19th Century Feminism in America
19th Century Feminism in America
In the nineteenth century, in America, the role women would play in our society began to change dramatically. This was the beginning of a whole new world for women, and America in general. Women began to realize that there were opportunities for them outside of the home, and that they could have a place in the world as well as men. It was a time when the feministic view was being born and traditional views of women were changing. First, women would play a part in working to help slaves gain their freedom in the anti-slavery movement. They felt they could identify with the way slaves were being treated, therefore wanted to help them. Middle class women then would begin to realize that they were just the same as men, and wanted to be treated that way, and partake in the same activities. This included getting an education, working and being able to support themselves without the help of men. This changed not only the traditional roles of women in society, but also their role in the family. With women wanting the right to vote, work and go to school, middle class life as they new it would be drastically changed. Women would no longer be in the home with the children cooking and cleaning; they wanted to get out into the world. There was still an extremely long way to go before women were to be accepted in society, and this was just the beginning.
In 1830‘s, there was a radical anti-slavery movement, which demanded the cessation of slavery on the grounds that every man was the owner of himself. That is, that every human being is the only person who has jurisdiction over his or her own body. Angelina Grimke, Sarah Grimke, and Abbey Kelley were a few of the major feminists during this time. These women became the first women in America to do lecture tours before audiences, that included men, about anti-slavery. They believed that women should be grateful to slaves because giving them freedom would lead to society’s granting of women’s freedom. This made people start to see the similarities between how slaves were treated and how women were treated, and began to strike up feminist views among many people. It was evident that...