Access to the full content is only available to members of institutions that have purchased access. If you belong to such an institution, please log in or find out more about how to order.


Cover of American Feminism Key Source Documents 1848–1920

American Feminism: Key Source Documents 1848–1920

Edited by Janet Beer; Anne-Marie Ford; Katherine Joslin

  • Published: 11 Nov 2004
  • DOI: 10.4324/9780415219457
  • Set ISBN: 9780415219457

Set Contents

Work and Education


In the United States of America, the first Woman’s Rights Convention, held at Seneca Falls in 1848, issued a challenge to patriarchal power. The women who gathered there reflected a longing for female liberation and empowerment in their demand for legal, political and social equality with men. In exploring different ways of achieving this, the early women reformers identified the importance of both education and work. This volume records the ways in which women with varying political perceptions, from different geographical areas, class categories and racial groupings, struggled to achieve improvements in both education and employment.

Volume Contents

  • content locked
    Front Matter
  • content locked
    Introduction: The Woman’s Place Edited by Anne-Marie Ford
    By Anne-Marie Ford
  • Education
    • content locked
      46
      ‘Concerning Farmers’ Wives,’ Boston, New England Publishing Company, 1880* By Clara Benwick Colby
    • content locked
      47
      ‘The Collegiate Education of Girls,’ Boston, New England Publishing Company, 1881* By Maria Mitchell
    • content locked
      48
      ‘The Gifts of Women to Educational Institutions,’ Association of Collegiate Alumnae, 1884* By Kate Morris Cone
    • content locked
      49
      ‘The Problem of Occupation for College Women,’ Educational Review, March 1898, pp. 217–230* By Kate Holladay Claghorn
    • content locked
      50
      ‘Its Wavering Image,’ Mrs. Spring Fragrance, 1912 By Sui Sin Far; Edith Maude Eaton
    • content locked
      51
      “The Ground Squirrel” and “The Big Red Apples” from ‘Impressions of an Indian Childhood,’ Atlantic Monthly, 1900 By Zitkala-S'a; Gertrude Simmons Bonnin
    • content locked
      52
      ‘Education and Democracy,’ College Equal Suffrage League, July 1909* By Frances Squire Potter
  • Women’s Work
    • content locked
      53
      ‘The Opening at the Gates,’ The College, the Market and the Court, or Women’s Relations to Education, Labor and Law, Boston, Lee and Shepherd, 1867 By Caroline H. Dall
    • content locked
      54
      ‘A Report on the Position of Women in Industry and Education in the State of Indiana,’ Indiana Department of the New Orleans Exposition, 1885* By May Wright Sewall
    • content locked
      55
      ‘The Working Girl’s Need of Suffrage,’ Literature of the Mississippi Valley Suffrage Conference, circa 1910* By Agnes Nestor
    • content locked
      56
      ‘Wages of Women in the Corset Factories in Massachusetts,’ Minimum Wage Commission, 1914*
    • content locked
      57
      ‘Senators vs. Working Women,’ Wage Earners’ Suffrage League, circa 1918* By Miss Maggie Hinchey
  • The Rights and Wrongs of Women
    • content locked
      58
      ‘Great Auction Sale of Slaves at Savannah, Georgia, Tribune, March 1859, New York, American Anti-Slavery Society, 1859*
    • content locked
      59
      ‘Southern Proofs of the “Chivalrous and High-Minded Character” produced by slavery,’ New York, American Anti-Slavery Society, 1860*
    • content locked
      60
      ‘Southern Proofs that Slavery is a “Parental Relation” ,’ New York, American Anti-Slavery Society, 1860*
  • Angels of Mercy
    • content locked
      61
      ‘Seventh Report of the Ladies’ Aid Society of Philadelphia,’ 1865*
    • content locked
      62
      ‘A Report Concerning The Coloured Women of the South,’ Trustees of the John F. Slater Fund, 1896* By E. C. Hobson; C. E. Hopkins
  • Working Women
    • content locked
      63
      ‘The Status of Woman in America,’ A Voice from the South, Ohio, The Aldine Printing House, 1892, pp.127–145* By Anna Julia Cooper
    • content locked
      64
      The Work of the Afro-American Woman, Philadelphia, G.S. Ferguson, 1894, reprinted 1908 By N. F. Mossell
    • content locked
      65
      ‘The Task of Negro Womanhood,’ The New Negro, ed. Alain Locke By Elise Johnson McDougald
    • content locked
      66
      ‘The Fadettes Woman’s Orchestra of Boston,’ Boston Evening Transcript, 14 August 1906* By Caroline B. Nichols
    • content locked
      67
      ‘Women’s National Agricultural and Horticultural Association, May 1914’*
    • ‘Reverence’ and ‘The New Frenchwoman,’ French Ways and Their Meaning, New York and London, D. Appleton, 1919 By Edith Wharton
      • content locked
        II
        Reverence
      • content locked
        III
        Taste
      • content locked
        VI
        The New Frenchwoman