Civil War Memory

Ida B. Wells, Lynching, and the Burning of Black Bodies

My Women's History course is progressing nicely.  We are currently exploring the experiences of women in the post-Civil War era with much of our attention focused on the split over the wording of the 15th Amendment between the National Women's Suffrage Association and American Women's Suffrage Association.  We looked at Susan B. Anthony's famous New York trial over her decision to vote in the 1872 presidential election based on the "New Departure" theory along with the 1876 Supreme Court case of Minor v. Happersett. 

Today we examined the experiences of black women during Reconstruction and into the Jim Crow era with a focus on the exposes written by Ida B. Wells on lynchings in the South.  We read a short selection from her autobiography which describes her introduction to the horrors of lynchings and the realization that many of these cases involved accusations of black men raping white women.  Wells found it ironic that white men were so concerned about interracial sexual conflict given the history of sexual relations between the slave owner and female slave.  We discussed the difficulty, which Wells references, for white men to acknowledge that white women may have been sexually attracted to black men and what that meant in a Jim Crow society.  It was a very interesting discussion and one that I hope we can continue tomorrow.  What prompted this post, however, is a question that one of my students asked which I could not answer satisfactorily.  She asked why so many lynchings ended with the burning of the body.  Can anyone help?  I've looked through a few sources, including Fitz Brundage's study, but I am not having any luck. 

[I should note that the above image was taken in Omaha, Nebraska.]

Thanks for a Wonderful Semester

Today was the last day with my Women's History class.  Over the next two weeks students will be conducting oral interviews and using their transcripts to write a short essay that places the interview within a historical context.  I was hoping to come up with a final project that would bridge the gap between historical studies of women and the women in these student's lives.  The original idea was to give the students an opportunity to spend time with their mothers or another close female member of the family.  I think it is important that we learn as much as possible about our parents while we have the opportunity.  My hope is that the readings in the course will fuel a lively interview and lead to even more communication between mother and daughter or whomever is interviewed.   

To say that I enjoyed the experience this semester would be an understatement.  I wanted to give myself a new teaching challenge and force myself to learn a new body of historical literature.  The material bridged both history and gender studies, and along the way the class worked on a number of interesting individual projects.   The most exciting part of the course was having the opportunity to talk with a mature and motivated group of young women.  They taught me as much, if not more, than the material we read together or anything that I taught them.  One class in particular stood out in which we discussed the concept of the "Beauty Myth" by Naomi Wolff and its continued presence and influence in society today.  Students' level of maturity allowed the class to move easily through distant history as well as more controversial - and at times uncomfortable - issues relating to identity and sexuality.  As the only male in the room I appreciate their willingness to work through some of the more uncomfortable subject matter.

The success of the course and the level of student interest made it easy to decide to offer it again next spring.  I recently learned that at least three boys are already registered; this will surely add a much needed perspective to class discussions.

To my students: Thanks everyone for reminding me why I love to teach.  I wish all of you the best in your future endeavors.  Use the gift of a college education to reflect on the big questions and on those things that will serve to make your lives both joyful and rewarding.  I was reminded this semester of the enormous role that luck plays in how we live our lives.  Only a few decades ago most young women your age would be contemplating a very different future.  Take advantage of this and whatever you do make sure that you continue to push those walls that work to limit opportunity. 

Gender and the Civil Rights Movement

My Women's History course is moving along nicely.  This past week we discussed issues relating to black feminism and the Civil Rights Movement.  I offered a few reflections yesterday morning on our tendency to see the Civil Rights Movement along gendered lines.  Most of our images are indeed centered on men such as Martin L. King, Malcolm X, Stokeley Carmichael, etc.  I suggested that even the prominent place of Rosa Parks in our national narrative is in part a result of the fact that it led to King's emergence as a national leader.  Would we remember Parks if her arrest was not followed by a city-wide boycott of the buses?  I enjoyed our discussions because it gave me a chance to think a bit more about the connection between gender and race as factors in how our national narrative has been constructed throughout much of the twentieth century.  I've never thought much before this class about how gender has shaped our understanding of this particular event.  Luckily our textbook does a fabulous job of providing an overview of both black and white women and the issues that they faced in various organizations such as the NAACP, SNCC, and the SCLC.  I supplemented the text with a few readings including a primary document authored by Mary King who reported on the position of women in SNCC in 1964.  We also discussed a short article by Beverly Guy-Sheftall titled "African American Women: The Legacy of Black Feminism" which is contained in a collection edited by Robin Morgan called Sisterhood Forever: The Women's Anthology for a New Millennium.

