Women's History Commons^™

Fidelity And Fortitude: Dolley Madison’S Political Ideas Of The First Lady, Olivia Mares

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

Dolley Madison helped create the modern idea of a First Lady taking political action and stances through her work to reelect her husband James, build a thriving city and capital for the nation to enjoy, and unite the new republic, further solidifying its place in history for decades. Dolley’s theory of the First Lady made her responsible for organizing, launching, and legitimizing James’ administration and the new capital while growing a sense of Americanness. She believed it was part of her public duty to encourage republicanism and work towards social solutions to make a cohesive government without threatening the current …

Book Review: Sister Sinner By Claire Hoffman, Shawn Smith

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

Claire Hoffman’s *Sister Sinner: The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson* (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2025) offers a very balanced and engaging look at one of the most influential yet controversial figures in early twentieth-century American Christianity. Blending meticulous scholarship with narrative flair, Hoffman explores McPherson’s rise from obscure evangelist to international celebrity, her pioneering use of radio, and her complex role in shaping Pentecostalism and popular culture. Avoiding sensationalism, Hoffman examines McPherson’s triumphs, contradictions, and mysterious disappearance with nuance and respect, resulting in a balanced yet compelling and well contextualized biography.

The Evolution Of Women's Rights In Iran, Rebecca G. Buis

Senior Honors Theses

Over the past 46 years, Iran has undergone change; substantial change that will impact the lives of women for generations to come. The ones who have been at the forefront of this challenge are women. Islamic extremism and religion have created a substantial shift in the lives of women over the past half century. As time has gone on, more women have protested, leading to an increased resistance. Prior to the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Iranian women experienced increased liberties and freedoms. However, with the rise of Khomeini, their freedoms were increasingly replaced with expectations as to how they should …

Resourcefulness And Changes In Wealthy Confederate Women’S Fashion During The American Civil War, Adaline Nolley

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

At the dawn of the American Civil War, women’s fashion had become increasingly extravagant, featuring intricate embroidered designs, folded skirts, and detailed bodices. In the American South, the image of the “southern belle” emerged during the antebellum period. The initial view of the southern belle was characterized by displays of wealth through clothing and décor choices. However, as the Civil War dragged on, battles and blockades caused shortages in goods in the South both from Northern industrial centers and European markets. The evolution of southern women’s fashions between the antebellum period and the end of the American Civil war demonstrates …

Women’S Fashion In The Civil War And Godey’S Lady’S Book’S Role In Its Dissemination, Julia Broughton

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

The Civil War was a difficult time in America’s history, but in many ways, life continued as it always had. Women were still interested in fashion, and they still wanted to wear dresses that made them feel beautiful. They also wanted to keep up with trends and find creative ways to incorporate trends into their wardrobes. In the war period, fabric types, the typical dress silhouette, common trends, and fashion magazines all informed women’s fashion, as well as fashion’s function. One such magazine that played an important role as a disseminator of women’s fashion during the Civil War was the …

Come As You Are: The Rise And Fall Of The Grunge Movement And Its Implications On The Identity Of Seattle, Colin J. Wood

Montview Journal of Research & Scholarship

This paper evaluates the rise of the Grunge movement through Nirvana’s Nevermind album as a unique burst of culture through the city of Seattle. Culturally, in the late 20th century, Seattle found its identity in the area around it, though other American cities overshadowed its significance. Through music, figures such as Jack Endino and the iconic Kurt Cobain gave Seattle an unfathomable uplift within global culture. This paper argues that grunge culture emerged as a distinct facet of Seattleite identity, with elements like flannel clothing and thrifting playing pivotal roles in shaping the city's recognizable and esteemed cultural landscape. It …

Bureaus Of Ungentlemanly Warfare: Comparing The Roles Of Women In The Special Operations Executive And The Office Of Strategic Services During World War Ii, Adaline Nolley

