-
Period: to
Anne Hutchinson
Hutchinson was a Puritan who was known for her strong convictions that put her at odds with the Puritan Leadership in Massachusetts Bay Colony. She challenged the principles of Massachusetts's religious and political system. She believed in justification by grace not works and disagreed with the doctrine of predestination. -
Period: to
Pocahontas
Pocahontas was the daughter of Chief Powhatan and is said to have saved John Smith from his captors. She eventually married John Rolfe which then sealed peace agreement between the English and the Powhatans. -
Period: to
Colonial Women
Women gave up their property rights when they married and were believed to be morally weaker. Women were responsible for housekeeping and childrearing and were subordinate to their father and then husband. -
Period: to
Salem Witch Trials
A series of hearings before local magistrates followed by county court trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in colonial Puritan Massachusetts. Over 150 people, mainly women, were arrested and imprisoned with 19 of those being put to death. -
Period: to
Abigail Adams
Abigail was the closest advisor and wife of John Adams. She wrote her husband about the constitution telling him to " remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands... [We] will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.". -
Period: to
Republican motherhood
Women were educated on republican virtues to pass on to their sons so they would grow up as responsible American
citizens. -
Period: to
Daughters of Liberty
Patriot association that was formed to protest the Stamp Act and Townshend Acts. They aided the Sons of Liberty in boycotts and non-importation movements. They participated in spinning bees, and helped produce cloth so they wouldn't need British textiles. -
Period: to
Antebellum Women
Women started to work in factories after the Industrial Revolution. Women began to get involved in societal change and reform. They were still considered inferior to men and had no legal standing. The suffrage movement began in the antebellum period. -
Period: to
13 original states prohibit women from voting
With the creation of the constitution all of the original 13 states passed laws to prohibit women from voting. This was to further cement the idea that women belonged in the home and were morally inferior to men. -
Period: to
Sarah and Angelina Grimké
The Grimke sisters were abolitionists and suffragettes from a wealthy South Carolinian family. They both converted to the Quaker faith. They were involved in the abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator. -
Period: to
Sojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth was an escaped slave who preached for abolition and feminism. She delivered the famous speech "Ain't I a woman?". She was a prominent figure in both the abolitionist movement and the women's rights movement. -
Period: to
Dorothea Dix
Dorothea Dix was an activist. She brought about mental asylum reform and prison reform. She lobbied state legislatures and the U.S. Congress in order to see her reforms come to fruition. -
Period: to
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Stowe was an abolitionist and author. She wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, which was a very controversial book. It depicted the harsh life of slaves and was met with backlash in the south. -
Period: to
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Stanton was a suffragette, activist, abolitionist, and was a leader of the early women's rights movement. She was an organizer of the Seneca Falls Convention and wrote the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments. -
Period: to
Lowell Mill Girls
They were mainly farm girls sent to work. They were supervised on and off the job, and even escorted to and from church. They had few opportunities to express their discontentment regarding their working conditions. -
Period: to
Cult of Domesticity
The new ideal of womanhood, the home, and family during the early to mid 1800s. The ideal woman became one who stayed at home and was domestic and submissive. These women were considered pure and pious. -
Period: to
Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman was an abolitionist who was born a slave on a plantation in Maryland. She became a famous conductor on the Underground Railroad leading other slaves to freedom in the North. -
Period: to
Susan B Anthony
Susan B Anthony was a suffragette and prominent leader in the women's rights movement. She founded the Nation Woman Suffrage Association. -
Period: to
Oberlin College Admits women
The first coeducation college in America. Oberlin accepted the first women in 1833. They also were the first college to grant a degree to an African-American woman, Mary Jane Patterson, in 1962. -
Period: to
Seneca Falls Convention
First women's rights convention in the United States. It took place in Seneca Falls, New York for two days in July and was organized by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Attendees included Frederick Douglass and others. The Declaration of Rights and Sentiments was debuted. -
Period: to
Declaration of Rights and Sentiments
Written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and debuted at the Seneca Falls Convention, the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments declared "all men and women are created equal" and listed the grievances women had with their treatment. -
Period: to
Young Women's Christian Association
