Blog #15

1. Pat Shroeder’s feels very strongly about women in politics and has a lot of ideas regarding the comments that are usually made about Hillary Clinton because of the fact that she is a women that is running for the President of the United States. One example is when Hillary Clinton began crying when she talked about a certain issue. There was a lot of talk about this all over the news. People usually try to put down a presidential candidate because of any reason that they could think of and the prime reason that Hillary Clinton usually gets put down is because she is a women. The media tries to portray her as only a woman who is not able to run a country by herself since she gets too emotional. Pat Shroeder brings up the sexist part of our society that is hardly ever mentioned in times like these. Although, when someone makes a racial comment, such as one involving Barack Obama, we will never hear the end of it. As we have moved through many generations, women have been able to speak their minds regarding issues involving women’s rights. Women will always have their voice in society and it is up to them to keep that voice strong.

2. The issue of class and gender always comes up when we are introduced to the 2008 democratic race. Gloria Steinem, in one of her articles, decided to write about the issue. The media usually tries to separate the two since they are currently competing against one another in the race. Gloria Steinem brings up a good point when she says that people should be looking into the issues that these candidates are able to fight for rather than looking at their race and gender. People should be united because of their similar beliefs and ideas that they have in order to improve a certain society rather than beginning a feud do to race and gender. When people do focus on race and gender, more problems begin to arise in the society. The main point for Steinem is to defeat the Republican candidate in the next Presidential election which could only be done if there is a unification of issues. As Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama near the end of their democratic elections, many people should think about how their decision was affected regarding the race and gender of the candidates. These candidates have been judged and scrutinized for many months because of their race and gender. There are many issues about race and gender that are still in affect in our society today and it is time for the people of this nation to put their prejudices and stereotypes aside in order for them to decide who is most capable of becoming the next President of the United States.

Blog #14

Textbook: Chapter 10
1. Their were various reasons why feminism had its revival or its second wave during the 1960’s and 1970’s. The National Organization for Women was first introduced in which they would push for women’s equality and a change in the culture. The belief that people were able to practice safe sex because of birth control pills had allowed more people to be involved in sexual intercourse more freely. A new culture, known as a counterculture, had existed at this time. Another source of the second wave of feminism was the civil rights movement. African Americans began fighting for their own equality rights during the movement where they would go against the white Americans. The war in Vietnam also had an impact because many women had served at Vietnam. Women also had their own protests against the war making sure that their voices and opinions were heard throughout the nation.

2. The protest at the Miss America pageant shows us that women were not only looking for their equality rights politically, but socially and culturally as well. Women felt as if they were only being seen as objects which they felt was extremely degrading. Women had enough strength and confidence to go to a large event in order to get their word out about women’s liberation. They wanted to spread the word on how women should be as equal as men and not controlled by men. These women had made a lot of points regarding the issue and felt strongly about what they believed in.

3. The war of the sexes is one that has lasted for quite a while and it is a war that will exist throughout our history. Every time an issue is brought up regarding the equal opportunity to achieve something, different gender roles are brought up in order to question whether or not a women is capable of carrying out her duties in a certain job. An example of this today is with Hillary Clinton. Even though she has lived a life of politics and has the right credentials to become the President of the United States, many people in our nation question whether she is able to fight certain issues such as the war in Iraq because she is a women. Women have come a long way in order to have their voices heard and now have high positions in our government such as secretary of state Condoleeza Rice and the Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi who is third in line to the presidency if anything were to happen to the president or vice president. Women have definitely done a lot to get to where they are. They still have a fight ahead of them because some still criticize whether they could handle some issues. Although, they will have to fight against those who criticize, their fight will not be as long as it was in past years.

Source Interpretation
Textbook document
4. During the 1970’s, Mary Tyler Moore had an impact on the changed culture in the United States. She was able to show women throughout the nation that every woman was capable of being her own independent person, taking care of her own independent responsibilities. She showed that she did not need a man to take care of her needs and was able to take on a career in the television industry as a producer, which was mostly a male-dominated career. She was a single women who took care of herself and her own issues that took place. The Mary Tyler Moore Show is compared to Sex and the City in that the women in both television shows had their own careers in the city and would constantly look for men to date. Through this, they showed that they were liberated. These women were capable of making their own choices.

5. I would expect Walker to agree with Orenstein at some points of the article. These points would include the parts in which Orenstein talks about the women’s own independence and how these women are able to make their own choices. The parts in which Walker would disagree with Orenstein is when Orenstein talks about how women should not focus on just sex and also on their families and their careers. Walker’s article mostly talks about sexual liberation and on how women should be able to express and use their bodies in order for them to develop and grow. Orenstein does not see sex as important in developing and argues that a women’s family and her career is what truly makes her develop into the sexy women that she is.

