Education Commons^™

Women's Studies At Umass Boston: Celebrates 25 Years 1973-1998, Sherry H. Penney, Jean Mcmahon Humez, Women's Studies Program, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Women’s and Gender Studies Faculty Publication Series

What follows is an impressionistic overview of our program's first twenty five years, derived in part from our archives and in part from our collective recollections, and written by the current program director. As with any celebratory institutional history, it makes no claim to objectivity. Our aim is to look back at the main lines of our growth and development, and in so doing to acknowledge many of the individuals who have contributed to the building of the program over time.

We gratefully acknowledge the work of our first archivist, UMass Women's Studies / Sociology graduate dian fitzpatrick who, in …

"Education For Service": Gender, Class, & Professionalism At The Boston Normal School, 1870-1920, Ann Froines

Women’s and Gender Studies Faculty Publication Series

"Education for Service," and “The Truth Shall Make You Free,” are two aphorisms engraved in granite over doorways of the Boston Normal School (BNS) buildings on Huntington Avenue in Boston. One can argue that the history of women in the teaching profession, its paradoxical and conflicted reality, are reflected in the complex and contradictory meanings of these two aphorisms. Young women students at BNS were moving toward greater freedom or autonomy by taking advantage of the educational opportunity available to them in this city-supported, tuition-free teacher training institution. At the same time, they were providing a crucial social service sanctioned …