Senior Honors Theses

In 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill created the Special Operations Executive. The SOE was one of the first government agencies to recruit female spies. In 1941, United States President Franklin Roosevelt commissioned the Office of Strategic Services, which also employed women. The organizations approached the concept of female agents differently. The OSS maintained female staff in domestic offices, but employed foreign women as agents. The SOE recruited women to go abroad, as they were less suspicious than men in occupied territories. The study of female staff in the OSS and the SOE allow historians to understand roles of women …

Of Sacrament And Safety: How Two 1970s Home Birth Services Magnified The Power And The Limits Of Women's Voices, Kristen S. Burgess

Montview Journal of Research & Scholarship

Two home birth services faced changes in the early 1970s, resulting in a watershed moment for maternity care and childbirth options throughout the United States. One service began in Summertown, Tennessee, where a counterculture group believed birth was sacramental and home birth was essential to honoring that sacrament. Still, these resourceful pioneers embraced technology for prenatal care and safe birth practices, leading to the establishment of the Farm Midwifery Clinic and contributing directly to the rebirth of midwifery in the United States. Chicago, in contrast, offered home delivery to urban Chicago's racially diverse, low-income population through The Chicago Maternity Center. …

Disillusionment And The American Civil War: Confederate Women And Changing Self-Perceptions, Emma Hively

Senior Honors Theses

Confederate females in the antebellum South viewed themselves in light of the ideology of Southern womanhood, a series of gender norms that outlined their proper place in the home and society. The Civil War upended the social structure supporting Southern womanhood and challenged female commitment to the Confederacy, as increasing hardships and suffering led to widespread disillusionment among Confederate females. Conventional interpretations of female disillusionment maintain that it represented continuity in antebellum self-perceptions, amounting to bitterness over the forced abandonment of their way of life and an ardent desire to return to normalcy. However, the focus on the overall continuity …

To Be Necessary: The Remarkable Life Of Mary Wollstonecraft, Elisabeth Phillips

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

Although overshadowed by her daughter, Mary Shelley, in the public imagination, Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) stands as a significant figure in her time who left a significant legacy. Her writings advocating for women’s education, equal rights, and career opportunities established her as the progenitor of the modern women’s rights movement. Wollstonecraft’s ideas resonated in the era of the Atlantic world revolutions and laid the foundation for later advances of women in the Western world; therefore, it is important to study her contributions in the present.

Jane Austen: A Study On The Influences, World, And Character Of An Eighteenth-Century Novelist, Elisabeth Phillips

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

Jane Austen is one of the most influential authors in history and her works are regarded as timeless classics. Her ability to harness the motif of the strong, independent woman in a time when society wanted women to have neither attribute is incomparable in contemporary works. This article examines Austen's life and the variety of factors (family, religious, intellectual, historical) that molded her mind and character and thus informed the characters she created and the stories she crafted.

Women In Kingly Genealogies: The Queens, Widows, And Prostitutes That Changed The Story, Lydia Dowdell

Senior Honors Theses

While there are creative pieces theorizing about Tamar and her inclusion in both David and Jesus’ genealogies, there is a lack of research comparing King David’s genealogy in I Chronicles 2 with the kingly genealogies of the same time. Comparing the two shows that genealogies in the surrounding nations—Assyria, Babylonia, etc.—are lacking women. In contrast, the Old Testament is filled with kingly genealogical records that list and name women.

This thesis will touch on the differences and similarities between the kingly records/genealogies, theorize and explore the levirate marriage custom and matrilinear descent, and attempt to provide a better understanding of …

Diaries And Journals Of Pioneer Women And Their Significance, Haley Fury

Senior Honors Theses

Pioneer women who took the trails west and carved homes out of the wilderness often kept diaries or journals. In them, they recorded their everyday activities and their adventures. These diaries were often among the dearest possessions of the women who owned them. They are also some of the best primary sources that historians have and are used to reconstruct a picture of the lives of these women and their families. Furthermore, they hold great value for the ordinary Americans of today. This thesis will be examining how and why these diaries and journals hold such great significance.

