Women's History Commons^™

New Women In The Old Dominion: Race And Gender In Progressive-Era Virginia, Rachel Scott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis traces the development of Black and white Southern women’s pursuit of political power between the end of the Civil War and the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. Emancipation and the downfall of the antebellum planter aristocracy upset traditional Southern gender norms and opened new doors for women of both races in the political upheaval of Reconstruction. Though both Black and white women participated in the women’s club movement and joined women’s advocacy and charity groups following the Civil War, their work was distinctive both from each other and from other regional Progressive movements. The context of …

Women’S Suffrage In American Art: Recovering Forgotten Contexts, 1900-1920, Elsie Y. Heung

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In 1920, women in the United States finally won the right to vote. The campaign for suffrage, which began in the 1848, with the first women’s rights convention held at Seneca Falls, NY, involved the efforts and enthusiasm of countless women who believed that they both deserved and needed the right to vote. This dissertation investigates the ways in which women artists both responded to and contributed to this divisive movement through painting and sculpture during the final decades of the campaign, when visual culture and propaganda played a crucial role in advancing the suffrage and anti-suffrage agendas. The literature …

"Are You With Us?": A Study Of The Hoosier Suffrage Movement, 1844-1920, Sarah Bowman

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

"Are You With Us?" challenges longstanding assumptions about Hoosier women's political activism by examining participation within the state suffrage movement. Indiana women's history- and especially this topic- is largely overlooked by historians. Existing scholarship on this subject is limited and out-dated; moreover, such research concludes that Hoosier women were "ladylike reformers." That is, they were respectable, conservative, and did not desire too much public attention. Because of this, one might think that Hoosier women avoided the campaign for suffrage; yet, my archival research has shown that many women in Indiana were active and dedicated participants. In addition, there were numerous …

Holes In The Historical Record: The Politics Of Torture In Great Britain, The United States, And Argentina, 1869-1977, Lynsey Chediak

CMC Senior Theses

While many politicians gain national or international acclaim, domestic political activists are rarely remembered for their dedication and, similarly, their sufferings. More specifically, the acts of female political activists, and the harsh punishments they endure following government pushback, are not appreciated or acknowledged by popular histories.

Across Great Britain, the United States, and Argentina, three women played crucial roles in advancing reform against unjust government policies. Josephine Butler (1828-1906) was a pivotal character in repealing laws allowing for the government regulation of prostitution, the Contagious Diseases Acts, in Great Britain. Similarly, Alice Paul (1885-1997) was essential in achieving the ratification …

Votes For Women: Women's Suffrage, Gendered Political Culture, And Progressive Era Masculinity In The State Of Indiana, Lindsay E. Rump

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

This thesis will examine gendered political culture and masculinity in Indiana during the Progressive Era, leading up to the enfranchisement of women. Using articles from newspapers and periodicals, this work will examine how women were presented in the public sphere, how they were methodically portrayed as the lighter sex, used for advertising for clothing or appliances and never taken seriously as political figures. Then, this paper will ex plain the profile of women's suffrage in Indiana, how the women in this state began the fight for the vote, the women and the conventions that carried it onward, and finally their …

"For The Best Interests Of The Community": The Origins And Impact Of The Women's Suffrage Movement In New Mexico, 1900-1930, Janine A. Young

History ETDs

This study traces the history of the women's suffrage movement in New Mexico from 1900 to 1930. The movement in the state was an urban phenomenon. City life provided women the opportunity to organize and engage in reform work outside their homes. The suffragists were concerned primarily with various problems in their urban communities. The suffrage movement in New Mexico, therefore, occurred because of local concerns and not national ones.

Beginning around 1900, middle class urban women in New Mexico formed various organizations to work for the improvement of their communities. Their main concerns fell within women's separate sphere. Female …

The Woman Suffrage Movement In West Virginia, 1867-1920, Anne Wallace Effland

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

No abstract provided.