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Letters on the Equality of the Sexes
Beginning in 1837 and continuing into 1838, Sarah Moore Grimké published a series of fifteen letters, the Letters on the Equality of the Sexes, which, through a Quaker lens and with many references to God, supported women's equality to men. -
Seneca Falls Convention
Convention held in New York for women's rights addressing the issue of women's suffrage among other issues. Present were major feminists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Susan B. Anthony who, along with the other feminists present, wrote the Declaration of Sentiments, a document modeled after the USA's Declaration of Independence that took on the entire patriarchal structure. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin introduced the idea that African-American people were people and humanized slaves to such a degree that it was banned in the majority of the South. -
National American Women's Suffrage Association
NAWSA was founded by Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton when the women;s rights movement split into two groups due to a disagreement over the right of African American men to vote. -
Women's Christian Temperance Union
The Women's Christian Temperance Union was founded in Cleveland, Ohio in November of 1874, with its original mission being non-violent protests of alcoholism. When Frances Willard took over the WCTU in 1879, she expanded its mission to include abstinence from drugs, as well as support for other social reforms, and by the end of the 19th century the WCTU was one of the strongest lobbyist organizations in the US. -
Hull House Chicago
Started by Jane Addams in 1889, the Hull House in Chicago was a settlement house where immigrants gathered to learn, eat, debate, and gather tools necessary for life in America. -
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Women's Era
The period from 18090 to 1920 is often considered the women's era because during this time period women started to have greater economic and political opportunities and were aided by legal changes such as the right to own property, control their wages, and make contracts and wills. -
National Consumers League
Founded by Florence Kelley in 1891, the National Consumers League sponsored boycotts and shaped consumption patterns, especially away from products made with child labor, and protected in-home workers and advocated food safety. The NCL still exists today. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
US Supreme Courst case that decided to uphold the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation of public spaces that were separate but equal. -
Women and Economics
Written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1898, Women and Economics brought to the forefront that having a job is valuable as a form of independence and individual expression, as most people were not comfortable with the idea that being a housewife is similar to being a servant in one's own home when it is the only available option. -
19th Amendment
The passage of the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote throughout the US, stating that states cannot deny people the right to vote because they are women. -
Mendez v. Westminster
The Mendez v. Westminster case challenged segregation of schools in Orange County. The trial ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, finding segregated schools to be unconstitutional. -
The Lonely Crowd
Written by David Riesman, The Lonely Crowd is a sociological analysis and is considered to be a landmark study of American character. -
Brown v. Board of Education
This US Supreme Court case ruled segregated public schools to be unconstitutional, overturning the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling of 1896. -
Rosa Parks
This famous event, in which Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Alabama, which led to the Montgomery bus boycott, which lasted over a year and eventually led to the desegregation of buses. -
Letter from Birmingham Jail
After being arrested in Birmingham, AL for peaceful protests against racism, Martin Luther King, Jr wrote an open letter defending the strategy on non-violent resistance to racism -
Assassination of John F Kennedy
After demonstrations earlier in 1963, JFK was pushed to more actively suppport social reform, calling on Congress to pass a law that would ban all public discrimination. Shortly thereafter, JFK was assassinated, most probably by Lee Harvey Oswald. -
Civil Rights Act
United States civil rights legislation that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or nationality. Ended unequal voter registration restrictions as well as segregation in public spaces. -
Selma, Alabama
In Selma, AL, Martin Luther King, Jr led marches to Montgomery, the capital, in order to demonstrate the black community's desire to exercise its constitutional right to vote. -
Loving v.Virginia
US Supreme Court decision which ruled that laws prohibiting interracial marriage were unconstitutional, ending all race-based restrictions on marriage in the US
