Women's History Commons^™

Who Owns This Body? Enslaved Women's Claim On Themselves, Loucynda Elayne Sandeen

Dissertations and Theses

During the antebellum period of U.S. slavery (1830-1861), many people claimed ownership of the enslaved woman's body, both legally and figuratively. The assumption that they were merely property, however, belies the unstable, shifting truths about bodily ownership. This thesis inquires into the gendered specifics and ambiguities of the law, the body, and women under slavery. By examining the particular bodily regulation and exploitation of enslaved women, especially around their reproductive labor, I suggest that new operations of oppression and also of resistance come into focus.

The legal structure recognized enslaved women in the interest of owners, and this limitation was …

Paul, Linda (Smith) (Sc 1211), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collecction 1211. “The Life of Jessie Smith,” written by Jessie Marie (Trowbridge) Smith and compiled by Jessie’s granddaughter Linda (Smith) Paul, detailing Jessie’s life including information about traveling round trip in a covered wagon from Missouri to Oklahoma, frontier life, and life in Trask, Missouri.

Weir, Nancy A., B. 1821? (Sc 2782), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2782. Letter, 11 August 1865, of Nancy A. Wier, Webster County, Kentucky, to the postmaster of Danville, Virginia, asking for assistance in reestablishing contact with her family in the area, particularly her father and siblings. She names family members and describes the death of her husband while a prisoner of war at Camp Douglas, Illinois.

Dallas, William Robert, Sr., 1910-1997 (Mss 472), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 472. Correspondence, almost exclusively between William Robert Dallas, Sr., and his girlfriend, fiancé, and later wife Virginia “Ginny” Eileen Lindsay. Dallas was in the Army Air Corps and stationed in Louisville, Kentucky, while Ginny was living in her hometown of Ventnor, New Jersey, right outside Atlantic City. The letters are courtship related and are filled with plans for their wedding on 15 September 1945.

Addressing “This Woeful Imbalance”: Efforts To Improve Women’S Representation At Cia, 1947-2013, Brent Durbin

Government: Faculty Publications

This collection consists of some 120 declassified documents, the majority of which are being released for the first time. The collection includes more than 1,200 pages from various studies, memos, letters, and other official records documenting the CIA's efforts to examine, address, and improve the status of women employees from 1947 to today.

Key documents include the 1953 Panel on Career Service for Women (dubbed the "Petticoat Panel"); a 1976 letter written by DCI George H.W. Bush nominating three female officers for the Federal Woman's Award: a poignant 1984 memo on career opportunities for women; a 1992 summary of he …

Hume, Glee, 1902-1998 (Mss 470), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 470. Letters written 1940-1946 to Glee Hume, a teacher at Burkesville High School, Cumberland County, Kentucky, by former students and relatives serving in various military service units around the world.

The Avenger - October 2013, Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum

The Avenger

No abstract provided.

Documenting Women’S Civil War Experiences In The Ohio Valley At The Filson, Eric Willey

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

This collections essay describes archival collections of the Filson Historical Society of Louisville, Kentucky. These collections document women and their experiences in the American Civil War.

Lawrence, Ruth, 1892-1969 (Mss 476), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 476. Letters, written mostly to Ruth Lawrence in North Carolina and Louisville, Kentucky, genealogical notes, and Ruth’s domestic science notebook. Many of the letters are from or concern her relatives in the Goodnight, Moulder and Lawrence families of Kentucky, Texas and Tennessee.

Coombs Family Collection (Mss 349), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Collection 349. Correspondence, photographs, business records and miscellaneous papers of the Coombs, Robertson and related families of Warren and Simpson counties in Kentucky and of Alabama, Texas and Tennessee. Includes correspondence, personal papers and research of Elizabeth Robertson Coombs, librarian at the Kentucky Library, Western Kentucky University. Several documents from this collection have been scanned are available for viewing by clicking on the "Additional Files" below.

Evil Becomes Her: Prostitution's Transition From Necessary To Social Evil In 19th Century America, Jacqueline Shelton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nineteenth-century America witnessed a period of tremendous growth and change as cities flourished, immigration swelled, and industrialization spread. This setting allowed prostitution to thrive and professionalize, and the visibility of such “immoral” activity required Americans to seek a new understanding of morality. Current literature commonly considers prostitution as immediately declared a “social evil” or briefly mentions why Americans assigned it such a role. While correct that it eventually did become a “social evil,” the evolution of discourse relating to prostitution is a bit more complex. This thesis provides a survey of this evolution set against the changing American understanding of …

Theoris, Jeanne. The Rebellious Life Of Mrs. Rosa Parks., Carol Shelton

Journal of Interdisciplinary Feminist Thought

No abstract provided.

