Women in the 19th Century: Crash Course US History #16

2013-05-23

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In which John Green finally gets around to talking about some women's history. In the 19th Century, the United States was changing rapidly, as we noted in the recent Market Revolution and Reform Movements episodes. Things were also in a state of flux for women. The reform movements, which were in large part driven by women, gave these self-same women the idea that they could work on their own behalf, and radically improve the state of their own lives. So, while these women were working on prison reform, education reform, and abolition, they also started talking about equal rights, universal suffrage, temperance, and fair pay. Women like Susan B. Anthony, Carry Nation, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the Grimkés, and Lucretia Mott strove tirelessly to improve the lot of American women, and it worked, eventually. John will teach you about the Christian Temperance Union, the Seneca Falls Convention, the Declaration of Sentiments, and a whole bunch of other stuff that made life better for women.

Hey teachers and students - Check out CommonLit's free collection of reading passages and curriculum resources to learn more about the events of this episode. Few women were as vocal for women's rights during the 19th century as Susan B. Anthony: https://www.commonlit.org/texts/the-life-s-work-of-susan-b-anthony

Anthony worked for women's right to vote alongside great women like Sojourner Truth, who stressed the importance of intersectional feminism in her influential “Ain't I a Woman?” Speech: https://www.commonlit.org/texts/ain-t-i-a-woman

Chapters:

Introduction: How Women Transformed Pre-Civil War America 00:00

Women's Experience During Colonial America 0:59

Women's Participation in the Political Process 1:35

Women's Participation in the Market Revolution 2:49

Mystery Document 3:46

Women's Opportunities for Work 4:52

Women's Participation in Reform Movements 5:40

Women's Suffrage 7:24

Women in the Abolitionist Movement 8:04

Opposition to Women's Rights 8:56

The Suffragettes 9:36