Before They Could Vote: American Women's Autobiographical Writing, 1819–1919Sidonie A. Smith, Julia Watson, Sidonie Smith Univ of Wisconsin Press, Aug 1, 2006 - 472 pages The life narratives in this collection are by ethnically diverse women of energy and ambition—some well known, some forgotten over generations—who confronted barriers of gender, class, race, and sexual difference as they pursued or adapted to adventurous new lives in a rapidly changing America. The engaging selections—from captivity narratives to letters, manifestos, criminal confessions, and childhood sketches—span a hundred years in which women increasingly asserted themselves publicly. Some rose to positions of prominence as writers, activists, and artists; some sought education or wrote to support themselves and their families; some transgressed social norms in search of new possibilities. Each woman's story is strikingly individual, yet the brief narratives in this anthology collectively chart bold new visions of women's agency. "This rich new anthology sets in motion an inter-textual conversation of remarkable vitality that will change the ways we understand gender, class, ethnicity, culture, and nation in nineteenth-century America."—Susanna Egan, author of Mirror-Talk |
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Results 1-5 of 75
Page 33
... head feels wild” She was then asked if she would have some water? She said “No: I do not feel thirsty;” but some water being procured, she was requested to drink, and did; and also ate part of an orange. Several questions were then ...
... head feels wild” She was then asked if she would have some water? She said “No: I do not feel thirsty;” but some water being procured, she was requested to drink, and did; and also ate part of an orange. Several questions were then ...
Page 43
... head bent forward, apparently from her having for a long time been accustomed to carrying heavy burdens in a strap placed across her forehead. Her complexion is very white for a woman of her age, and although the wrinkles of fourscore ...
... head bent forward, apparently from her having for a long time been accustomed to carrying heavy burdens in a strap placed across her forehead. Her complexion is very white for a woman of her age, and although the wrinkles of fourscore ...
Page 44
... head inclined downwards. For- merly her hair was of a light chestnut brown—it is now quite grey, a little curled, of middling length and tied in a bunch behind. She in- formed me that she had never worn a cap nor a comb. She speaks ...
... head inclined downwards. For- merly her hair was of a light chestnut brown—it is now quite grey, a little curled, of middling length and tied in a bunch behind. She in- formed me that she had never worn a cap nor a comb. She speaks ...
Page 45
... head she wore a piece of old brown woollen cloth made somewhat like a sun bonnet. Such was the dress that this woman was contented to wear, and habit had rendered it convenient and comfortable. She wore it not as a matter of necessity ...
... head she wore a piece of old brown woollen cloth made somewhat like a sun bonnet. Such was the dress that this woman was contented to wear, and habit had rendered it convenient and comfortable. She wore it not as a matter of necessity ...
Page 57
... heads , arms , legs , and other fragments of the bodies of some white people who had just been burnt . The parts that remained were hanging on a pole which was supported at each end by a crotch stuck in the ground , and were roasted or ...
... heads , arms , legs , and other fragments of the bodies of some white people who had just been burnt . The parts that remained were hanging on a pole which was supported at each end by a crotch stuck in the ground , and were roasted or ...
Contents
3 | |
23 | |
37 | |
3 The Life and Religious Experience of Jarena Lee1836 | 124 |
4 Selections from Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 18381839 1863 | 147 |
5 Transcription of Speech Given at the Akron Womens Rights Convention from the AntiSlavery BugleJune 21 1851 | 177 |
6 Selections from Youth from Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli 1852 | 180 |
7 Testimony Given in Canada 1855 | 202 |
The School Days of an Indian Girl 1900 | 315 |
An Indian Teacher among Indians 1900 | 328 |
Why I am a Pagan 1902 | 336 |
16 Nurslings of the Sky from The Land of Little Rain 1903 | 340 |
17 Mary MacLane Meets the Vampire on the Isle of Treacherous Delights 1910 | 347 |
18 The Promised Land from The Promised Land 1912 | 356 |
19 Lives in The Independent and the Question of Rac | 375 |
A Southern Woman | 376 |
8 A Brief Narrative of the Life of Mrs Adele M Jewel1869 Adele | 205 |
9 Selections from Her Journals 187478 | 219 |
Their Wrongs and Claims 1883 | 232 |
11 An Old Woman and Her Recollections as recorded by Thomas Savage 1877 | 243 |
12 Beginning to Work from A New England Girlhood1889 | 254 |
13 Looking Back on Girlhood 1892 | 270 |
14 The Club Movement among Colored Womenof America 1900 | 279 |
15 Sketches from The Atlantic Monthly | 298 |
Impressions of an Indian Childhood 1900 | 300 |
A northern woman | 382 |
A negro nurse | 390 |
My Flight Across the English Channel 1912 | 398 |
21 Autobiographical Essays | 405 |
Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian 1909 | 406 |
Sui Sin Far the Half Chinese Writer Tells of Her Career | 419 |
An Autobiography 1919 | 427 |
Bibliography | 447 |
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