joy and In Sorrow: Women, Family, and Marriage in the Victorian South (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991). (Eres)

 

September 23

Women and Enslavement: African American Women

Required Reading for All:

• Deborah Gray White, "The Nature of Female Slavery," pp. 62-90 and notes on pages 199-208 Chapter Two (and notes) in Ar'n't I a Woman? Female Slaves in the Plantation South, revised edition (New York: Norton, 1999). (Eres)

 

Choose one of the following two:

• Wilma King, "'Suffer With Them till Death': Slave Women and their Children in Nineteenth-Century America," pp. 147-168 in David Gaspar and Darlene Clark Hine, eds More than Chattel: Black Women and Slavery in the Americas (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996) (Eres)

or

• Brenda Stevenson, "Gender Convention, Ideals, and Identity Among Antebellum Virginia Slave Women, pp. 169-190 in David Gaspar and Darlene Clark Hine, eds., More than Chattel: Black Women and Slavery in the Americas (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996) (Eres)

 

September 25

Sex, Love, Contraception and Demography

 

September 30

Industrialization, Education and Immigration: The New England Mills

Required Reading:

• Thomas Dublin, ed., Farm to Factory,Women’s Letters, 1830-1860, 2^nd edition. All students must read pp. 1-38 and choose at least three of the five sets of letters.

Assignment: Write a short paper, 3-5 pages in length using documents from Farm to Factory in conjunction with class notes and documents used earlier in the semester to compare and contrast the lives of the women whose letters are collected in Farm to Factory with the life of Martha Ballard. Think about change and continuity to determine whether you would argue that the lives described in these two moments in time would be better discussed in terms of change or continuity in New England womanhood. Explain why, and be specific. You need not discuss all aspects of the women’s lives; instead you will probably want to choose a particular aspect. You may want to think about changes in the economic context in terms of their influence on both individuals and on the region, and other historical transformations.

Your paper is due Tuesday, October 7 at 9 am. You may submit your paper electronically.

 

Thursday, October 2

Women, Ethnicity and Race in the Antebellum City:

 

Tuesday, October 7

The Politicization of “Woman’s Sphere”—Women and the World of Reform—Temperance, Prostitution, Poverty and Native Americans

 

October 9

Antislavery, Gender, and the Emergence of the Woman’s Rights Movement

Required Readings:

• Angelina Grimke, “Appeal to the Christian Women of the South,” on Blackboard Course Documents
• Antislavery Convention of American Women, May 1838, on Blackboard Course Documents
• Seneca Falls Declaration, on Blackboard Course Documents

 

October 14

Oberlin Women’s History as American History

Required Reading:

• “How Did Oberlin Women Students Draw on Their College Experience to Participate I n Antebellum Social Movements, 1831-1861?”

http://womhist.binghamton.edu/oberlin/intro.htm

Very Short Assignment: Before class, please post on Blackboard the name of one of the documents you have read in this section that you believe we should examine more closely in class,and explain why. Your posting need not be more that 100 words, and, if at all possible, should be placed on Blackboard at least one hour before class, that is by 2pm.

 

October 16

Women, Citizenship and the Civil War

And

Introduction to the Document Project

For Further Information: see Blackboard

 

Fall Break!

 

October 28

Reconstructing African American Women’s Lives

RequiredReading for All:

• Elsa Barkley Brown, "To Catch a Vision of Freedom: Reconstructing Southern Black Women's Political History, 1865-1880," in Ellen DuBois and Vicki Ruiz, eds., Unequal Sisters, Third Edition, pp. 124-146 (Eres)

In addition, read either :

• Leslie A. Schwalm, "'Sweet Dreams of Freedom'": Freedwomen's Reconstruction of Life and Labor in Lowcountry South Carolina,"Journal of Women's History 9 (Spring 1997): 9-38 (Eres)

or

• Tera Hunter, "Domination and Resistance: The Politics of Wage Household Labor in New South Atlanta,"  pp. 343-357 in Darlene Clark Hine, Wilma King and Linda Reed, eds., "We Specialize in the Wholly Impossible": A Reader in Black Women's History(Eres)

 

October 30

Women’s Organizations Resurgent: the Rise of the WCTU

Required Reading:

• Frances Willard, 1891 Address at prohibition.history.ohio-state.edu/Willard/willard.pdf
• “Hear Miss Willard,” http://womhist.binghamton.edu/wctu2/doc16.htm

 

November 4

Exporting Domesticity to the West: New Cultures, New Confrontations

Required Reading:

• Peggy Pascoe, Relations of Rescue , Chapters 1-4.

 

November 6

Library Session

Assignment Due before class: Documents Project Prospectus.

Please See Blackboard for the Prospectus

 

November 11

A New World of Women; A New World for Women

Female Immigration in the Late Nineteenth and Early twentieth Century

 

 

November 13

The Progressive Response to Immigrant women: the Maternalization of the state Jane Addams

Rquired Readings:

• “Jane Addams, Progressivism and Woman Suffrage,” pp. 179- in Marjorie Spruill Wheeler, ed., One Woman, One Vote (Eres)
• Anzia Yezierska, “America and I,” pp. 20-33 and “The Lord Giveth, “ pp. 125-141 in The Open Cage : an Anzia Yezierska Collection (Eres)

 

November 18

Video: Hester Street

 

November 20

African American women in the Progressive Era: The Nadir of Black History?

Required Reading:

• Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, “Discontented Black Feminists: Prelude and Postscript to the Passage of the Nineteenth Amendment,” (Eres under “Penn” for author)

 

November 25

Video: Ida B. Wells

 

November 27: Thanksgiving. No Class

 

December 2

Working-Class Women: Consumerism and Suffrage

Required Reading:

• Ellen DuBois, “Working Women, Class Relations, and Suffrage Militance: Harriot Stanton Blatch and the New York-Woman Suffrage Movement, 1894-1909” (Eres)

 

December 4

Primary Documents Paper Due; Student Presentations

 

December 9

The Meaning of Woman Suffrage

Required Reading:

• Louise Newman, White Women’s Rights (entire)

 

December 11

The Future of the Past: Gender and Women in Nineteenth-Century America

 

A Note on the Final Examination:

I will distribute questions for the take-home final exam at the last class. You may read the questions in advance and think about your answers. When you sit down to write, you may NOT use any notes, books, articles, etc. You will take your take-home exam during any two consecutive hours up  the two hour block in which the final exam is scheduled.  You will write your starting time at the beginning of your exam, and your ending time at the finish. You will write and sign the honor pledge at the end of your exam.

Exams may be word processed, in which case you will write the honor pledge followed by your name if you submit your exam electronically.

If you do not hand in your exam before the beginning of the scheduled examination time, you MUST take the exam in the room scheduled for the exam during the examination time.

 

A Note on Grading

            Grading is an art, not a science. I have assigned the following percentages for the assignments for the course, but in addition, improvement over the course of the semester will be rewarded.

• Blackboard Posting, September 11:                 5%
• Blackboard Posting, September 16:                 5%
• Short Paper, September 19:                            5%
• Short Paper, October 7:                                  15%
• Blackboard Posting, October 14:                     5%
• Research Prospectus, Due November 4          10%
• Document Paper, Due December 4:                20%
• Take Home Final Exam:                                  25%
• Class Participation                                           10%