6. There are some cases in women’s lives in which they do live their lives like the women in Sex and the City. These women usually live in more rich areas in which they revolve their lives around materialistic consumerism. These women have their own idea of independence which usually involves having sexual intercourse with any man they are sexually attracted to. Perhaps these women are controlled by these television shows and believe that being promiscuous is normal in our modern day society, since “Carrie” and “Miranda” are doing it. Although, most women in the United States do not live a life as the women in the television show. There are women that hold on to their morals and have enough respect for themselves to know the true meaning of independence, which does not involve sleeping around with a different man every week. Sexual liberty has not gained enough ground for all young women to be involved in sexual intercourse because even though sexual partners use condoms or birth control pills, a promiscuous young women is still not safe from sexually transmitted disease, even if “Carrie” believes she is. Although sexual liberty has not gained its ground, many young women continue to involve themselves in sexual intercourse because of their exposure to television and movies, which causes curiosity to occur in the lives of many young women.

Blog #13

Textbook: Chapter 9
1. As the war in Europe ended, a new type of war had evolved that would change the lives of families in the United States. The Cold War was had begun and the United States was getting ready to go against an enemy that had once been an ally. Some American women who were involved in politics were accused of being communists because of some of their beliefs. These women’s political positions were usually taken away from them because of these accusations. Meanwhile, women had returned to the home in order to take on their domestic work. This time, these families lived a life of fear because they were unsure of what the arms race would do and how far the soviets would go. Many also believed that the working women were actually harming their children by taking on jobs rather than taking care of their children. They argued that parents who did not take on their regular gender roles had a better chance of raising homosexual children and that separate gender roles created heterosexuality in children.

2. Betty Friedan had argued that the United States media and culture created the women’s domestic roles. Historians revision of Friedan’s book stated that Friedan did not talk about the differences of these women regarding class and race because most of the women that Friedan talked about in her book were wealthy white women. Friedan stated that the media had not shown these wealthy business women. Magazines such as Ebony were able to show the African-American women who had been successful in business and politics even though they were discriminated against. Other magazines even encouraged women to work and usually featured women with successful careers.

3. Women began the activist movements in order to live better lives. These activist women had fought for their opportunity to go into the workforce and challenged many different ideas regarding women. These women’s challenges had brought upon many difficulties as well. Women believed that they were being treated unfairly in the workforce. These women had been brought back to the same prewar jobs where they would have low wages and were even forced out of their jobs in order to make more room for the male workers who did not even argue with the employer’s decision. Many of the women workers had also been discriminated against and, therefore, protested not only for racial equality, but for equality in the workforce as well.

4. The “Bridge Leaders” that existed in the time of the civil rights movement had made an impact across the nation because of their large influence. These women had demonstrated their will and showed their strength throughout their communities in order to prove to many others the importance of standing for what they believe in. The concept of the term identifies how these women had fought against racial discrimination. They pursued equality using a method which involved sit-ins or the famous Freedom Rides. These women had used a method that caused a lot of controversy and media attention which was important in getting their word across throughout the nation.

Blog #12

Textbook: Chapter 8
1. Women’s gender stereotypes had been challenged throughout the war. Women had taken on a new identity from the beginning of the war all the way to the end. These women, with their new identity, had shown the United States what they could do in order to help with the war effort. In order to challenge their stereotype, women had been in the workforce with jobs such as welders or mechanics. Others were even recruited into military organizations such as the Women’s Army Corps or the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots. Even though they were not allowed to fight in actual combat, these women had shown that they were capable of taking on a man’s job. Even though these women were in the workforce, their gender stereotypes were also reinforced in some way. Women’s workforce jobs included nurses, clerks, and telephone operators. Women were not allowed to be paid doctors until April of 1943. The nation had tried to show that these women had not been masculine by printing a newspaper articles that told its readers that women were doing jobs that they would normally do in a civilian life. Women were seen as being temporary workers until the men would return to their jobs.

2. There were lasting results that took place because of World War II that shaped the way that many women and families would live their lives. During the war, as many men were fighting in the war, more women were needed in order to fill the men’s jobs. These women had a new idea of independence because they had been expressing their personal freedoms. There was also a large rise in the amount of marriages and the amount of families created after the war. Many women and their families had moved to larger cities where they would try to find higher paying jobs in a new type of area.

Source Interpretation
Textbook document
1. The women’s work opportunities were not limited during the World War II era. Women were needed in the workforce and the United States even put out propaganda posters in order to get women to attend to these jobs. Since the men were fighting in the war , the women had greater opportunities in the workforce. These women even got paid the same amount that a man would but would have to work just as the men did. According to these women in the article, they had to go through difficult labor in their work while they lived in conditions that were not all that comforting for them. These women were also not happy with their work hours and shifts because some had to work the night shift and get their sleep during the day.

2. The audience for this article are the men during World War II who were unsure of what would happen when they would return to home after the war. These women in the article prove that the job is too hard for them and that they would rather go back in the home and do their domestic duties as they had done before because that was the cleanest job of all. The article also tries to show the readers of the United States that a women’s femininity has not been taken away because of their work they have been doing and that their job is just temporary.

3. The women do not enjoy their work as much as some thought they did. They lived in very hard conditions with one another and also had to work hours that were not enjoyable for them. They were given the type of work that men would do in order to get the same pay as men did but many believed that it was not enough since they were working so much. The article points out their job experience as the work they are doing causes their hands to be sore. They do not get to sleep much and when they do, it is usually in the late afternoon hours of the day.

