Female Voices of 1865-1912
Abstract In this essay I will discuss and analyze the social forces that influenced American women writers of the period of 1865 to 1912. I will describe the specific roles female authors played in this period and explain how the perspectives of female authors differed from their male contemporaries.
INTRODUCTION As the United States was continuing recovering from the Civil War and embracing the expansion of the West, industrialization, immigration and the growth of cities, women’s roles in America were changing by the transformation of this new society. During the period of 1865-1912, women found themselves challenging to break the political structure, power holders, cultural practices and beliefs in their “male” dominated world. After the Fifteenth Amendment gave African American men the right to vote, women groups say the amendment betrayed the efforts of racial equality and equality of the sexes. Women now realize they have restricted rights no matter what their social status, economic standing, cultural history, or political connections were. Through organizations such as the American Women’s Suffrage Association and The Women’s Christian Temperance Union gave all women the advocating platform for women’s rights.
The industrial revolution gave direction for national literature with new themes, forms, subjects, regions, authors and audiences. Through magazines, newspapers and journals opportunities occurred that created a large new female voice of writers for women. Baym (2008) states: “Women from many social groups, African Americans, Native Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, and immigrants began to write for publication, and a rapidly growing market for their work helped confirm authorship as a possible career” (p.4). Baym (2008) also states: “For many women writers, magazines provided an important public forum in which to explore new views of women and women’s rights” (p. 5). “Without the periodicals, many writers would not have been
INTRODUCTION As the United States was continuing recovering from the Civil War and embracing the expansion of the West, industrialization, immigration and the growth of cities, women’s roles in America were changing by the transformation of this new society. During the period of 1865-1912, women found themselves challenging to break the political structure, power holders, cultural practices and beliefs in their “male” dominated world. After the Fifteenth Amendment gave African American men the right to vote, women groups say the amendment betrayed the efforts of racial equality and equality of the sexes. Women now realize they have restricted rights no matter what their social status, economic standing, cultural history, or political connections were. Through organizations such as the American Women’s Suffrage Association and The Women’s Christian Temperance Union gave all women the advocating platform for women’s rights.
The industrial revolution gave direction for national literature with new themes, forms, subjects, regions, authors and audiences. Through magazines, newspapers and journals opportunities occurred that created a large new female voice of writers for women. Baym (2008) states: “Women from many social groups, African Americans, Native Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, and immigrants began to write for publication, and a rapidly growing market for their work helped confirm authorship as a possible career” (p.4). Baym (2008) also states: “For many women writers, magazines provided an important public forum in which to explore new views of women and women’s rights” (p. 5). “Without the periodicals, many writers would not have been
References: Baym, Nina (2008). The Norton Anthology of American Literature. : New York, NY, W. W. Norton Company, Inc. Cowen, Ruth Schwartz .l976c "Two Washes in the Morning and a Bridge Party at Night: The American Housewife Between the Wars," Women 's Studies, 3 (l976) l47-l72. 1974.