Asma Sajid
HIST330
Professor Feely
October 29, 2020
Women Between 1848-1920
Race, ethnicity, economic class, or region impacted women’s concerns in 1848-1920 in various ways. These are all evident from the following primary source; Susan B. Anthony “Trial” (Reader/Module 6 Readings) and Nannie Burroughs “Black Women and the Suffrage” (TWE 459). The following analysis briefly summarizes all the challenges that women faced in that period and how they rose against the male domination against them. The analysis puts across females’ work in different regions with the class or without, white or even black. All the women united for their legal rights to be heard and for women to be considered important in society.
The second unit was between 1848-1920. In this period, women seek their right to vote and later on being granted this civil right (Linder). How did these women get their right to be able to vote? All these were struggles that the women faced. 1920 was a critical year for the women because they could achieve the right to vote this way in the 19th amendment. All these began in the upstate New York town of Seneca Falls.
Furthermore, the Women’s Rights Movement did start there. Two significant women are the main contributors or founders of this movement. They do their best to enable women’s rights to be achieved, and that is Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. These two women were leaders and were behind the Seneca Falls convention.
After Cady was married and started her journey in the new life, she found it not quite pleasing she “felt like a caged lion who had domestic chores to perform and duties that came with it since she also had kids.” She felt like she had a mental hunger; this made her plan the convention at Seneca Falls. In her declaration of the truth, women are created equal and would not submit to any. She chose the Declaration of Independence because of how known it is to the people but especially for how it speaks of the rights in it and the revolutions it has undergone.
In this document, Stanton proposes that women would one day oppose the reign of men and be able to be by themselves. She had hoped that one day women would be able to resist the male regime on them. Stanton expressed her grievances to society and how women can fight for women’s rights. Stanton said and quoted that men have prevented women from exercising their elective rights. She was concerned about how women were undergoing suffrage and that women had no voice in politics. In the system that they were experiencing, the husband was given much power over the woman. The husband was able to beat the wife and was legally allowed. If the woman was to divorce the husband, then the dire consequences that would follow were the wife would leave the custody of her children since the divorce was quite difficult and hard to come to go through, especially for the women making them stay in such marriages for the love of their children and some because justice was hard to come by.
Women were not able to get good jobs because of the poor wages being given to them unfairly. Women could not be lawyers and doctors either, underestimating what the women could do, and it was truly unfair. They could not either go to college because they were women. Stanton was very much affected by this since she considered herself highly intelligent to attend college.
There was also a different code of morals for men and women, which were biased. A good example is when men engage in prostitution or cheat on their wives, it would be considered a normal deed. They will not be judged, unlike if women engage in such acts; it will be like breaking the law (TWE 399-401). All that she ever wanted was for women to live in political, social, and economic equality. They knew that people would not take kindly to what they were planning to do. So, they would employ agents, hand out petitions, and use the press for their benefit. Public opinion was very much important and needed all the participants that they could acquire.
Susan B. Anthony then heard of Stanton’s conventions and so looked for she never got married because, in her opinion, if she got married, she would be the maid or a pet. All these depended on whether she would marry poor or rich.
The conflict in 1850 was so threatening. This was affected by everyone. Several soldiers died, and some due to infections that they had acquired and transmitted to each other. They were limited to medical resources, and that was when Dorothea Dix steeped in. She was a nurse and was to help those unwell and injured during the war since she was a nurse. Clara Barton is known to have founded the Red Cross Foundation, which was to assist during the war when she gathered all the food and supply for the wars.
Women are seen to be of help during the war period in many ways. They used clean bandages and collect them roll straps too. This did reduce the rate of infections. The women’s efforts get to be noticed, and they are praised since they supported their soldiers. They even get noticed and praised by the president. This gives them an upper hand to collect more petitions, which will help them end slavery. 1860s women also underwent restrictive dressing. They were not allowed to dress as men either, and for Waksman, she did feel free as a hog on ice wearing pants. Slave women served as spies during the war. Slaves are then allowed to participate in the military that was in 1863.
Former slaves were given access to education to be able to read and write. This enabled the slaves to be given more opportunities, even freedom of their religion. President Lincoln died, and the next president did not completely embrace such changes of freedom of slaves and women. Blacks are being mistreated, and the rights are not being protected. The 14th Amendment states that those born in America will acquire American citizenship naturally by birth. They would have privileges for those other citizens. “But since this amendment was not unifying at all and satisfying, they then amended the 15th one which emphasizes votes”. This meant that even the black people could vote, they did not include women. Susan and her sisters dared to vote following their privileges from the 14th amendment and voted. They broke the law apparently and is sentenced.
People believe that most opportunities are found in the West; this is hoped to be the same for women. Women were captured and held against their own as a prostitute. This act was known as white slavery. The diversity in class and race was evident. Racism was practiced that even the Chinese individuals were to be but in separate schools from the Americans, which was not taken lightly. Mary Tape being a brave and bold-faced legal way to get equal treatment for her child in school. Women had to obey their fathers, husbands, and first elders’ son. Race, class, and gender were extremely critical topics. Blacks and whites were racially discriminated against and treated unfairly too.