4. These women work while doing and man’s job while receiving the same wages that a man would, but the women are still able to retain their femininity. They wear their nail polish as they are doing the hard labor, they cook in their apartments and wash their dishes right after they finish eating, and they keep conversations past the night. In the article, Ginny states that she wants to return to the home because doing the dishes in the home is the only way that she could get her hands clean. These women did not find the conditions in the workforce too enjoyable because of their work conditions.

5. When the war is over, some women workers will keep their jobs and move to other jobs such as those in aircraft production. Many of these women will get married to the soldiers who are returning home from that war. These soldiers, who return from the war, will most likely take the jobs back from these women and work themselves. The younger girls who were working did not enjoy the workforce much and were hoping that when the soldiers did return from they war, the girls would be able to return to their home and work on their domestic duties such as cleaning the dishes and taking care of the home, since that was the cleanest job of all.

Blog #11

Textbook: Chapter 8
1. It was appropriate to speak about “New Woman” because the women in the 1920’s were different than those in prior decades and these woman played a large role in influencing society. They lived new lifestyles, and as each new decade appeared, a new and more independent type of woman was revealed. The 1920’s had first brought a new change with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment which allowed for woman’s suffrage. Woman had been involved in politics in which they organized their own parties and even influenced the Democratic and Republican parties with some of the women’s issues which these parties recognized. Some woman were elected into politics such as those few elected to Congress. These new changes did not only appear in politics. As woman lived in this new era, a “New Woman” was introduced to the world. She was a “flapper” girl who did not care about what society thought of her. She was a rebellious type of girl strutting her short dress and rolled stockings. She made use of the new culture with her consumerism and her love of materialistic goods. She was the symbol of a “New Woman” in a new era.

2. Even though women were beginning to enter the world of politics in the United States, these women had experienced difficulty during their service. While in politics, women had always been expected to carry out the women’s issues and therefore gave them a limited amount of power in politics. It had become harder for women at the end of the 1920’s because many of these women had different goals and ideas of how they would carry out these goals, which caused a division between these women. An example of this was of the articles that argued for the ERA and the article that argued against the ERA. These women had different beliefs which made the bond between them weaker and made it difficult for them to carry out their agendas.

3. As the Great Depression was occurring in the 1930’s, citizens throughout the nation were fighting for a way to survive. Woman had gone through great difficulties in order to keep their children from starvation. They had lost their crops in droughts and were forced to migrate west in order to find new resources during their fight for survival. The image shows the hardships that these women had endured. The stress deep in her eyes show us the troubles this woman had to overcome. Her hand on her cheek while looking out into the horizon proves to us that she is nervous and unsure of what the future might bring. She sits there and ponders, worrying about her children as they rest themselves on their only source of strength, their mother. Her hair, beautifully brushed to the side, giving herself that feeling of being a young girl again; but still she is woman, a mother of thirty-two with wrinkles streaming away from her sorrowful eyes with each wrinkle telling a story of her hardship. She is a young caring mother colorful at heart, captured in a moment of grey, who has lived a lifetime.

4. The experiences of people during the Great Depression had been different because of the gender roles that existed. Many had believed that the women should work in the home even though many women had already begun to enter the workforce in the twentieth century. They believed that unemployment was and should be a problem for the men and not the women. The women in the home were able to keep the home together with their cooking and housecleaning while the men walked the streets with nothing to do. In a psychological aspect, the unemployment for men would take away their masculinity which would cause a disruption in the relationship of the families. Men had deserted their families and birth rates had declined.

Blog #10

Textbook: Chapter 7
1. During the time of women’s suffrage and reform, Jim Crow laws had been in effect in the Southern states and many blacks felt the impact of racism partly because the white people did not believe that the blacks would adapt to the new industrial society. Even though these prejudices were occurring, many African American women were for the idea of reform and had contributed to it as well. Some of these contributions included their effort to create kindergartens for children with mothers that were unable to take care of their children, since they were always working. Some popular African American women entrepreneurs, such as Sarah Breedlove, showed that they too were able to become successful, despite the disadvantage they had do to their race. The white women suffragist groups refused to help the black women with racism because they believed it would hurt the white women’s chances of rising up in society. Even though the black women did not receive help, they still had their willingness to receive their own political rights and were even more aggressive in their groups than the white women were in theirs.

2. The main differences among the feminist movement and the suffrage movement was that the suffragists focused more on the equality of women’s roles in the public life while the focus on the feminist movement was more on the equality of women’s private life. The suffragist usually looked for their political rights such as their right to vote. Feminisms brought upon a whole new idea of women’s liberty and equality in their own personal and individual life. These, more individual equalities, included ideas of how they would live their own lifestyle such as their own sexual life in which some lived with men even though they were not married, some lived alone in apartments and others were lesbians living together.

Source Interpretation
Textbook document
3. There were many definitions in the article that were for the idea of feminism. In a sense, all the definitions were the same because they were so similar. One of the definitions was that feminism would cause a lot of trouble but this trouble would eventually help the society to readjust to a new way of life that is ultimately better than the old way of life. Other definitions prove that feminism is there in order to give women their equality with men and to show that the two genders are “made of the same soul stuff (460).” The definitions all try to show that women are human beings just as men are and that these women, since they are human beings, deserve their own individuality.