Watkins, Nancy Arianna (Sloss), 1838-1866 (Sc 2752), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2752. Autograph book of Nancy Arianna “Anna” (Sloss) Watkins, Simpson County, Kentucky, with entries from 1857-1865. Many of the contributors included poems. Also includes locks of hair found in the autograph book.

Mauldin, Martha, 1920-2006 (Sc 1096), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1096. Response of Mauldin, Bowling Green, Kentucky, to Rush Limbaugh Position Poll relative to positions held by the National Organization of Women and the Limbaugh-Luce Policy Institute. Mauldin did not return the form, but she added personal comments to it.

Wier Family Letters (Sc 2749), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2749. Letters (3) to her sister of Nancy A. Wier, written from Union County, Kentucky, and from Webster County, Kentucky under her remarried name of Nancy A. Martin; and letter to her aunt of Mollie Wier, written from Cadiz, Kentucky. Nancy writes of her health and both husbands and children, and asks about family members; she also mentions having seen a coal mine in Union County. Mollie writes of her siblings and other family, and mentions her brother Henry’s death in the army.

The Transformative Power Of Work: The Early Life Of Senator Margaret Chase Smith, Jeannette W. Cockroft

Maine History

Contrary to the conventional narrative of Margaret Chase Smith’s life, her public career did not begin with her 1930 marriage to politician Clyde H. Smith. By the time of that marriage, she was already an experienced political leader and an accomplished professional. Her transformation from an uneducated, working-class girl to an ambitious, upwardly mobile, middle-class woman was the result of her employment at the local newspaper, the Somerset County Independent-Reporter, and her subsequent involvement in the Business and Professional Women’s Club. The author received her Ph.D. in history from Texas A&M University and is an associate professor of history …

Glimpses Into The Life Of A Maine Reformer: Elizabeth Upham Yates, Missionary And Woman Suffragist, Shannon M. Risk

Maine History

Raised in a religious family in Bristol, Elizabeth Upham Yates spent much of her adult life as a reformer. While in her twenties, Yates spent six years in China serving as a Methodist missionary trying to spread the gospel and Western culture. Upon returning to the United States she became involved in two domestic reform movements, temperance and women’s suffrage. She was active in the women’s suffrage movement from the 1890s until the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 and ran for lieutenant governor of Rhode Island in the election of 1920. Yates was never a nationally renowned figure …

Ambassador To Norway, Historian Of Bethel: The Career Of Margaret Joy Tibbetts, Andy Deroche

Maine History

Margaret Tibbetts grew up in Bethel, graduated from Gould Academy, and later earned a Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr. As a career Foreign Service officer, she served in Europe and Africa in a variety of positions until being named U.S. ambassador to Norway in 1964. Her work as one of the first female ambassadors set the stage for future women to play even bigger roles in U.S. foreign relations. The author grew up in Hanover, Maine, and attended Rumford High School. Majoring in history, he earned a B.A. from Princeton University, an M.A. from the University of Maine, and a Ph.D. …

Documenting 'Herstories' In The Ohio Valley At The Filson, Eric Willey

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

This collection essay describes archival collections held by the Filson Historical Society of Louisville, Kentucky. The collections described document women’s contributions to the region’s history, their struggles and triumphs, and the contours of their daily lives, including interactions with family, peers, neighbors, and business associates.

Franklin Female College - Franklin, Kentucky (Sc 2720), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2720. Bound typescript of the Board of Trustees minutes from the Franklin Female College, Franklin, Kentucky. (155 p.)

Mary Reed Cooke Music Club - Smiths Grove, Kentucky (Sc 2712), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2712. Yearbooks, programs and news clippings related to the activities of the Mary Reed Cooke Music Club of Smiths Grove, Kentucky.