Specific women that were discussed include Ella Baker who was active in the NAACP and was later appointed "acting" executive director of the SCLC.  She was one of the founders of SNCC following the Greensboro sit-ins and organized numerous voter registration drives throughout the South.  Diane Nash also worked with SNCC and organized the Nashville sit-ins; she is best known for pushing for  continued Freedom Rides following the violence of Anniston and Birmingham in 1961.  One of the most interesting stories for me involves Fannie Lou Hamer who grew up on a large cotton plantation.  Although she only managed to work through the sixth grade Hamer eventually joined SNCC and succeeded in registering to vote in 1963: "We just got to stand up now as Negroes for ourselves and for our freedom, and if it don't do me any good, I do know the young people it will do good."  Hamer organized voter registration drives in Mississippi.  She died in 1977 as a result of a brutal 1963 beating she received as a result of her political activism.  We also talked about the challenges posed by the presence of white women in these organizations such as Virginia Foster Durr and Anne Braden. 

The final group of women we discussed were those who took the initiative to break the  color barrier in colleges and universities throughout the South.  They include Autherine Lucy who became the first black student to be admitted to the University of Alabama in 1956.  She was expelled three days later "for her own protection" against threats from white students.  Seven years later Vivian Malone and another male black student were admitted to the school.  Charlayne Hunter took the important step of integrating the University of Georgia in 1961.  There are, of course, others. 

One of the interesting questions for discussion centered on the unique challenges that being both black and a woman posed for those interested in political activism in the 1960s.  Mary King states the following in her evaluation of SNCC in 1964: "Most men in this movement are probably too threatened by the possibility of serious discussion on this subject.  Perhaps this is because they have recently broken away from a matriarchal framework under which they may have grown up."  Guy-Sheftall lists a number of points in an attempt to show that the perspective and challenges of black women in America are unique, and as a result, cannot be ignored:

1. Black women experience a special kind of oppression in this country, one that is both racist and sexist, because of their dual racial and gender identities.

2. This "double jeopardy" has meant that the problems, concerns, and needs of black women are different in many ways from those of both white women and black men.

3. Black women's unique struggles with respect to racial and sexual politics, their poverty, and their marginalized status have given them a particular view of the world.

Next week we move on to women and education.  I plan to show the movie Mona Lisa Smiles.  Now don't think tha I've sold out as I plan to use it as one perspective on this topic.  We will read some primary sources as well as excerpts from Lynn Peril's book, College Girls: Bluestockings, Sex Kittens, and Coeds, Then and Now. 

Mary Anna Randolf Custis: Artist

Apparently the wife of General Robert E. Lee painted one of the family's slave girls around 1830.  From the Washington Post article:

Before Mrs. Lee gave the portrait to West Point cadet James Ewell Brown Stuart, class of 1854, while her husband was commandant, she inscribed "Topsy" on the dress in pencil, a reference to the slave child in Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin." The novel roiled the conscience of abolitionists such as Mrs. Lee, who had earlier defied strictures against teaching slaves to read.  According to historical background provided by the gallery, Stuart pasted the watercolor onto the back of a drawing of a cavalry soldier on horseback slashing a watermelon with his sword.  "Whether the attachment was a conscious act or whether Stuart was oblivious to its meaning, it fails to diminish the significance of pairing an innocent slave with the highly trained soldier a few years before the outbreak of war," the documentation says.  The real name of the child in the portrait isn't recorded, but she is known to have been one of the slaves at the 1,100-acre Custis family plantation spread out along the Potomac River within view of Washington, D.C.

The painting went on sale in January for $400,000 and was purchased more recently by Colonial Williamsburg for an undisclosed amount. 

Iron Jawed Angels

Last week my Women's History class viewed the movie Iron Jawed Angels which focuses on Alice Paul and Nancy Burns and their work to help bring about 19th Amendment to the Constitution.  Overall I enjoyed the movie and more importantly my students enjoyed it. 

In 1913 Burns (right) and Paul (left) convinced the leadership of the National American Womens Suffrage Association (NAWSA) to set up an office in Washington D.C. and push for a federal amendment.  One of their first organized events was a march down Pennsylvania Avenue on March 3, 1914 - the day before Woodrow Wilson's inauguration.  Paul required black suffragists from Howard University to march at the back of the parade, and the parade itself ended in violent confrontation with protesters.  Within a few weeks the suffrage amendment had been reintroduced in the House of Representatives after seventeen years.  One of the more controversial decisions made by Paul  was to ask women in western states who already possessed the right to vote to refuse to vote for candidates who did not support the amendment; this led to a break with NAWSA and the founding of the National Women's Party (NWP) in 1916.  That same year NWP members traveled throughout the western states to convince women not to support Wilson's reelection.  During WWI the NWP campaigned openly against the war by protesting in front of the White House and using the president's own language of "making the world safe for Democracy" against him.  Protesters, including Paul and Burns were eventually arrested for violating a traffic ordnance and jailed.  While in jail both women took part in a hunger strike - tactics which were learned and utilized while in England.  The work of the NWP and NAWSA eventually led to the passing of a constitutional amendment and ratification by the states.

