Women's History Commons^™

Working Witches: Fortune Tellers, Clairvoyants, And Astrologers In The Golden Age Of Spiritualism, Grace Kredell

Women's History Theses

Scholars of Spiritualism have long held that the movement grew spontaneously, forming around the Fox sisters as news of their novel “spirit-rapping” spread through New York in 1849. My thesis argues that a wide spectrum of occult workers, already active in New York City, paved the way for these genteel celebrities and their followers. These working women were already refashioning their trade before Spiritualism’s arrival, evident by the myriad new professional identities they claimed. Through newspaper advertisements, public commentaries, and popular occult literature, I closely examine several professional monikers common in New York City at the time. Chapter One chronicles …

“Always A Friend” The Complex Life Of Lady Gregory Aristocracy, Womanhood, And The Indigenous Irish, Sarah Weinstock

Women's History Theses

Lady Gregory was an important part of nineteenth and twentieth-century Irish History, but her name is not associated with it as much as her male counterparts. Being born into an Anglo-Irish family, Lady Gregory was awarded certain privileges throughout her life in colonial Ireland. After marrying her husband, Sir William Gregory, she was a part of an elite titled family that awarded her more status. Her family, both strict unionists and heavily Protestant, taught her that women should succumb to the patriarchal society that raised her and hold status over the indigenous Irish. Nonetheless she created her own ideologies becoming …

"Fight, And If You Can't Fight, Kick; If You Can't Kick, Then Bite": A Comparative History Of Afro-Brazilian And U.S. Black Women’S Stories Of Resistance, Nicole Hayes

Women's History Theses

This thesis is an intellectual and cultural exploration of U.S. Black and Afro-Brazilian feminism(s). Each chapter begins with history and scholarship from Brazil to shift the conversation away from an Anglophone-Americentric perspective. Within U.S. Black feminist thought, there is an over-representation of voices and experiences of English-speaking Black women. This is not to say that U.S. Black feminists have not reached across socially-constructed borders to incorporate scholarship from women living in other parts of the Black diaspora. However, there has not been nearly enough cross-cultural and transnational dialogue happening between U.S Black and Afro-Brazilian feminists. The time frame of this …

Nothing But Hype: Sex Trafficking And The Super Bowl, Kateca Wyette

Women's History Theses

Americans love sports and part of that love for sports is seen in its biggest sporting event of the year, the Super Bowl. Media, Journalists, Christian Groups, and some Governmental Agencies use this sporting event to hype up the idea that sex trafficking is rampant in cities where the Super Bowl is held or around the time this sport is held. This creates a problem for the nonprofit groups and other think tanks trying to end the illicit trend of sex trafficking. This not only affects women but men and children all over the world including the US. This thesis …

The Emergence Of Lesbianism From Women's Penal Institutions: Incarcerated Women-Loving Women, Interracial Coupling, And Women's Blues Music, 1895-1935, Sidney Wegener

Women's History Theses

This thesis explores the early-twentieth-century emergence of lesbianism as an identity label, an understanding of relationships between women-loving women, and a set of subcultures in the United States. Penal and medical professionals’ influence on the development of language surrounding and contributing to social and scientific meanings of lesbianism is analyzed as a response to the hypervisibility of women-loving women confined in women’s penal institutions. In this context, relationships between incarcerated white women and Black women received the most attention and condemnation from observers, such as reformatory administrators and research psychologists. A focus on interracial relationships between incarcerated women, especially on …

Through The Stage Door, A Spotlight On 'Backstage' Work: Women Designers And Stagehands In Theatrical Production, Victoria Nidweski

Women's History Theses

The narrative within theatre history has been predominantly male, especially regarding those who work in technical production. When historians speak to women’s participation in theatre, the focus is often on performers, directors, and playwrights. Women designers are treated as anomalies, with a paucity of scholarship written about women stagehands. This thesis applies a social perspective to analyzing women’s experiences in theatrical production, attempting to dismantle the gendered hierarchy of theatrical labor. Rather than focusing on individual achievements, I grouped women as cohorts. The first cohort comprises pioneer women designers; I examine how women gained the skills necessary for United Scenic …

"They Would Do As They Pleased, As They Had The Power": Gender Violence And The American Settler-Colonial Project, 1830-1890, Noelle Iati