The Akron Offering: A Ladies' Literary Magazine, 1849-1850, Jon Miller

University of Akron Press Publications

FREE FULL-TEXT PDF DOWNLOAD

From 1849 to 1850, Calista Cummings edited and published Akron's first literary magazine, The Akron Offering. At the time, Akron was a booming canal town on the verge of even greater prosperity. By turns religious, comic, romantic, and political, this extraordinary collection of early midwestern creative literature expresses a wide range of sometimes contradictory opinions on both the important questions of its day and the important questions of today: historical events such as the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the 1848 revolutions in Europe are considered alongside more timeless contemplations on truth, justice, and …

Annie Oakley, Gender, And Guns: The "Champion Rifle Shot" And Gender Performance, 1860-1926, Sarah Russell

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Claiming Citizenship: Las Vegas' Conventional Women's Organizations Establishing Citizenship Through Civic Engagement, Cynthia Cicero

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Many historians of American women portray women's organized civic engagement and work to attain social, economic, and legal equality as feminism. American feminism has been expanded and applied in scholarship. The American feminists of the 1960s wanted to alter the male power structure and redefine conventional notions of womanhood. However, many middle-class women who participated in community and civic organizations valued their roles as wives, mothers, and homemakers, expressing their citizenship and community work as an extension of these roles. Their motivation in pursuing equality was to gain full citizenship status.

In this thesis, I argue that viewing women's civic …

Black Women In The "Black Metropolis" Of The Early Twentieth Century: The Case Of Professional Occupations, Robert L. Boyd

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Little research has examined the employment of Black women as teachers, nurses, and librarians in the urban Black communities of the early twentieth century. The present study fills this void, analyzing Census data on the largest urban Black communities at the start of the Great Migration to cities. The results show that, in spite of the supposed advantages of the northern "Black Metropolis," Black communities in the urban North were relatively limited in their potential to offer opportunities for Black women to enter pursuits that were, at the time, mainstays of a nascent class of Black professional women.

Freedom Indivisible: Gays And Lesbians In The African American Civil Rights Movement, Jared E. Leighton

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This work documents the role of sixty gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals in the African American civil rights movement in the pre-Stonewall era. It examines the extent of their involvement from the grassroots to the highest echelons of leadership. Because many lesbians and gays were not out during their time in the movement, and in some cases had not yet identified as lesbian or gay, this work also analyzes how the civil rights movement, and in a number of cases women’s liberation, contributed to their identity formation and coming out. This work also contributes to our understanding of opposition to …

In-Group Bias—Coloring Public Opinion And Spurring Public Backlash: A Comparative Analysis Of Affirmative Action And Title Ix, Samuel Joseph Knehans

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The Civil Rights and Women’s Rights Movements were two parallel rights revolutions in American history. Each spurred noteworthy social change for a disadvantaged group, through affirmative action for African Americans and through Title IX programs for women. However, when one looks at the college enrollment data, it becomes clear that these programs achieved success at different rates—at least in higher education. This thesis is an attempt to explain why these seemingly analogous programs produced such disparate results. It attempts to answer the question: Did in-group bias influence public opinion and public backlash in the form of Supreme Court litigation, impacting …

Martin, Lanna Gayle, B. 1961 (Sc 1023), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1023. Paper titled “Sadie F. Price: Artist, Botanist, Author, and Naturalist,” written by Lanna Gayle Martin for a Western Kentucky University class.

Death Became Them: The Defeminization Of The American Death Culture, 1609-1899, Briony D. Zlomke

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Focusing specifically on the years 1609 to 1899 in the United States, this thesis examines how middle-class women initially controlled the economy of preparing the dead in pre-industrialized America and lost their positions as death transitioned from a community-based event to an occurrence from which one could profit. In this new economy, men dominated the capitalist-driven funeral parlors and undertaker services. The changing ideology about white middle-class women’s proper places in society and the displacement of women in the “death trade” with the advent of the funeral director exacerbated this decline of a once female-defined practice. These changes dramatically altered …

Cherokee Acculturation & The Fall Of Women's Status, Danielle Rogner

2013 Awards for Excellence in Student Research & Creative Activity - Documents

As the eyes of the late 18th century Americans fell upon the territories occupied by the Cherokee Nation, the cultural disparities between the two nations became a source of apprehension. Most challenging to many Americans was the differences between the traditional roles of women. Instead of possessing the domestic, submissive role of the American homemaker, Cherokee women held positions of authority within society.