Book Review: Lori D. Ginzberg. Women And The Work Of Benevolence: Morality, Politics, And Class In The Nineteenth-Century United States. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990., Merritt A. Morgan

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

Lori D. Ginzberg's 1990 work, Women and the Work of Benevolence: Morality, Politics, and Class in the Nineteenth-Century United States, focuses on the ideas and socially benevolent practices of Protestant women of the prosperous middle and upper-middle-class during the 1820s to the 1880s in the northeast region of the United States. The author analyzes how contemporaries affirmed these values in women's benevolent work, which also promoted their status and brought about significant social changes in American culture.

Review Of Nancy F. Cott, The Bonds Of Womanhood: Woman’S Sphere In New England, 1780-1835, Merritt A. Morgan

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

Historian Nancy Cott has produced an important work that explores the dialectic between the women’s work and their changing status in reference to the new rhetoric of democracy in the antebellum period. Cott shows us how women perceived themselves and what they said that she expects will lead to a new framework for the interpretation of the concept of womanhood.

“The New American Woman”: The Legal And Political Career Of Clara Shortridge Foltz, Marissa Swope

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

This article analyzes the life and career of Clara Shortridge Foltz, a California attorney and suffragist of the latter decades of the 19th Century and the early 20th Century who was an early developer of the concept of the public defender, leaving an important legacy in the advancement of women's rights.

Islam, Democracy, And The Leadership Role Of Women In Government, Leea Collard

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis examines the relationship between Islam, democratic government, and the governmental leadership of women in the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey (MENAT). In order to understand female leadership in this region, the compatibility between Islam and democracy is analyzed. This occurs through the examination of Sharia Law and democratic principles within Islam. Furthermore, a statistical analysis of the successes of democracies in the region will be presented. Each nation will be categorized by the constitutional provisions entrusted to its female citizens. Thus, this thesis will present the legality of the political participation of women in each of the …

Book Review: Hewitt, Nancy A. Women's Activism And Social Change: Rochester, New York, 1822-1872, Merritt A. Morgan

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

Scholar Nancy A. Hewitt analyzes the lives of women in antebellum Rochester, New York, focusing how they adapted to a wide variety of changes during a turbulent period in American history.

Mercy Otis Warren: Republican Scribe And Defender Of Liberties, Mary Kathryn Mueller

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

An active proponent of republican government, Mercy Otis Warren had a significant role in the revolutionary period. She was a woman who was close to the action, well-acquainted with the central figures, and instrumental in bringing about the monumental changes in America in the late 1700s. Referred to as the “muse of the revolution,”[1] Mercy Otis Warren used her pen to significantly broaden the colonial understanding of a republican form of government and passionately promote it. From a collection of early poems and political satires written in the years preceding the war to her epic history of the revolution published …

Free Spirit Meets Gilded Cage: Betty Ford As Second Lady 1973-1974, Caroline Marie Dickey

Masters Theses

Betty Ford has a rich legacy as a pioneer and trailblazer, but her transition into politics was far from smooth. 1973-1974, or her time as Second Lady, was a critical training ground that solidified her beliefs and character for the rest of her life in the spotlight.

Margaret Douglass: Literacy Education To Freed Blacks In Antebellum Virginia, Samuel J. Smith 5924342

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

In the 19^th century, voices for social reform reached a high pitch—both figuratively and literally. Recognizable women’s voices were heard in various reform movements: Susan B. Anthony, Jane Addams, Dorothea Dix, Harriet Tubman, Catherine Beecher and her sister Harriet Beecher-Stowe. These women were active in bringing about change in the societal roles and treatment of women, children, slaves, freedmen, and persons who were illiterate, disabled, poor, or incarcerated. A name not as recognizable, yet often held as an example of activism for educational rights of emancipated blacks, is that of Margaret Douglass—a white Virginian woman who was jailed for …

The New England Narrative, Cynnamon C. Mathis

Masters Theses

Though equally successful, noteworthy, inspiring, and crucial as the contributions to American Independence made by New England women patriots, the contributions made by North Carolinian women patriots are excluded from the history of America’s founding as a direct result of sectional nationalism.