Industrialization has come along and greatly expanded also has been warmly embraced. The lame idea of women still being domestic workers has not changed yet. This change will, later, be noticed when economic challenges force them to work in them. The women will engage in this work, which is hazardous, dangerous, and deadly. The class was distinguished here; there was the haves and the have nots. These wealthy people owned lots of property, and the laborers and those working were treated like slaves. They would work all day without rest inequality, which was a good thing during this period while other people strived to be like them. Women formed labor unions though in many cases were not warmly welcomed. The women advocated for better working conditions. This was mainly for women themselves. They wanted an end of working at night for the mothers to have time for their families. They wanted pregnant women to be regularly be checked by doctors.
After the American evolution, the United States of America acquired a huge land area known as the Louisiana Purchase; this almost doubled the US territory in North America. In the following decades, the USA was in great conflict with the Native Americans living there. These tribes were sometimes moved further west to accommodate the growth of the US population. By 1850 America resembled the map that we know, having spread in territories from coast to coast. By the 1890s, most of the groups were relocated to reservations. There were many problems in reservations, including conflicts and mismanagement. There were a group of concerned citizens who were trying to solve these problems. Groups like “Friends of the Indian” were looking for a way to help the next generation of native Americans. They believed that this Americanization would be the best way for these youths to be successful. They were involved directly in reservations, and women became missionaries; they opened 171-day schools in reservations and opened 81 boarding schools.
“The women then united further to form the clubwomen” (Lecture 14, Women and the West). After the civil war, the women realized they were bound together more in groups, thus forming so many of them. They cared for the poor, education, and morality. In the progressive era is the time when …. Jane Addams was fascinated with living with the poor and opened such houses. Wealthy women would then teach and offer various support to the poor. They reduced the social classes in America. Addams was the garbage inspector and inspired several women to do the same. She maintained hygiene in the streets of the poor. The racial uplift was headed there since schools were created even for the blacks. They acquired education and skills. Madam C.J Walker discouraged racism.
In the 19th century, the Homestead Act was a huge success for women as they had the chance to own land, and women-owned 18% of plains. Life on the plains was not easy for women; the illnesses, disconnected from their families. There was a very different settlement pattern; these areas drew large numbers of prospectors. Rock miners were looking for gold and silver, predominantly done by men, and were only 3 women for every 100 men. The gender imbalance resulted in the wild west. “No Sunday of Junction City, no God west of Salina.” The few women-led to prostitution, which was illegal in the US, made thirty dollars a week, which was considerable but paid back two-thirds of their money for room and board. Prostitution was called white slavery, and there were cases where women were enslaved against their will. They were captured and held against their will as prostitutes in mining camps.
Finally, women are allowed to vote, and the dream of Stanton is achieved. Women have become brave and vocal in society and have taken over most, especially the non-organizations. The women get to understand the importance of their rights. In this era, several female graduates motivate feminists’ groups. A lot of challenges were faced for women to be treated equally. Racism and the rise of classes were abolished. Inequality among women also reduced. Women proved themselves worthy by fighting for their physical rights. They have even been hired to work in military ranks. The 19th amendment states how women have achieved their goals, which were initiated by Stanton.
Putting a ballot in American Woman’s hands means the world will get the right approximation of the Negro lady. It will discover a strong tower for her which has never been sung by poets, spoken by narrators, and written by scholars. As black men do not recognize the worth of the ballot has exchanged and sold utmost of his treasured properties, this is clear that a Negro female will definitely do the same thing. Consequently, for a Negro woman to get back to, she requires the ballot, by the intelligent use, when lost or distorted by a Negro man. She has to pay off her race, carry Church and school weights, which endures a huge deal than her financial portion at home (Burroughs, 1915).
Abraham Lincoln, after the end of the Civil war, was optimistic about rebuilding and moving forward. The 14th amendment ended slavery in America through Lincoln. After the amendment was passed, former slaves who were newly freed wanted to put their lives together was one of their main goals; they also had to learn how to read and write. In the south, things were deteriorating quickly. Southerners were forming terror organizations joining forces to inflict blacks’ fear in the south to keep them in a state of virtual slavery; they also prevented blacks from getting an education and burning school houses. The situation for blacks was becoming extremely worse; the abortionists were working hard to pass additional amendments to protect African Americans’ rights. “Let us strive to finish the work bind up our nation’s wounds. Create a lasting peace care for war orphans and widows” (Lecture 13, Reconstruction).
Conclusion
Women faced challenges between 1848-1920 in different ways, racially, economically, and ethnicity. Women did not have the right to vote, which they pursued in that period, being one of the struggles they faced and had no voice in politics. Two women Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, founded the Women’s Rights Movement. Most of the women struggled to get jobs due to poor wages, and husbands beating their wives was allowed.
Work Cited
DuBois, Ellen Carol, and Lynn Dumenil. Through Women’s Eyes: an American History: with Documents. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2019.
Linder, D. (2007). The Trial of Susan B. Anthony for Illegal Voting. SSRN Electronic Journal. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.1022997
Lecture 14, Women and the West; https://www.youtu.be/SJBawSuIe70
Lecture 13, Reconstruction; https://youtu.be/ho-21TfyTGY
Nannie Helen Burroughs, “Black Women and Reform,” Crisis, August 1915