4. As women practice their feminist beliefs in their own individual life, their feminism eventually leads them to receive economic independence. For example, since women are now individuals and do not have to follow the idea of working for their husbands in the home, they are now able to go out into the world and work in order to receive more opportunities economically and even politically. In the past, many women had a different attitude about divorce. The changing of times has influenced many of these women to have a different and more free perspective mainly because of feminism. Since these women are individuals and not property of men, they are able to work for themselves and have their own economic independence.

5. As seen in the first article, there are many different definitions that people could give for feminism even though they are similar in some aspect. Feminism is the individuality that women receive in order to make themselves personally equal to males, not only in public society but in the private life as well. This equality is usually in order to allow for women to have the same humanistic rights that males have had throughout history. These rights include the opportunity for women to make their own choices when dealing with situations that relate to their own private life and the liberty to live a life in which women are free of male dominance.

Blog #9

Textbook: Chapter 6
1. During immigration, women had gone to the United States in order to receive better opportunities and more equality than those of European and Asian countries. Most women had come from countries such as German, Italy and eastern Europe. Many of these women appreciated the idea that they were able to choose their own husbands in the United States and were not forced to marry. They were searching for their independence and The United States was the place where they would receive this independence. Men mainly emigrated to the United States in order to work temporarily and then return home. Some of these immigrant women had to go through harsh times when they were forced into prostitution. Others worked in the factories or as servants where they would receive low wages. Many immigrant men had received these low wages as well. Other similarities between the immigrant men and women were that they both came to the United States for economic or political reasons. The United States was the land of opportunity and the opportunity to become rich was believed to be very easy for these immigrants. The United States had enough jobs for many people in order to help its economy and both men and women saw the opportunity to become wealthy and pursued it.

2. Many of the women during the time of immigration were similar in their fight for what they believed in. Even though they all fought for their beliefs, all these women were involved in different kinds of protests and had their own distinct reasons for their movements. For example, the populists movement was based primarily on the alliance of farmers. These women were usually non-elite southern white women or black women who were in debt. The populist helped with the rise of women’s suffrage. The idea of the settlement house movement was different from that of the populist because it involved helping immigrants with the new values and culture of the United States. They had helped immigrant women that were away from their families as well. The populist and settlement house movement were similar in changing social reform for women. The Industrial protest had involved workers of industries in which they fought for higher wages and better working conditions for all the workers throughout the nation. All these women had their different reasons for their movements but they were all similar in trying to fight for their priorities in order to better themselves and future generations.








Source Interpretation
Textbook document
3. There were many different experiences for people who were involved in the work with immigrants because many different views were expressed in both spectrums. The charity worker usually sees herself as a person of good character who is more important than the poor. Those who are poor have a hard time understanding why the charity giver is there to advice them to work rather than just giving them what they actually want. They also have different views with saving. The rich believe that it is important to save while the poor do not see it as any priority in their lives. The poor usually talk about how the rich are landlords and collect money which is why they do not like them, although they do respect them. These different experiences allowed for Addams to write about the complex ideas and perspectives that these two groups had of one another even when dealing in close relations with one another.

4. As a settlement house volunteer, Addams' views of the poor were different than those of others because she had different opinions of why the poor became poor. Many believe that one of the main reasons for poverty was laziness. In contrast to that theory, Addams who was very well educated, believed that the reason for the poverty was do to the social structure of society. It was do to her knowledge and education that she was able to better understand the differences that occurred between the charity giver and the charity recipient after comparing the relationship to the words of the Hebrew prophet. If it was not for her education from college, she would not have had a different and maybe less accepting perspective of the settlement house volunteer.

Blog #8

Textbook: Chapter 5

1. After the civil war, the late nineteenth century brought upon a lot of economic change mostly do to the rise of industrialism. Many of the American women were involved in helping the economy because of their involvement in the labor force. Women worked in textile and garment industries, which had dramatically grown after the invention of the sewing machine. Many of these women believed that they were not earning enough for their hard labor. They were given difficult jobs and, in return, would produce a large amount of goods. Women were usually treated unfairly because they were not seen as “skilled workers” as the men were. Sometimes, women would take the place of men when the men were on strike, but the women were let go as soon as the men returned to their positions. Eventually, women were given more opportunities in office work mostly do to the invention of the typewriter. Single Working-class girls were affected in that they felt as if they were now given more freedoms, since they were able to make money and only support themselves. Many women had left their homes and entered the cities where they would receive the feeling of dependence, a feeling that they had always pursued. Other working-class women would have to work in order to support their families and usually used more than one income in the household. The middle-class women and elite women lived in more comfort than the working-class. Middle-class women would usually chose to shop around in department stores rather than work. They would even hire a couple domestic servants to do the domestic work around the home. The elite women would have a lot more of these servants than the middle-class women did, therefore making their lives a lot easier than any of the other classes. They, too, would shop around for their luxurious with the money that their husbands had brought home. Another way their lives were affected was that the poorer women had more children than the wealthier women. Since the middle-class and elite women were the consumers and the working-class women produced the goods, it would keep the economy balanced.