Faith And Art: Anne Bradstreet’S Puritan Creativity, Sophia Farthing

Masters Theses

As one of Puritanism’s best-known Puritan writers, Anne Bradstreet is a popular topic for scholars exploring gender issues in a Puritan context. Bradstreet’s poetry has drawn attention to the possibility of Puritan theology as inspiration for art. However, misunderstanding of Puritan cultural complexity and cursory readings of Bradstreet’s texts have resulted in misrepresentations of Bradstreet’s interaction with Puritan culture and ideas. This thesis examines Bradstreet’s life and work, including the variety of supportive literary influences she experienced as a child. The historical value of Bradstreet’s texts is made clear by her poetic insight on political issues, history, and gender conflict, …

Taking On The Man: Female Rebellion Against Gender Roles In Classical Greek Drama, Gabrielle Killough

Senior Honors Theses

The portrayal of women in Ancient Greek drama seems at times opposed to the societal gender roles within Classical Athens. In the plays, women are strong and dynamic figures who enact change and upheaval in their world. Ancient dramas, like Agamemnon, Medea, Antigone, and Lysistrata, portrayed women with strong autonomy and minds which matched their male counterparts; whereas the women in Classical Athens found themselves in more limited circumstances. In analyzing the nature of these disparities, it seems that the constant factor is that the plays concern the violation of the household. The female characters respond in one of …

Suffering Sisters, Silent Majorities, And Societal Oppression: Comparing The Anti-War Themes And Strategies Of Kurt Vonnegut’S Slaughterhouse-Five And Katherine Anne Porter’S “Pale Horse, Pale Rider”, Melissa N. Miller

Senior Honors Theses

Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five and Katherine Anne Porter’s “Pale Horse, Pale Rider” are quite dissimilar in style, but these two works convey overall anti-war themes. The works were written in different eras, portray different wars, and are strongly influenced by the lives of the authors themselves; however, these unique factors work together in both works to convey similar messages regarding war’s oppressive nature and corruption of mankind. Vonnegut and Porter employ various methods to communicate these messages, some unique to the respective works and some shared by the two. The characters of Montana Wildhack and Miranda Gay—two oppressed female characters imprisoned …

The Beautiful Mystery: Examining Jonathan Edwards’ View Of Marriage, Russell J. Allen

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

In contemporary evangelical circles, Jonathan Edwards has gained wide popularity for his theological writings and vital role in the First Great Awakening. However, despite these often romanticized views, Edwards nonetheless stood in the midst of an eighteenth century society that began to develop new norms for sexual practice and new legal guidelines to support them. In order to combat what he saw to be a decaying moral culture, Edwards took a strong stance on marital issues, often to the displeasure of his congregation. What lay behind these convictions was a deep theological understanding of the sanctity of marriage. These views, …

Sex-Trafficking In Cambodia: Assessing The Role Of Ngos In Rebuilding Cambodia, Katherine M. Wood

Senior Honors Theses

The anti-slavery and other freedom fighting movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries did not abolish all forms of slavery. Many forms of modern slavery thrive in countries all across the globe. The sex trafficking trade has intensified despite the advocacy of many human rights-based groups. Southeast Asia ranks very high in terms of the source, transit, and destination of sex trafficking. In particular, human trafficking of women and girls for the purpose of forced prostitution remains an increasing problem in Cambodia. Cambodia’s cultural traditions and the breakdown of law under the Khmer Rouge and Democratic Kampuchea have contributed to …

Conforming To Conventions In Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, Pride And Prejudice, And Emma, Veronica Olson

Masters Theses

A major part of Jane Austen's novels consists of a critique of the societal conventions that were prevalent in Regency England. Through a study of Northanger Abbey, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma, it can be seen that Austen marginalizes those characters who chose conformity to social conventions. Contrariwise, the characters who exhibit a greater degree of autonomy within their patriarchal culture become the focus of the narrative. In looking at societal conventions concerning money, gender roles, and class status in conjunction with Austen's portrayal of various characters in the three novels, Austen's own views about conformity to societal conventions are …