An organization working for the empowerment, leadership and rights of women. The U.S. branch was founded in 1858. It is a non profit that is still around today. -
Period: to
Florence Kelley
Florence Kelley was a social and political activist. Kelley campaigned for minimum wage, 8-hour work days, and for children's rights. She brought about many protective child labor laws. -
Period: to
Jane Addams
Jane Addams was a social activist and founder of the Hull House. She was a middle class woman that dedicated herself to uplifting urban poor. The Hull House took in the urban poor, mainly immigrants and helped them find jobs. The Hull House also offered a social place for women to gather and classes for them to take. -
Period: to
Women's National Loyal League
An organization formed to help bring about an end to the Civil War. The organization also encouraged Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to prohibit slavery. -
Period: to
National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA)
The more radical faction of the women's rights movement. This association was founded by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony in New York. -
Period: to
American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA)
The more conservative faction of the women's rights movement. It was founded by Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell, and Julia Ward Howe in Boston. -
Period: to
Women's Christian Temperance Union
A temperance organization that linked the religious and the secular by using reform strategies based on Christianity. It was one of the first organizations of women devoted to social reform. -
Period: to
Hull House
The first settlement house in America was the Hull House in Chicago. Hull House was a center that provided community services in underprivileged areas. It provided many services and activities for both children and adults. -
Period: to
National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)
The two factions of women's rights groups, National Woman Suffrage Association and American Suffrage Association, merged into the National American Woman Suffrage Association. They made many gains for suffrage, especially in the West. -
Period: to
Women's Trade Union League
A labor union for women founded in New York that united upper, middle, and lower class woman as allies. It supported organization among garment workers. -
Period: to
Muller v. Oregon
A Supreme Court ruling that upheld Oregon's restrictions on the working hours of women based on the state's interest in protecting women's health. -
Period: to
National Woman's Party
A political party that fought for an Equal Rights Amendment to the constitution. They picketed the White House and Capitol in order to spread their message. -
Period: to
World War I and Women
During World War I, women's role expanded. Women were allowed to serve in the military as nurses or operators. Also many women began to work in factories because of the shortage of young men in the workforce due to the draft. The war efforts of women helped them gain support for the 19th Amendment. -
Period: to
Roaring 20s
The Twenties are known for the flappers. Flappers rejected conservatism and Victorian societal norms. They smoked, drank, and swore and were known for being promiscuous. They wore short skirts and bobbed their hair. -
Period: to
19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote. It took over 70 years to achieve this right. -
Period: to
Sandra Day O' Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor was the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court. She was confirmed unanimously by the Senate. -
Period: to
World War II and Women
Because so many men were drafted women assumed more jobs in the factories. The number of women in the workforce increased by 6 million from 1941 to 1945. Women also served in the military as nurses, operators, loaders, mixers, mechanics, electricians and spies. -
Period: to
Rosie the Rivetor
Rosie was the face of a propaganda campaign to encourage women to enter the workforce and became a cultural icon. She became a symbol of feminism and women's economic power. -
Period: to
Women in Military
During World War II women wanted to get involved in the military. The WAVES (Navy), WACS (Army) SPARS (Coast Guard), MCWR (Marines), and WASP (Air Force) were created as divisions of the military that women could serve in. -
Period: to
The Feminine Mystique
A book by Betty Friedan that has been cited as the founding of the second-wave of feminism. The book directed women's attention to the broad social basis of their problems, encouraging many to become political and social activists. -
Period: to
Equal Pay Act
President Kennedy signed it into law in 1963. It amended the Fair Labor Standards Act to prohibit pay discrimination because of gender. -
Period: to
Griswold v. Connecticut
A Supreme Court ruling that struck down a state law that banned all use of contraceptives. This case created a "right to privacy". -
Period: to
National Organization for Women (NOW)
Founded by Betty Frieden the organization's mission statement was "The purpose of NOW is to take action to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now, exercising all the privileges and responsibilities thereof in
truly equal partnership with men." -
Period: to
Roe v. Wade
A Supreme Court case that ruled that it is an unlawful violation of privacy to outlaw or regulate abortions performed during the first trimester of pregnancy.