Textbook: Chapter 6

2. The image that is shown identifies the U.S. government’s strength in assimilating the Native Americans into the White American culture. The U.S. government practically forced these young children to attend these boarding schools that stripped them from their Native American culture and way of life. They did this in hopes to get rid of the Native Americans. The Native Americans had lived a hard life during these troubled times because of the White man’s priority of destroying the Native Americans. The children in the image are completely changed after a few years. These changes are seen in the way these girls are sitting, the way they are dressed, and they way they have their hair done. The girls in the image had only kept their sad faces because of the fact that many of these children were taken from their families and loved ones.

Source Interpretation
Textbook document

1. There are all sorts of women in the factory with their own story to tell. One girl is in the factory in order to buy herself clothes because she is already supported by her father and brother. She does not mind the work in the factory and usually looks happy. Another woman is an old widow who talks about how hard the factory work is. Some of these girls work for pleasure but some work in order to help the family. One girl that Bessie Van Vorst meets is in the factory to help her other two sisters support their mother and pay for food and rent. There are the differences between the bread-winners and the semi-bread-winners. The responses usually vary between the women who have to support others and the girls that have nobody to support that are able to spend their earnings on themselves. This is because the girls that are not supporting themselves know that they get extra luxurious out of their work while the women who are supporting others know that all their hard labor is going to others, in which they will need have the opportunity to enjoy.

2. Van Vorst concludes that the women do not stand up for themselves because they do not have enough spirit and strength to do so. Van Vorst is correct in her analysis because these women were indeed treated unfairly and did not do anything about it. Many of these women knew that it was easy for the employers to replace the workers and therefore did not want to risk losing their jobs because some of the women needed the jobs in order to support their families at home. If one work day was to be missed, it could have caused negative consequences such as missing the rent payments.

Blog #7

Textbook: Chapter 5

1. The main reason that the North and South women were divided was because they had different ideas on slavery. The women in the North were against the idea of slavery while those in the South wanted to keep their slaves. One of the reasons that the northern women had different perspectives was because the women in the north had more recently been involved in their Christian religion and believed that slavery was a sin. The women in the south depended on their slaves and would need the slaves to carry out many of the difficult duties. Since a civil war broke out between the North and South because of the different ideas, even more tension was created between the women.

2. The “New South” was the beginning of a new era for everyone living in the United States. It was a time of “Reconstruction” as many Americans liked to call it. Women dealt with these changes as well. The women in the north slowly attempted to receive their equal rights with men while the women in the south were adjusting to the new life of a non-slave owner even though they were not too eager about it. Southern White women began to look for new ways of being superior since they were no longer slave-owners. The elite women had suffered because of the economic struggle they had endured and from the fact that they were now widows, since their husbands had died in the war. Many of these white women would eventually headed towards the textile mills where they were given bad wages. Working in these industrial mills allowed women to live public lives. Many black people in the south were not told that they were free for many months after the war and therefore stayed with their owners. Laws had been passed that took away rights from black people so that they could not work.

Source Interpretation
Textbook document

1. Tensions that led to Thomas Moss being lynched was the fact that the white men in the south did not want the black men to succeed and become wealthy. The idea that these white men lived by was that it was important for them to keep the black people down. This meant that they wanted to keep the black people poor because if the black men received wealth, it meant that superiority would soon be acquired afterwards. Therefore, many of these black people, who were searching for a new and better way of life, were always treated horribly and sometimes decided to give up since the white men would always be there to keep them down.

2. Wells challenged that many of the black people who were being lynched in the South were charged with raping a white woman. She believed that the reason that these black men were charged with rape was because they were becoming successful, just as the story with Thomas Moss. She challenged that many of these black men who had been in relationships with white women were accused of being rapists because the white men did not like the fact that these black men and white women were having relationships with one another. The accusations of rape was just another way for the white man to keep the black people down and keep them in the lowest possible level of the social ranking.

3. The relationship that Wells saw between the two was that the black men who were accused of raping the white women were usually lynched and their stories were written throughout the newspapers while the raping of black women by the white men were usually never talked about. The white men who raped these black women did so without any interruptions but when the white men had seen a black man with a white woman, many of the white men became furious and began to lynch these black men. Many of these white men had created mulattos and were now afraid that the black men and white women would create their own mulattos. This had made the white men seem very hypocritical.

Blog #6

Textbook: Chapter 4
1. After the idea of Manifest Destiny had influenced the expansion of the United States, different groups of women began to have different experiences. White American women chose to follow their husbands, making their journey west towards California, Oregon, and Washington. While on the trail, these women had their responsibilities of taking care of the children and making sure that the family was being fed. These women also had to work at conditions that their grandmothers worked in because they were not allowed to bring new inventions such as iron stoves. The Native American women became servants or prostitutes of the white Americans after their white husbands had left them in order to marry white women. White women were fearful of the Native Americans and the Native American women were fearful of the white man who would rape them. As the settlers kept moving westwards, the Mexican women were effected just as the Native American women were. Mexican women were given a lot of property after their husbands had died because they were under a Mexican law. As time passed, the law was changed to follow the U.S. laws which gave the husbands more power over their land. This law allowed for the property to go from the Mexicans’ ownership to the Americans. Eventually, these Mexican women had lost their lands and turned to becoming servants for the White Americans.

