Women's contributions to American history from 1865 to present

Women in American History

The contribution woman have made to the United States over the years is profoundly important, and probably not recognized to the degree that it should be recognized. This paper reviews and critiques the contributions of women from five periods in history: from 1865 to 1876; from 1877 to 1920; from 1921 to 1945; from 1946 to 1976; and from 1976 to the present day.

Women in America -- 1865 to 1876 -- Sojourner Truth

One of the brightest lights in the movement to free the slaves was Sojourner Truth, likely the best-known person in the abolitionist movement. She was actually very active in the movement to free the slaves before and during the Civil War, and she helped organize and lead the Underground Railroad movement. The Underground Railroad shepherded runaway slaves away from Southern slave states and up into New York State, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota and other states that welcomed them and provide jobs for them. Truth was also a traveling preacher, and became involved with the Progressive Friends, an offshoot of the Quakers, according to an article in Women in History (WIH).

During the Civil War Truth rallied behind the Union (the North) side, and helped black freed slaves become involved in the effort to defeat the South. After the Civil War, in 1867, Truth worked with freed slaves under the Freedman's Relief Association, helping freed men and women find work and a safe place to live. She also worked with the Freedman's Hospital in Washington, D.C. assisting with healthcare issues for recently freed slaves.

In 1870, Sojourner Truth began campaigning for the federal government to offer land to former slaves out west of the Mississippi River. Seven years later after not having much success, Truth gave up this campaign, and began touring on speaking engagements with her grandson Sammy Banks. However he fell ill and she developed painful ulcers on his leg. After an operation Sammy died but a veterinarian was able to remove those ulcers from Truth and she want back on her speaking tour, advocating for women's suffrage, temperance, against capital punishment and for land for freed slaves.

"She was delighted" in 1879 when many freed slaves "began migrating west and north on their own," according to WIH, p. 3. In July, 1883, with the ulcers on her legs again, she was treated in the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, who actually grafted some of his own skin onto her leg. But she died on November 26, 1883, at 86 years of age. She is currently a member of the Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York, the Women's Hall of Fame in Lansing, Michigan, a portion of the Michigan State Highway M-66 is designated the "Sojourner Truth Memorial Highway," and there are many other memorials and tributes to her for her contribution to the abolitionist movement, the temperance movement, women's suffrage and Christianity.

Women in America -- 1877 -- 1920 -- Jane Addams

Jane Addams' mother died when she was two so she was raised by her father and a stepmother. She had good leadership from her family and she graduated from Rockford Female Seminary in 1881, which was a pioneering accomplishment because she was "among the first to take a course of study equivalent to that of men at other institutions" (Lewis, 2008). When she visited the Toynbee Settlement House in London in 1888, it gave her an idea to start a settlement house in the United States. So she and her classmate and close friend Ellen Gates Starr took the old Hull mansion in Chicago and upgraded it into a settlement house for use by immigrants in the neighborhood (Lewis, p. 1).

(A settlement house, according to about.com, was one approach to social reform since it addressed directly the problems of poverty, of injustice, Jone Johnson Lewis explains. The Hull House, founded in 1889, became the best-known settlement house.)

The Hull House was a huge success, because it addressed the real needs of the neighborhood; as a result, it became an institution that had a worldwide reputation for innovation in the delivery of social and human services. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Hull House originally was opened for kindergarten classes, but soon it expanded "to include a day nursery and an infancy care center." Eventually the Hull House became a place where secondary and college-level extension classes were offered as well as "evening classes on civil rights and civic duties" (Britannica).

Using her prominence, Addams began to lecture, publish articles, and performed fundraising for other communities that wished to build settlement houses. She became heavily involved in "wider efforts for social reform, including housing and sanitation issues, factory inspection, rights of immigrants, women and children, pacifism and the 8-hour day" (Lewis, p. 1). In 1912, Addams went out and campaigned for Teddy Roosevelt, who was running on the Progressive Party ticket. Between the years 1911 and 1914, Addams was Vice President of the National Woman Suffrage Association (Lewis, p. 1).

She was also a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union and she worked hard with the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Indeed, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931 for her efforts.

Women in America -- 1877 -- 1920 -- Alice Paul

It wouldn't be a complete look at women's leadership up to 1920 without mentioning a person like Alice Paul, who was heavily involved for one year in the national American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Raised as a Quaker, a graduate of Swarthmore College, Paul worked at the New York College Settlement while attending the New York School of Social Work, according to Jone Johnson Lewis in About.com. Eventually she received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1912. After a year with the NAWSA, Paul decided a more militant approach to getting the right to vote for women was needed. So in 1913 she and others with the same sense of urgency in their minds formed the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage.

