The Woman History Class - Assignment Example

The Chinese Exclusion Act (1882): excluded immigrant Chinese labor to enter the United States for period of ten years from May 6, 1882. Growing tensions between the Americans and less expensive Chinese labor, and the politcal influence under Dennis Kearney caused antagonism led to the passing of this Act. Republican motherhood: In the late eighteenth century and early 1800s women embarcing and understanding the values of the concept of Republicanism was thought to be very important. The immediate consequence of this was that women became more educated, and led to the foundation of Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. WTUL: The Women's Trade Union League was the principle feminist force in organizing and structuring women’s labor mid-20th century, in bringing about changes in the working conditions of women in textile and garment manufacturing companies. WTUL facilitated working women and new immigrants to forge a union amongst them-selves. Catharine Beecher (1800-1878): Was one of the earliest women in field education in America. She co-founded the Hartford Female Seminary in 1823. She also fought for better and improved teacher training programs for women. Her most popular work titled A Treatise on Domestic Economy, has attempted to regularize the duties of women in the domestic area and also stress the needs of women’s labor. National Association of Colored Women’s Club-NACW: Formed mainly by Afro-Americans to counter their negative image in the society and to promote positive images of black sexuality. They formed a strong support group and by 1914 the membership of the club crossed 50,000. The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848: was born partially from the concept of Republican motherhood. It started as a women's rights movement, when Lucretia Mott, an active abolitionist was not allowed to participate in world anti-slavery convention in London. She joined hands with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and addressed a conference in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848 to discuss Women's rights and issues. Florence Kelley: She was and avid follower of Marxian theories. Associated with the Hull House, Kelley later was appointed as Illinois’s first chief factory inspector. In 1894, she caused the acceptance of state legislature which controlled child labor, and the passing of the legislation to restrict the working hours of women and children to a maximum of eight hours per day. She was also one of the founders of National Consumer's League (NCL) in 1899. Abigail Smith Adams (1744-1818): She was the wife of the second President of the United States of America - John Adams and mother of John Quincy Adams, later president of the United States. Abigail lacked formal education, but read voraciously. Her letters to her beloved husband portray the state of a woman managed the house during the difficult period of war. Lizzee Neblett: was a slave manager of her eleven slaves, and advocated that slaves should not be beaten, lest they retaliate. Hailing from Texas, she was one of the few white women who focused on slavery’s trials and has documented her experience with violence. She typically exemplifies the Confederate women who felt “useless” as women were not to take up arms Ellis Island: is named after Samuel Ellis, a colonial New Yorker who owned it in the 1700s. It was the first landing point for all immigrants wanting to enter the ‘New World’, and served as the check-post for more than 40 years from 1892-1954. An approximate number of 12-15 million people were checked for contigous diseases before being granted entry. Pauline Newman: was born a Lithuanian and immigrated to the United States in 1901. She is mainly associated with the exposure of the poor working conditions and the ill-treatment meted out to the workers of the Triangle Shirt Waist Co, a garment manufacturing unit. She played a pivotal role in the betterment of working conditions or factory workers. Triangle Shirt Waist Co: Located in lower Manhattan; a major fire broke out on March 25, 1911, leaving more than a 100 dead. Consequently, the New York legislature commissioned an investigation into the causes and led to reformation of labor laws that protected factory workers’ conditions, and enforcement of fire prevention measures. Wong Ah So: on of the Asian immigrants who arrived in the US from Guandong Province in china in 1922. Coming from an impoverished village to join her husband, she was sold for $500 as a slave to be forced into prostitution. She was rescued later by a Presbyterian Missionary. Jane Kwong Lee: Urbanized, unmarried, when she came to the US in 1920, for studies. She had to face gender and racial restrictions, and she typified the genre of “New Women” in Chinatown. Angelina and Sarah Grimke sisters: Grew up in South Carolina and were the only slave-holding family to write, speak and propagate abolition of slavery. They also defended their right to speech as women, in the course of their anti-slavery discourses. Margaret Sanger (1883-1966): was a nurse by profession and spread the awareness of methods of contraception in the society. Under her auspices the first American Birth Control Conference was held in 1921. She also formed the National Committee on Federal Legislation for Birth Control in 1923. As the president of the committee, she avidly fought for the effective use of contraceptives and birth control methods under medical direction, and this was soon legalized. Ida B. Wells: is associated with publishing of a pamphlet in 1892 “Southern Horrors.” The Lynch Law made African Americans renew their efforts for civil rights, and she demonstrated the strong links between the concepts of ‘race’ and ‘rape’ and their potential power relations in legal, media, and administrative matters. Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906): American reformer and the motivating force behind the Woman-Suffrage Movement, and closely associated with Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Susan was a teacher by profession, and fought for equal pay for women teachers, for co-education, and for college training for girls. The women were life-long friends and spread the awareness regarding abolition and women’s freedom movements. Alice Paul: In 1912 she became head of the National American Woman Suffrage Association's congressional committee, was also jailed three times for her suffragist efforts. Soon, she helped form the more militant Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage. In 1917 the organization joined the Woman's Party to create the National Woman's Party. Plessy V. Ferguson (1896): A case in which segregation was upheld by law; the state of Louisiana enacted a law for separating the railway cars for blacks and whites. In 1892, Homer Adolph Plessy refused to move to the car reserved for blacks and was arrested. The Supreme Court held that it was within the boundaries of the State to segregate. Miss Bridget: Irish Immigrants Bridget Lockman and John Smith entered the US in the 1850’s during the Irish Potato Famine and settled in Irish-town. When he was killed in a mining accident she let her house to another ‘widow of the mines’ to support her two children, as was common practice in the nineteenth century. Minor v. Happersett (1874): The case appealed by Virginia Minor, of the National Woman Suffrage Association, and Francis Minor. In 1872 Virginia Minor had been barred from casting her vote. U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 1874 that the right of suffrage was not protected by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and upheld the ruling. Muller v. Oregon (1908): United States Supreme Court ruled assenting and upholding the Oregon State’s restrictions on the working hours of women as justified by the special state interest in protecting women's health. It was a milestone in the history of women’s labor laws. Declaration of Sentiments: This document was signed in the Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention of 1848. Elizabeth Cady Stanton prepared the main text of the declaration. I put forward the demand for equal rights for women in the political, religious, social, and civil matters. True Womanhood: In the early nineteenth century the middle-calss families emerged wherein husbands worked as lawyers, doctors etc, and women were to uphold four characteristics/ virtues: piety, purity, domesticity, and submissiveness, which would be the mark of true womanhood. Paternalism: The emergence of men as the ‘bread winner’ of the family focused all rights on the ‘male heads’ of families, and bestowed ownership rights to them alone. Thus, houses, land and property were owned and inherited by men, passing on from the father to son, viz. paternalism. Culture of Dissemblance: It was necessary for African American women to practice this to protect their sanctity of the inner aspects of their lives. It involved creating an appearance of disclosure about one’s inner feelings and thoughts, while actually remaining an enigma. Mary Poor (1743-1833): Typical example of the life of an Indian captive woman is Mary Jemison. She was captured by Shawnee Indians and French soldiers and later adopted by the Senecas. Though her husband died after giving her a son, she remarried and had six more children. Her tribe fought alongside the English troops and later when her land was taken, she was allotted place in the reserves. National Sufferage Parade (1913): in November 1913, National American Woman Suffrage Association lauded the Congressional Committee and Alice Paul’s work as the most amazing and most creditable and that their focused care has been remarkable. The whole movement in the country has been wonderfully furthered by the series of important events which have taken place in Washington, beginning with the great parade the day before the inauguration of the president, which however faced some obstacles and opposition form the anti-feminist groups. Birds of Passage: Generally denote the immigration of women across borders in search of livelihood and work opportunities. Applied in the context of the US, massive number immigrants into the nation signify ‘birds of passage’. It signifies black women’s migration across times “from the times of antebellum period to the great migrations of the first half-of the twentieth century” (Darlene Clark Hine (1989) “Rape and Inner Lives of Black Women” in Women’s America, 16th edition, Oxford University press. Pg 300) Read More