2. One of the developments that allowed women to go into reform was the fact that women were becoming more religiously involved. Their religious involvement allowed for their increase in faith, which would then give them their strength to speak their minds and form organizations. The organizations that they formed were usually related to their religious obligations. This eventually helped lead to the temperance movement in which they focused on the abstinence of alcohol. The temperance movement was also a beginning in which more men were able to become criticized by the women. After turning to religion, many had realized that slavery was a sin. This belief helped lead to the abolitionism of slavery. Women’s role in religion brought women into the era of women’s right and also changed the way that black people were treated in certain states.

Source Interpretation Textbook document
1. She becomes curious about Chavez and his story of survival while running away from the Americans. Since she was so curious about Chavez, it allowed her to become involved in his story. She is also curious about the men that surrounded her house because she thought that the noise in the yard was caused by the sheep getting into her yard. She becomes fearful because she is unsure whether she will get caught helping Chavez and that if she does get caught, she and Chavez will both be killed. She exhibits her fear when she is unsure of what to do and wishes that her husband was there to help her in the decision. She is also great at concealing her reaction when she is calm throughout the experience. As the lieutenant points the gun at her, she calmly asks if the man they are looking for had been found. This showed the lieutenant that she was worried a man might be hiding in her home and that she was unaware of anything.

2. We are shown that she is a very independent women and is able to handle and make decisions by herself. She is a women that is not afraid to handle the toughest situations. Her independence shows us her strength that she herself has created along with her faith. The source of her strength comes from her faith in God because in the document she stated, “love of God” had a great impact on the decision that she made. Although, she does show a sign of being dependant when she is in need of male figure for advice. This is shown when she goes to her brothers for their opinions since her husband is away. The absence of the men allowed her to take the male role in the home by making the decisions and acting upon those decisions. Her strength and courage are traits that are memorable throughout history.

Blog #5

1. The white women in the south had lived very different lives than the white women living in the northern states. White Women had been seen more equal to men than they had been in earlier years. Therefore, many of the elite white women did not and were not expected to labor since they were slave-owners. The white women also had a duty to manage these slaves. They were instructed to discipline any slaves who had done anything which unsatisfied the slave-owners. The non-elites role was different than those of the elites. Their duty was to take care of the slaves by nursing for them. They had labored more than the elites because their priority was to produce items for the family rather than buying these items, as women had done in the north. The implications for the black women was to work in the plantation and agricultural fields. Their work in the fields were just as effective as the work done by the black men. The black women had been beaten by their owners in order to humiliate the slaves. It was hard for these women to bear children because they knew that they would have to give the children up to the slave-owners so that the child, too, could be a slave.

2. The significance of the story is that it shows us the troubles that these slave women endured while being under the command of their male slave-owners. Harriet Jacobs had been a victim of her owner because of the way he had attempted to take advantage of her sexually. Many of the male slave-owners convinced these black women that it was their duty to give in to the sexual favors because they were owned property. The sexual relations that the white men and black women had with one another led to deliberate breeding in which the black women gave birth to the children of the white men. These women had learned to hate their slave-owners because they were victimized and had felt ashamed for the rest of their lives.

1. Many of the slave-owners in the south saw their slaves as being fundamental in their way of living because it allowed for their lives to be easier and had also brought in more wealth. These slave-owners had also seen the relationships between their slaves inconsequential. The characters in the accounts resisted the assumptions made about them by showing us the reality of their relationships and the emotions that they lived with. The Crafts’ relationship showed many readers of the article that black people are able to have emotional bonds with one another and that they would go through many obstacles in order to keep a strong bond. They had gone through their search for freedom as a couple and proved that even black people are able to work together when they are emotionally tied.

2. The fact that these two documents were written with different amounts of decades between the actual occurrence and the written accounts changes the way the individuals were able to record and explain their memories. The memories that the Crafts had are more detailed than those of Polly Shine because the Crafts were able to record the dialogue that occurred between each other and the dialogue that occurred with the people at the train station. William Craft’s experience is very detailed because he explains every action, every thought, every sound that had taken place during their running away from slavery. Polly Shines is more vague with her memory because she only gives general information of the occurrences. For example, she only estimates the amount of slaves that her slave-owner had and remembers general information of only one story. It is easy to see that an earlier account of an occurrence is more effective than a later account. Although, an argument could be made regarding Polly Shine’s memories because of the fact that she was a lot younger during her experiences than the Crafts were in theirs. This might play a role in distorting her memories as well. The Crafts account is much more effective because of the detailed information we are given and therefore allows us to have a stronger emotional connection.

Blog #4

Chapter 3
1.The concept of “true womanhood” came from the belief that men and women are completely opposite and that there is no similarities that cross between the two. The major components of “true womanhood” were that the women usually were not able to do anything that had to do with business, politics or jobs needing harsh labor. All the women were to do during the early nineteenth century was to take care of the family in the home while the men worked at their businesses. This was only true for the white families because if hard labor was needed to be done in the fields, it was usually performed by the slaves, regardless of gender. This ideology was very important for white men in America during the nineteenth century because they had seen it as a new class structure in which they would build their families. This allowed the building of the middle class families. It became a lot easier to create a middle class family when the men were working while the women were taking care of the children. Middle Class women began separating themselves from the poor by preaching that it was because of the lack of values women had for their families that made them poor.

