Women in the Evolution of America
What comes to mind when you picture a woman in Williamsburg? In 18th-century Virginia, women had diverse lives and experiences; while in 2021 many American women, and disproportionately women of color, have of necessity needed to re-evaluate their places in the workforce and society as a whole.
The historical primary sources listed below sometimes include depictions and stories including, but not limited to: rape, abuse, neglect, violence, and body shaming. We encourage people to prepare themselves emotionally before looking at these sources. These issues were, and continue to be, part of women’s experiences.
- The Library of Congress and the National Archives have collaborated to create a Women’s History Month website. It provides access to special exhibitions, talks, and primary sources that span the course of American history. The National Women’s History Museum’s website’s diverse and through examination of women’s history endeavors to tell the stories of all American women.
- The US House of Representatives’ History, Art, and Archives department’s website contains articles about the history of voting rights and women who have served in Congress. “Women in Congress: Historical Essays” has a narrow focus, but reflects bigger challenges that women faced.
- First published in Colonial Williamsburg’s Trend and Tradition magazine, “Her Story” is a pictorial look at women’s lives in eighteenth-century Virginia. These images include American Indian, Black, and white women navigating their way through the world. Colonial Williamsburg’s collection of eighteenth-century Virginia Gazettes provides first-hand accounts of women as widows, business owners, wives, and runaways.
- Books that are intersectional (taking multiple identities into account) in scope can provide additional insight into the women of the past. Kathleen Brown’s Good Wives, Nasty Wenches, and Anxious Patriarchs is introductory reading for Colonial Williamsburg’s historical interpreters. Brown’s book looks at the relationship between gender and race’s influence on Virginia’s power structure. For those looking for a place to start, Good Wives is a great place. Philip D. Morgan’s Slave Counterpoint is also an intersectional look at the enslaved in the Chesapeake and South Carolina. The Black enslaved women’s prospective is addressed and the geographic comparisons enriches the work. Theda Purdue’s Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture Change, 1700-1835 works to uncover the stories of Cherokee women that have been previously considered “lost.” By delving into Cherokee gender relationships, Purdue demonstrates the importance of studying Cherokee women in a wide context.
Colonial Williamsburg Blog Posts
- “To Makes End’s Meet: Working Women in the 18th Century”
- More posts about women in the 18th century