The movie did a few things that I really like.  Arguably the most important theme in the movie is that it portrays women as feminine.  I was very surprised when I introduced this class last year only to learn that a substantial number of my female students were turned off by the idea of studying "manly women."  The movie attempts to correct this bias by including scenes of women putting on make- and getting dressed.  There is even a scene where Hilary Swank (who plays Alice Paul) is enjoying a hot bath while thinking about a certain male newspaper cartoonist.  I won't go any further and I have to say that it was just a little uncomfortable as I watched this with 11 girls.  That said, I pointed it out the next day as a way to correct some of these assumptions about the suffragists that continue to shape our perceptions.  The music was also very effective.  While the movie utilizes the sounds of the time a modern groove kicks in when the characters are engaged in suffrage activities.  My guess is that the music is suggestive that these women are ahead of their time or modern. 

Some of my students were clearly moved by the story; in fact one student let the entire class know at one point that she was "so pissed off."  The scenes involving the forced-feeding of Alice Paul while in jail were difficult to watch, but it is important for students to understand what was involved in the steps that led to the right of women to vote throughout the nation.  All in all this is an excellent movie for high school students.  I do think it is important to frame the movie around a selection of primary sources and a rich historical context that helps viewers understand the difficulities and challenges that these women faced.

Today we examined the experiences of black middle class women at the turn of the century.  I want to make sure that my students have a broad understanding of women's history, to understand that their stories look very different depending on race and class.   

Women's History Course: A Brief Assessment

Snow Day!!!!

I am three weeks into my women's history course and enjoying it a great deal.  I have 11 female students, all but two are seniors.  While the course is grounded in history I am trying to mix up the readings a bit to include both gender and feminist studies.  Since this is my first time teaching the course I am learning as I go.  More importantly I am learning a great deal from my students.  Teaching on the high school level leaves you with the impression that girls as a group are more mature than boys.  This class has already given me a clearer sense of just how true this is.  High School girls are able to talk more openly about certain issues and they listen more intently to one another.  What I am most pleased about is that a good number of my students are taking advantage of the opportunity to discuss and research issues that are already on their mind.  It's as if the content of the course is teasing out ideas and thoughts that are already there. 

We started the first week by reading a short introduction on the language of gender and the reasoning behind a class on women's history.  We talked about the importance of understanding how women fit into American history and what it means that for so long they were ignored.  The class explored the first chapter of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique and wrote a concise overview of "the problem that has no name."  Last week we started working with the textbook, which is well written, thorough, and organized around an excellent collection of different types of primary sources.  We started with the post-Civil War period and the split of the women's movement into the NWSA and AWSA over the 15th Amendment as well as the entrance of women into the work force by the end of the twentieth century.  I have two black students in the class so I want to make sure to address issues that touch on the roles of black women in American history.  Luckily our textbook does an excellent job of covering issues that are specific to black women. I consider myself fairly well educated in the field of American history.  I teach the AP classes and I have a pretty solid grasp of the important secondary texts.  That said, I had no idea just how much I was missing before starting this class.  Interesting people are emerging as well as important Supreme Court Cases, and the way I understand what I already know is being enriched.  What more could I ask for? 

This week we started our first project.  My class is exploring the concept of masculinity at the turn of the twentieth century in the form of images of Theodore Roosevelt.  I handed out a packet of images of Roosevelt during the Spanish-American War as well as images of him in connection with the Panama Canal and his role as Trust-Buster.  As we move through Roosevelt images that highlight the importance of the "strenuous life" or extreme masculinity the students can draw comparisons with how women are depicted in the outdoors.  I found some very interesting images of  bicycle advertisements that include women as well as images of women playing tennis and other sports.  The images attempt to strike a balance between play and maintaining accepted feminine qualities.  Students are required to write a 3-page essay based on their own interpretations of the sources.  As most of them are seniors I want to give them as much latitude as possible in developing their own thesis statements.   Next week we will jump to the suffrage movement and explore the steps that led to the 19th Amendment.  I plan to show the movie Iron Jawed Angels and have the students explore other primary sources from both well known and more obscure women who took part in the movement.  I would love to hear other suggestions for movies that would be appropriate for this class. 