Women's History Theses

This thesis investigates the role of gender violence and sexual terror in westward settler expansion of the United States in the nineteenth century. I posit that gender violence was not simply a symptom of war and colonization, but an integral piece of the American colonization strategy. Using studies of three locations during three different periods, I have found that the local, territorial, state, and federal governments all actively deployed sexual assault and other forms of gendered terror as methods of removing Indigenous peoples to reservations and rancherías, opening their lands to settlement and resource exploitation for the purpose of acquiring …

The Good, The Bad, And The Bloody: Images Of Menstruation In Television And In Menstrual Activism, Elizabeth Tripp

Women's History Theses

My thesis investigates the origins and tactics of the menstrual health movement; examines contemporary representations of menarche (the onset of menstruation) in TV programs; and postulates how these two streams of discourse could and should form a more symbiotic relationship. My first chapter defines menstrual activism, which seeks to destigmatize menstruation, using two different frameworks. Menstrual humor is frequently utilized across efforts of destigmatizing menstruation. I argue that menstrual humor can advance the menstrual activism movement depending on the punchline.

Chapter Two assesses the menstrual status quo according to television. I analyze thirteen media portrayals of menarche that aired from …

“The History Of Every Life … Is Important”: Lydia Olsson, Growing Up Swedish American, And Midwestern Girlhood At The Turn Of The Century, Rebecca Hopman

Women's History Theses

Our knowledge of American girls at the turn of the twentieth century is incomplete. Scholarship on Victorian American girlhood most frequently draws evidence from the papers of privileged young white women from native-born Northeastern families. But their lives only tell part of the story. We must expand our scope to truly understand the options and opportunities for girls as they came of age in this period. This thesis explores the life of Lydia Olsson, a Swedish- American girl born to immigrant parents and living in a Midwestern city. She was one of a growing number of young women participating in …

A Resurrected Revolution: Riot Grrrl Remembered, Revived, And Redefined, Rachael A. Nuckles

Women's History Theses

How has the Riot Grrrl movement of the 1990s been remembered and redefined? Riot Grrrl is typically remembered as an organized movement based on universal girl love which made the personal political, when in reality it had multiple leaders, many manifestos, and several identities beyond just the college educated white women commonly associated with the creation of its girl power agenda. Memory formation is a process. This dominant narrative that emerged about Riot Grrrl was constructed overtime by a number of participants, but also contradicts the lived experiences of many grrrls. To make sense of this tension, this thesis relies …

Reimagining Early Interracial And Coeducational College Administration: A Historical Analysis Of Matilda Hamilton Fee And Berea College, Hannah Elizabeth Mccandless

Women's History Theses

Matilda Hamilton Fee was one of the founders and administrators at Berea College in Kentucky. Berea College opened in 1866 as one of the first interracial and coeducational colleges in the South. In the field of history, women are overlooked and treated as insignificant contributors to institutions of higher education. This research fills the gaps by exploring how Matilda and her husband, Rev. John G. Fee, built Berea College as an institution that valued educating all people regardless of race, gender, or socioeconomic status. Matilda’s role varied from wife and mother, to community organizer, to school administrator. As such, she …

"Honey, I Am History:" The Life And Legacy Of Onnie Lee Logan, Alabama Midwife, Kathryn Leigh Brantley

Women's History Theses

This thesis explores the life of Onnie Lee Logan, an Alabama midwife, through the lenses of race, gender, and religion. I examine Motherwit, Logan’s autobiography as told to author Katherine Clark, and use secondary sources to analyze Mrs. Logan’s activism as evidenced in her text. In addition to exploring Mrs. Logan’s activism, I also examine the legacy she left behind in Mobile County, Alabama following the revocation of her midwifery license by the state of Alabama in the 1980s. Through a close read of Motherwit, readers can gain insight into Logan’s resistance to white supremacy and the coercive intimacy she …

Unmasking Gay Liberation Before Stonewall: Alfred C. Kinsey's Enduring Influence On The Mattachine Society, 1940-1970, Marian Phillips