2.The significance of the Lowell mill girls in the history of U.S. women is that it was a step in introducing women into their own independence without the practice of “true womanhood.” The girls that were working in these mills were young in age, usually in their teenage years. Women were finally able to receive their own wages through their labor which led to more possibilities that would rise for women. These girls moved out of their family’s farms and moved into boarding houses in the cities, where they would work and receive a maximum wage of two dollars a week for long periods of work. These girls would usually spend this money on themselves and were finally able to show that they were indeed able to support themselves and be independent. Eventually, there were problems with the unfair wages that were being paid to these women. These unfair wages inevitably led to a strike. Since it was the first time a women’s voice was heard loudly throughout Lowell, the strikes allowed for women to take a political stand on more issues in the future.



Source Interpretation
Textbook document ( Chapter 3 pp. 169-173) – “The History of Prostitution”
1. Sanger’s view was that women were not the ones who should be blamed for prostitution. He believed that men were at fault because they showed no concern for the pain that these women were enduring throughout their lives. Sanger also proved that these women that chose the life of prostitution were brought into the way of life do to their will to survive in the world. He also found that the women living in urban cities had to go through “financial pressures(169).” These women were also influenced into prostitution because most women, morally, would not live a public life of non marital sex (170).

2. After interviewing and analyzing the two thousand women, Sanger found that the top cause for the women going into prostitution was that they were poor and needed enough money in order to survive. They did not want to starve in the streets and prostitution was their ticket out. One girl could not stand watching her crippled sister suffering everyday, which is why she had gone into prostitution. It had ultimately become her only source of making money and she was unable to get out of it since nobody would give her another job. The women that go into prostitution develop a lot of problems mentally. They begin to feel as if they are unjust and begin to feel a lot of guilt.

3. During the study, Sanger does not blame the women for their choice of prostitution but instead gives us reasons for their choice. All the women who were interviewed had a reasonable motive. Many of the prostitute’s motives were that they needed enough money in order avoid starvation. The values that individuals had were usually ignored because surviving was their first priority. After reading the article, it seems that people did not have many values during the time in which Sanger lived because the women that went into prostitution were provoked by the harsh society that they lived in. Therefore, the values that are not taught to individuals in society will lead to individuals deviant behavior.

Blog #3

Section A: Textbook Chapter 2

1. The expectations about women’s roles were able to be challenged because men had noticed that the economy and the goods that had been created in order to help the economy was do to the help from women. Their expectations were also challenged because they were large contributors during the boycotts and had influenced many others to help with the colonial fight against the British. They had been there to aid the soldiers in time of war. Some worked as nurses while a few even fought the British themselves. As most Americans know, helping the nation in a time of war is respected by many. Many of these women put their lives on the line in order to protect the nation which is why it was easier for their role expectations to be challenged. One women had even helped her son-in-law fight off 150 British soldiers(80). Although their expectations were challenged, they were also limits to the challenges because some thought that the women were there to aid the soldiers because they were not able to live without their husbands due to financial problems they would encounter at home. Therefore, women were seen as not having the ability to be independent because their following of the soldiers showed the dependence that they still had.

2. Women had a very large role during the revolutionary era because they played a big part in helping the colonies boycott items that were taxed towards them by the English. This activity during the revolutionary era was a minor catalyst to the women’s political involvement. As women gradually received the opportunity of education, their political involvement was gradually rising as well. Activity that might be considered as political was the fact that the women took the position of “deputy husbands.” This eventually lead to the women’s speaking out against politics. An example was of Eliza Wilkinson who argued her “liberty of thought”(93). Many of the women who had the opportunity to make a choice of what stance they would take was acting politically.

3. The revolution had made legacies to women that changed the way that American society views women today. The revolution allowed women to show their importance to the nation and also gave women the opportunity to express their opinions. Even though some may think that women were not able to show their independence throughout the revolutionary era, they had done a lot to prove to themselves that people depend on them as well. The fact that they were able to compete against men in the educational field showed women of the future that anyone, regardless of gender, is capable of learning anything they put their minds to.

Section B: Source Interpretation Chapter 2
4. Rush an Murray say that it is important for women to complete their educational goals in order to teach their children how to become better citizens of the nation. Even though they do agree with educating women, their intent is to educate women on what they will teach their family as mothers. They do not agree that women should be educated in order to receive careers, but rather to stay in the home as housewives and assist their husbands and children using the educational credentials they received. In his article Thoughts upon Female Education, Rush states that the women “should be qualified to a certain degree,”(125) which proves that he agreed women should only receive a certain amount of education.

5. Rush’s and Murray’s ideas accord to Republican Motherhood because in Republican Motherhood, it states that women should be educated in order to teach their children the roles of being citizens. Rush and Murray both use Republican Motherhood in their articles to show how the women is needed in the home to better the lives of the family and that through education for women, the lives of the family will reach its complete potential. The articles use education as a tool to teach future mothers how to raise a family. It is the “pursuit of happiness” that every American chases and women should have the equal liberty as men to pursue their own happiness through education.

Blog #2

Source Interpretation and Research

1. What is Patriarchy?

Patriarchy is when the power of a group or society is completely controlled by the male figure. An example of this is when a family is mostly powered by the father.