Talk about militancy, Paul was out there putting her faith and her body on the line for women's rights, and as a result she was arrested and imprisoned three times, Lewis explains on page 1. She organized street protests and rallies, and pushed for a "federal constitutional amendment for suffrage" which was counter to the goal of the NAWSA (headed by Carrie Chapman Catt), a group that was working "state-by-state as well as at the federal level" (Lewis, p. 1). After the 19th Amendment passed (giving women the right to vote) Paul got involved in the "struggle to introduce and pass an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)," Lewis explained. The ERA was passed by Congress in 1970, but did not get the number of states needed for ratification, and to this day has not been enacted.

Women in America -- 1921 -- 1945 -- Earhart, Ederle, Didrikson

The 1930s were miserable for millions of Americans due to the Great Depression, but that didn't stop women from some remarkable achievements. Amelia Earhart always knew she wanted to fly airplanes, even from the time she was a little girl. And fly airplanes she did, beginning flying lessons in 1921 and flying solo six months later, according to Women of the Century (WOC). She was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, she set speed and altitude records, and she also became the first female to fly over the Pacific Ocean (in 1935). Unfortunately, Earhart's last big "first" ended it all for her, as she attempted to fly around the world but her plane crashed somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.

Gertrude Ederle is known famously as the first woman to swim the 35 miles across the English Channel; she did it in 1926. But that was only part of her amazing feat: Ederle actually broke the men's record for crossing the English Channel by a remarkable two hours (Women of the Century). She won three medals in the 1924 Olympics, and set world records in swimming in the meantime. Later in her life she became a swimming instructor for deaf children; she related to deaf people because as a matter of fact she lost her hearing during the English Channel swim in 1926 (WOC).

Meantime, Mildred "Babe" Didrikson -- who later was named the "Woman Athlete of the Half Century in 1950 -- won two Gold Medals in Track and Field events at the 1932 summer Olympics, according to Women of the Century (WOC). In winning the Gold Medals she broke two world records. As if that wasn't enough celebrity for a woman (in a time when men's athletics took precedent over women's sports), Didrikson played professional basketball and she "even pitched a pre-season baseball game" (WOC).

Women in America -- 1946 -- 1976 -- Golda Meir

Golda Meir was born in Kiev in 1898, and her family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1906. She became involved in Zionist activities (Workers of Zion / "Poalei Zion") and moved to what was then the British Mandate called "Palestine" in 1921. She worked her way up into government and in 1948, when the United Nations created Israel as a state, the Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion appointed Meir to be a member of the Provisional Government in Israel. In 1956 she became Foreign Minister of Israel and she became Prime Minister in 1969, the third female Prime Minister in world history. Meir led Israel through the 1973 war with Egypt and Syria, and was part of the commission that later admitted they had misread Arab intentions. But she was a strong leader and represented Israel well.

Women in America -- 1976 -- Present Day

Ann Bancroft -- not the actress, but the explorer -- became the first woman to lead a dogsled expedition across the ice to the North Pole, according to Women of the Century. That was in 1986. And as if that wasn't groundbreaking enough, Bancroft led a team of four women in 1993 to the South Pole. They used dog sleds and they also skied along the way to setting this explorer's record. Subsequent to those high-profile feats, Bancroft has been active in a number of organizations that are dedicated to "helping women, girls, and others with learning and physical disabilities" (Women of the Century).

Joan Benoit is true female pathfinder / pioneer in women's sports; up through the 1980 Olympic Games the longest run for female athletes was the mile event. But in 1984, the Games offered the first marathon for women, and Benoit was one of the competitors in that high-visibility race in Los Angeles. She was 26 years old, and she won the Gold Medal that year, "becoming a national celebrity," according to the Women of the Century Website. Benoit also won the Boston Marathon and in fact set the American record in 1979, and set the world record in 1983 at Boston. The way she burst upon the scene and dominated the races opened the door -- and inspired -- many other female athletes to complete in marathons.

Conclusion

The many women referenced in this paper -- from Sojourner Truth, to Sara Baker, to Jane Addams, to Amelia Earhart, Golda Meir and the others -- set the tone, the theme, and the pace for women's liberation in many fields. Liberation in this sense means breaking out from the old prejudices and traditions to open the door for the betterment of society, and the chance for other women to succeed. A full study of pioneering women from 1865 to 2011 would take many volumes to complete, but it would be an eye-opening publication and would be worthy in any library of world history.