Women in Early America, edited by Thomas A. Foster, tells the fascinating stories of the myriad women who shaped the early modern North American world from the colonial era through the first years of the Republic. This volume goes beyond the familiar stories of Pocahontas or Abigail Adams, recovering the lives and experiences of lesser-known women—both ordinary and elite, enslaved and free, Indigenous and immigrant—who lived and worked in not only British mainland America, but also New Spain, New France, New Netherlands, and the West Indies. In these essays we learn about the conditions that women faced during the Salem witchcraft panic and the Spanish Inquisition in New Mexico; as indentured servants in early Virginia and Maryland; caught up between warring British and Native Americans; as traders in New Netherlands and Detroit; as slave owners in Jamaica; as Loyalist women during the American Revolution; enslaved in the President’s house; and as students and educators inspired by the air of equality in the young nation. Foster showcases the latest research of junior and senior historians, drawing from recent scholarship informed by women’s and gender history—feminist theory, gender theory, new cultural history, social history, and literary criticism. Collectively, these essays address the need for scholarship on women’s lives and experiences. Women in Early America heeds the call of feminist scholars to not merely reproduce male-centered narratives, “add women, and stir,” but to rethink master narratives themselves so that we may better understand how women and men created and developed our historical past. Instructor's Guide
By drawing on a wide array of sources, including church and court records, correspondence, journals, poetry, and newspapers, these essays examine Puritan political writings, white perceptions of Indian women, Quaker spinsterhood, and ...
Biographical sketches and collective portraits reconstruct the experiences of Native American, European, and African women of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century America
A social history of the American colonial period focuses on the daily lives of women, including European immigrants, Native Americans, and slaves, who played a vital role in shaping America. Jr Lib Guild.
Early American Women presents over 100 primary sources in womenËs history.
In this first comprehensive study of women's property rights in early America, Marylynn Salmon discusses the effect of formal rules of law on women's lives.
Martha Saxton tackles these and other fascinating issues in Being Good, her history of the moral values prescribed for women in early America.
Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Coosaponakeesa's Colonial Neighborhood -- 2. Vexing Motherhood and Interracial Intimacy -- 3.
Women's work is the subject of Chapter 4. The focus is work within the home, preparing food, sewing, taking care of children, and making household goods, or as businesswomen or midwives. Women and religion are discussed in Chapter 5.
Colonial Women and Domesticity: Selected Articles on Gender in Early America
Containing A Wealth Of primary sources, this reader offers a rich sampling of women's experiences in colonial America. Carol Berkin and Leslie Horowitz gather together a broad spectrum of documents...