2. What is the document about?

The document talks about the differences between man and woman. It states how women are treated differently and also talks about the expectations that women have throughout their lives such as the care they are to give to the family in order to keep the family strong and united as one. Rousseau tries to point out the distinct roles that men and women play and also mentions that they should not “violate his faith.”

3. How does Rousseau justify gender inequality?

Rousseau justifies gender by stating that it is important that men and women do not carry out the same roles in society; since he believes that the division of men and women is caused by “nature” and not by “human institutions.” An example of this is when women are the ones who give birth to children and therefore responsible to the opposite sex.

4. Are his arguments valid? Why or why not?

I believe that Rousseau sets out interesting valid points. Yes, a women is able to bear children and has many roles to play as a woman in raising her children. However, I do not believe that the unfaithful women is able to destroy the family more so than the male, because the unfaithful male is able to break the marriage just as much as the woman can. When an unfaithful man leaves his family he has just destroyed not only the foundation of the house financially but emotionally for his children as well.

Textbook: Chapter 1
1. Given the enormous variety among Native American women, are there any generalizations we can draw about their experiences in the era of conquest?

The experiences of the various Native American women during the era of conquest were similar in that changes were brought upon to every tribe that existed among the indigenous people. All the native women had been disrupted by a new way of life in which they would eventually have to adapt. All natives had their own duties depending on which region they were settled. The Native Americans were affected in many ways such as the spread of smallpox which was brought in my the Europeans (5). This caused a huge “wipe out” of the Native American people. The European countries tried to influence the native Americans by preaching Catholicism throughout the tribes. The European men that had colonized allowed the native Americans to go into their colonies and work as slaves. While working as slaves in the colonies, many of these Native American women slaves had made children with the European men creating mixed-races of European and Native Americans (6). Many of the Native American women eventually began marrying European traders and were able to introduce them to the Native American culture. Many saw these women as being the “mediators” between cultures (14).

2. What insights does a gendered history of slavery bring to our understanding of the origins of slavery in North America?

Slavery has always been a large part of American history. Gender played a large role as well. The white women that lived in the colonies were sometimes seen as laborers even though the work they did was not done in the fields, but as chores in the household. Many of them were indentured as they first went into the colonies. Then, Africans were introduced as the new laborers. The lives of white women had changed when more African slaves were available. Africans were always the servants but had now become the slaves that were owned and could not leave their masters. Laws that were passed made everything even worse for the slaves because the law showed the basic differences between the blacks and white women’s roles. This also allowed for another law which allowed enslavement to be passed to the children of the enslaved women. This caused many of the white male slave-owners to rape their slaves.

3. What were the most significant differences among European women colonists?

The European women colonists had differences in that the women in Chesapeake and the Carolinas were lower and subordinate to the men and had a less freedoms than that of those in other colonies. The women in Chesapeake who were married usually had all their possession owned by their husbands. The women did not have too many legal rights. The New England colonies favored the women more than the other colonies. The Puritan New Englanders “encouraged love and respect between husbands and wives“(25). Also, unlike the Chesapeake, the New Englanders traveled as family groups while those in Chesapeake only had the males migrate. Since the New Englanders were Puritans, they were also more religious than those in Chesapeake and the Carolinas which is why family was more important.

BLOG #1

Sometimes we are put into certain predicaments that eventually give us the opportunity to change us in a way that we would have never imagined. Challenges are put forth upon us in order to test our ability to succeed. My name is Elias Aydin and I, so far, have lived a life that has involved many of these challenges. Therefore, I am able to view and judge myself the way that I choose. The way I see myself is a person who loves to see the positive light in every situation that occurs. I try to stay optimistic about mostly everything even though it sometimes becomes difficult in a time of stress. Even though I do become stressful with school sometimes, I am usually able to wear the stress off by getting my mind of work and focusing it on people that I know care about me. One of the most important characteristics about me is that I try to make people happy no matter what problems may be at hand. I love making people laugh because, even though I didn’t change that person’s life forever, It gives me the feeling that I made that person’s life a little happier during that one moment. I have already set out my goal in life which is for me to become a corporate lawyer, after all, that is where the money is. I know I have a challenging task in front of me but I also know that I am the type of person that will grasp hold of anything life throws at me and succeed in taking control of my priorities. The transition from high school to college was a very easy one because school has always been something that has come easy to me. GCC has been great in introducing high school students to its campus because the counselors allow us to feel as if we are able to do anything and transfer to any school that our heart desires. My ability to work as a member of a team has been very successful ever since I have been little. Playing in sports teams from the age of seven to fifteen has really shown me how important a team is in order to complete a goal. Even though I do work better independently, I am very open- minded and usually take advice from other people because everyone comes from a different background and it is usually a good idea to hear others’ views. The only problem that I have with teamwork is when a small part of the team breaks off and decides to not incorporate their work. I have little respect for those people because they try to take advantage of the team, but it is them who will eventually lead a poor life because they did not have the drive and will to succeed. I hope that most people understand that life is not always about getting what they want and showing others that they are better than the rest. It is about being there for others when they are in need no matter what the situation is and even if the task seems strenuous, you should always try.