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 |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 73
Page 26
... whole, been con- soling to the friends of humanity.—From its adoption until about the year 1813, arson was punished by imprisonment in the state prison. At this time the Legislature distinguished the case of burning an inhabited ...
... whole, been con- soling to the friends of humanity.—From its adoption until about the year 1813, arson was punished by imprisonment in the state prison. At this time the Legislature distinguished the case of burning an inhabited ...
Page 33
... whole surrounded by marshals and con- stables with their staff's of office. When the last of the officers entered, the troops closed the square. The concourse of spectators in the street was so great that it was with the utmost ...
... whole surrounded by marshals and con- stables with their staff's of office. When the last of the officers entered, the troops closed the square. The concourse of spectators in the street was so great that it was with the utmost ...
Page 35
... whole neighbourhood? Admitting that this be done from a principle of private revenge against the owner or occupant of the dwelling for a real or supposed offence: is it not in contempt of the laws of his country which stand ready to re ...
... whole neighbourhood? Admitting that this be done from a principle of private revenge against the owner or occupant of the dwelling for a real or supposed offence: is it not in contempt of the laws of his country which stand ready to re ...
Page 40
... whole a mere caricature, that can be examined only with disgust and regret. Such pictures, however, are profitable, for “by others' faults wise men correct their own.” The following is a piece of biography, that shows what changes may ...
... whole a mere caricature, that can be examined only with disgust and regret. Such pictures, however, are profitable, for “by others' faults wise men correct their own.” The following is a piece of biography, that shows what changes may ...
Page 42
... whole country around her was inhabited by a rich and respectable people, principally from New- England, as much distinguished for their spirit of inquisitiveness as for their habits of industry and honesty, who had all heard from one ...
... whole country around her was inhabited by a rich and respectable people, principally from New- England, as much distinguished for their spirit of inquisitiveness as for their habits of industry and honesty, who had all heard from one ...
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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Common terms and phrases
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