Women's History Theses

In 1948, Professor Alfred C. Kinsey, a zoologist at Indiana University, published Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. His research for the controversial book consisted of interviews of more than 12,000 boys and men who responded to multiple questions about their sexual behavior over the course of their lives. Kinsey’s Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, based on similar research, appeared five years later. When Kinsey published the first of his two reports, he exposed the frequency of homosexual behavior among men across the United States. The product of the first extensive sexology research conducted in the twentieth century, Kinsey’s …

Land Of The Clean And The Home Of The Segregated: Sex-Separated Bathrooms In The Northeastern United States, 1870-1920, Emilyn Kowaleski

Women's History Theses

In 2016, a young woman named Chloe appeared in an advertisement created by the Institute for Faith and Family in support of Governor Pat McCory’s Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, commonly known as HB2. This bill mandated that people use the restroom that corresponded to their sex assigned at birth and barred them from using the one that corresponded to their gender identity. Chloe argued that the bill would protect her privacy and her safety. In doing so, Chloe became part of a legacy of upper-middle class, cis-gendered white women who have argued that sex-segregated bathrooms are necessary …

For A Dark-Skinned Girl: A Retrospective Analysis On The History Of Colorism In America From 1950 To 1990, Monet N. Dowrich

Women's History Theses

For this study, I explored the trajectory of colorism from 1950 to 1990 through literature, film, poetry, and scholarly sources. I tracked the changes in the discussion and demonstrated repositioning of the narrative after the Black Power Movement from bias solely against darker skinned black women to include discrimination against lighter skinned black women. My findings suggest that colorism has been viewed predominantly as a dark-skinned women’s issue. Efforts to design an individualized approach towards color bias against lighter skinned black women and darker skinned black women, would be instrumental in capturing the challenges faced and reducing the separation associated …

Barriers Of Being Undocumented: Mexican Women, U.S. Immigration Law, And The Reporting Of Sexual Assault And Abuse, Cristina Tanzola

Women's History Theses

This thesis explores the difficulties undocumented Mexican women face when reporting sexual assault and domestic abuse. I examine the history of immigration law starting from the enactment of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 until the beginning of the Trump Administration in 2016. I explore how discourse and rhetoric enforces the criminalization of immigrant groups while also “othering” them from society. I use various court cases to examine the violence immigrant women face and how their vulnerabilities as undocumented immigrants make it even more difficult to report a crime. I also analyze the simultaneous policies that were …

Please Pull My Nightgown Down When You Are Through: Marital Rape Activism, Opposition, And Law, 1974-1989, Katherine Swartwood

Women's History Theses

Marital rape remained a legally sanctioned crime in the United States until the 1970s. This absence in rape statutes was known as the marital rape exemption. This thesis integrates the legal and social perspectives of marital rape activism, opposition, and laws with a focus from 1974-1989. At its core, the marital rape exemption prioritized the protection of certain rape victims, over others and allowed perpetrators of violence against women to be exonerated for their actions. Some U.S. states still retain privileges for marital rapists, including paying fees and attending counseling in place of incarceration, require physical force in order for …

Settling The Sexual Dust: Portrayals And Restrictions Of Female Sexuality In 1980s Lifestyle Magazines, Cara C. Schooley

Women's History Theses

This thesis explores the treatment of female sexual pleasure throughout the second half of the twentieth century, specifically through an analysis of women’s lifestyle magazines. I begin my discussion with an overview of important historical moments from the 1950s through the 1980s, highlighting their relationship to social constructs of sex and pleasure. Then, I examine the role of psychoanalysis, consumerism, and the culture of self-help. These influences created a cultural dependency on self-improvement, which lifestyle magazines relied on to maintain reader dependency. Not only did the magazines proliferate cultural sexual norms, but they had the power to determine them as …

Honey, Spice And Sometimes Nice: The 20th And 21st Centuries Cultural, Social And Political Work Of The Queen Bee, Sarah Elisabet Stanislawa Schmer

Women's History Theses

This thesis was partially inspired by my personal experience of attending Emma Willard School, an all-girls boarding school in Troy, New York. This thesis examines the social, cultural and political history of the Queen Bee figure in the popular culture of the twentieth and twenty first centuries. The Queen Bee is a fluid anti-heroine however, a feminist character who while she tears down others around her to succeed is also genuine with relatable emotions. Here, I explore the 2000’s media culture’s fascination with the relational aggression and adolescent womanhood and its depiction of girls caught up in complex networks of …

Game Changers & Scene Makers: Black & Brown Women Of The Punk Underground, Courtney Aucone

Women's History Theses

No abstract provided.