While I have a general outline of what I want to cover in this course specific topics along with the relevant primary and secondary readings are still up in the air.  As we into the twentieth century I hope to introduce the class to a combination of historical as well as feminist studies.  Over the summer I read Naomi Wolf's The Beauty Myth along with a wonderful collection of essays by Gloria Steinem titled Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions.  It includes the classic essay "I Was a Playboy Bunny."  While I've enjoyed these books I am having a hell of a time making my way through Susan Faludi's Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women.  She offers a scathing argument against the "infertility epidemic" said to strike professional women who postpone childbearing; Faludi concludes that this is largely a media invention.  I also want to introduce the class to essays written by women that challenge the agenda of the feminist movement. 

I am already thinking about what electives I might offer next year. While I am thoroughly enjoying the focus on women's history I will probably be expected to teach the Civil War course once again.  One possibility may be to offer a Civil War course that focuses specifically on women's experiences; the focus would be on the antebellum, war, and postwar periods.  I've also been playing around with a more creative approach that involves locating a diary or set of letters from a woman/sisters who lived here in Charlottesville/central Virginia during the war years.  I would focus the class on local history and have them help me prepare the archival material for publication.  Students would have their names connected to the final publication.  I know that John M. Priest utilized this approach on the high school level some years ago.  His students contributed to the editing of a unit history authored by Sergeant William H. Reylea.  It's an interesting idea and would make for a truly unique high school experience.  For now it is enough that I am enjoying this experience and learning a great deal.

You've Been Warned

Tomorrow I start my spring elective course on women's history.  I am very excited and also a bit nervous.  For the past four years I've offered slightly different versions of a course on the Civil War.  This year I wanted to try something new and give myself a little challenge because it's important for teachers to see themselves as students every so often.  I have 11 girls registered for the course, but unfortunately no boys.  Right off the bat it looks like a case of gender construction at work: young men don't take courses about women's history.  While we lose valuable perspective in not having any boys in the class I am looking forward to the opportunity to think through questions about how assumptions about gender have changed and what it means to do women's history.

I've ordered an excellent textbook that includes a nice collection of primary sources as well as Betty Friedan's classic 1963 study The Feminine Mystique.  We are going to start off with some of the basics, including the distinction between sex/biology and gender construction and then we will jump right in and read the first chapter of Friedan and an examination of the "problem that has no name."  My guess is that most high school students are not introduced to a mature reading of women's history especially if they are using even slightly outdated textbooks.  My AP students who are using Eric Foner's new text are getting a heavy dose and he does an excellent job integrating this sub-theme into the broader narrative.  My regular survey courses use the most recent edition of the standard text The American Pageant originally authored by Thomas Bailey.  In the first few editions Bailey devoted 21 out of 1,000 pages to women and managed to mention only 48 by name.  Of those 48 seven were not American women and an additional six were mentioned only in the context of their relationships to presidents.  Eleanor Roosevelt was not mentioned at all along with Margaret Sanger and Jane Addams.  And when Bailey described women who demanded their right to control their own property, retain custody of their children or call for the right to vote he characterized them as a "belligerent bevy of female agitators" and "fiery females." (p. 366).  When it came to male "agitators" like Thomas Jefferson Bailey described him as a "brilliant writer" and reform President Woodrow Wilson as a "moving orator" and "idealist."   p. 115 and p. 730). 

One of the reasons I am so interested in gender/women's history is that it has so much in common with the historiography of race and slavery.  Like African-American history, women's history is relatively new and I suspect that this has much to do with the increase in the number of programs of study introduced into colleges and universities and the increase in the number of women and African-American scholars that have entered the job market since the mid-1960's.  This also raises interesting questions about power and hierarchy.  It is not surprising that most Americans still have a distorted view of slavery and race given that most histories of the histories were written by white men up until relatively recently.  The same can be said about the place or absence of women in our collective memory.  My goal is to emphasize women as agents of change in American history by looking at both prominent individuals and the lives of ordinary women.  More importantly I want my students to see themselves as historically constructed around ideas of gender.  They are part of the ongoing story.  This class will hopefully give them the opportunity to step back and question the assumptions that have guided them thus far: What does it mean to be a woman at the beginning of the 21st century?

I love the fact that I still don't know much about this subject.  On the one hand I get to guide the class through some interesting literature, but at the same time I am looking forward to having the students teaching me something new.  So, don't be surprised if you see a post on this subject from time to time.