Between Villain And Victim: Jiang Qing And Women’S Roles In Revolutionary Model Opera During The Cultural Revolution, Cherie Gu

Women's History Theses

No abstract provided.

“Did You Like It?”: Adolescent Sex Education In The United States, 1980-2018, Sydney Rayne Thompson

Women's History Theses

This thesis examines the social and political history of public adolescent sex education in the United States between 1980 and 2018, while working to highlight contemporary teenage narratives. Tying together theories of citizenship, welfare, and adolescence, this thesis explores how American teenagers have been treated as dependent citizens without personal responsibility or choice during this historical moment. I examine how the State justifies denying access to quality comprehensive sex education in favor of punitive abstinence-only curricula based on the position adolescents hold in American society. This marginalization resulting from age intersects with other identities —race, class, gender, sexuality, citizenship— to …

Jane Roe Gone Rogue: Norma Mccorvey’S Transformation As A Symbol Of The U.S. Abortion Debate, Christianna K. Barnard

Women's History Theses

This thesis explores the evolution of Norma McCorvey (1947-2017), better known as “Jane Roe” of Roe v. Wade, as a symbol of the United States abortion debate. I trace her life from her childhood through her death, examining her decision to become the Roe plaintiff, rise to fame as a symbol of the pro-choice movement, defection to the pro-life movement, subsequent attempts to reverse the Roe decision, and memorializations by various political figures and media outlets. I examine the role that her poverty, education, non-normative sexuality, and whiteness played in the public construction of her as an unreliable figurehead. To …

From A Whisper To A Rebellion: Examining Space, Race, Sexuality, And Resistance Within The Confines Of The Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, Hannah Walker

Women's History Theses

“From a Whisper to a Rebellion” examines the history of the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Bedford Hills, New York. It is not a chronological history. Instead this thesis is intended to wedge open spaces in the study of carceral institutions within the United States. Bedford’s past as a model reformatory cum maximum-security prison for women charts the expansion and transformation of the penal system within the United States during the twentieth century. I examine three specific themes in an attempt to situate the current discussion of mass incarceration within a broader history of penal institutions. These include: the spatial …

“Being A Caregiver Is The Most Sincere Love You Can Have”: Experienced Caregivers Discuss Dirty Work And Good Care, Osmara Vanessa Osuna

Women's History Theses

No abstract provided.

An Open Letter To Media Creators: History Is A Noun. Women’S History Is A Verb., Lauri Blaire Schulman

Women's History Theses

No abstract provided.

“Want To Do Something About It?”: Black Women’S Activism In The Era Of The Equal Rights Amendment, Amanda Kozar

Women's History Theses

White-dominated feminist groups were hard-pressed to build racially diverse organizations in the 1970s. To understand this lack of diversity and understanding across racial lines, this paper examines the activities of three Black women’s activist organizations during the era of the campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment. This paper urges white-dominated feminist organizations to use an intersectional approach as they continue to develop their feminism.

Queen Esther: The Life Of Esther Gordy Edwards And Her Contributions To The Building Of Motown Records, Velvet Aisha Johnson Ross

Women's History Theses

Esther Gordy Edwards was called the “First Woman of Motown Records.” She was a thirty-year music executive veteran of Motown Records’ label. Edwards was a woman of many capabilities. She served as a mentor, personal manager of artists, Senior Vice President, Corporate Secretary and International Director. Motown Records was founded in 1959, with a loan from a family fund she established. The Motown Museum and her work as the “keeper of culture” helped to seal the Motown Record label into the world’s historical consciousness. Edwards was a true renaissance woman. She established herself as a business owner, historian, civic leader, …

American Motherhood: A Discursive And Quantitative Analysis Of Abortion And Racialized Constructions Of Family In Political Speech, Pauline Stanfiel

Women's History Theses

No abstract provided.

“Maybe We Poor Welfare Women Will Really Liberate Women In This Country:” Tracing An Intellectual History Of Mrs. Johnnie Tillmon-Blackston, Gwendolyn Fowler

Women's History Theses

No abstract provided.