18. Women and the Great Depression
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The Great Depression brought a new era of economic reform headed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Although these reforms mainly helped men who were dispositioned, leaving women to fight for themselves. Women entered new job forces and faced struggles men didn't have. They were expected to maintain their houses and families but also work in offices. While also not taking away from a mans chance to provide for his family.
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Frances Perkins
Library Of Congress
In the years between World War I and World War II, the entire world suffered through one of the greatest economic disasters of the 20th century: The Great Depression. In the United States, this period of uncertainty would prompt some of the greatest attempts on the part of the federal government to provide economic relief to its citizens. However, gender ideologies deeply impacted how that relief was carried out.
On October 29, 1929, later referred to as “Black Tuesday,” the Stock Market crashed. Within hours, billions of dollars of market value disappeared. The US, and the rest of the world, found itself in the midst of one of the greatest economic catastrophes in modern history. After Black Tuesday came years of hard times for the United States, but the country hit its low point between 1932 and 1933. Unemployment had reached 25%. President Hoover’s inaction and philosophy of pulling oneself up from their bootstraps, led to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s landslide victory in the 1932 election. Struggling Americans were about to see more federal action.
President Roosevelt did not have a plan to tackle the Depression when he was elected to office, but he filled his cabinet with a variety of progressives--also known as FDR’s “Brain Trust”--who he believed would help shape an effective policy--including the first woman ever to serve in a presidential cabinet: Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor. It’s extremely likely people were confused by her title and she was probably mistaken for a typing secretary at least once, but progress is progress.
Perkins was a labor rights activist who had previously volunteered at Chicago’s Hull House and served as head of the New York office of the National Consumers’ League. The Depression’s impact on Americans’ everyday lives cannot be overstated. Because of the ultra-high unemployment rates, most Americans found themselves out of work or underemployed. But for women? The Depression’s effects were compounded by existing gender ideologies. That sounds familiar, doesn’t it? A cultural problem that’s generally harder on women because of sexism?
On October 29, 1929, later referred to as “Black Tuesday,” the Stock Market crashed. Within hours, billions of dollars of market value disappeared. The US, and the rest of the world, found itself in the midst of one of the greatest economic catastrophes in modern history. After Black Tuesday came years of hard times for the United States, but the country hit its low point between 1932 and 1933. Unemployment had reached 25%. President Hoover’s inaction and philosophy of pulling oneself up from their bootstraps, led to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s landslide victory in the 1932 election. Struggling Americans were about to see more federal action.
President Roosevelt did not have a plan to tackle the Depression when he was elected to office, but he filled his cabinet with a variety of progressives--also known as FDR’s “Brain Trust”--who he believed would help shape an effective policy--including the first woman ever to serve in a presidential cabinet: Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor. It’s extremely likely people were confused by her title and she was probably mistaken for a typing secretary at least once, but progress is progress.
Perkins was a labor rights activist who had previously volunteered at Chicago’s Hull House and served as head of the New York office of the National Consumers’ League. The Depression’s impact on Americans’ everyday lives cannot be overstated. Because of the ultra-high unemployment rates, most Americans found themselves out of work or underemployed. But for women? The Depression’s effects were compounded by existing gender ideologies. That sounds familiar, doesn’t it? A cultural problem that’s generally harder on women because of sexism?
Women Working, Living New Deal
Here’s the scoop: most women felt increased family pressures as they tried to make due with reduced income, plus most women still had their childrearing household obligations, and many of the opportunities that the federal government offered to aid American citizens were closed off to them. Regardless, many women’s ability to earn a wage--in whatever capacity they could--was often essential to helping their families get through this challenging time.
In his first 100 days in office, FDR’s priority was to confront the banking crisis. Decent start, but his actions weren’t enough. Congress had to pass laws and create agencies to stimulate the economy, build up infrastructure, put Americans to work, and boost morale. His critics were scathing in their reviews.
Most Americans are familiar with some of these “Alphabet Agencies,” like the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps), the PWA (Public Works Administration), and the WPA (Works Progress Administration). These agencies were A-OK. But, for real, super helpful agencies! They were critically important to stabilizing the economy! Their downside? Many explicitly excluded women.
The CCC, one of the most well-known, and well-studied agencies of the New Deal, only hired young men between the ages of 17 and 23. The Civil Works Administration (CWA) was a little more lax--but they still almost exclusively hired men. Because of existing gender ideologies, women’s roles were mostly limited to those of housewife and mother. Consequently, those in positions of power didn’t really consider women in an economic recovery package, and many of the New Deal programs were not initially directed at them.
In his first 100 days in office, FDR’s priority was to confront the banking crisis. Decent start, but his actions weren’t enough. Congress had to pass laws and create agencies to stimulate the economy, build up infrastructure, put Americans to work, and boost morale. His critics were scathing in their reviews.
Most Americans are familiar with some of these “Alphabet Agencies,” like the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps), the PWA (Public Works Administration), and the WPA (Works Progress Administration). These agencies were A-OK. But, for real, super helpful agencies! They were critically important to stabilizing the economy! Their downside? Many explicitly excluded women.
The CCC, one of the most well-known, and well-studied agencies of the New Deal, only hired young men between the ages of 17 and 23. The Civil Works Administration (CWA) was a little more lax--but they still almost exclusively hired men. Because of existing gender ideologies, women’s roles were mostly limited to those of housewife and mother. Consequently, those in positions of power didn’t really consider women in an economic recovery package, and many of the New Deal programs were not initially directed at them.
FERA Camp, History.com
Some women did get to take advantage of New Deal programs--mostly via the Works Progress Administration. Some of the best-known WPA projects were federal artistic projects like theater, music, dance, murals, and historical or tourist guidebooks. However, even at the program’s peak, women only represented about 14% of WPA employees.
Generally, women were limited to jobs that fit within existing gender ideologies. They were considered unsuitable for physically-demanding jobs like heavy construction. In Federal Emergency Relief Administration (or FERA) Camps, women’s work included canning foods, sewing, producing clothes and mattresses, or working as housekeeping aides for families in need of additional help. Of course, these gender limitations on women were compounded with racial stereotypes. For example, most of the FERA employees who worked as housekeeping aides were African American women.
It’s difficult to measure the New Deal’s impact on women, when--essentially--the New Deal wasn’t written for them, or with them in mind. Between 1932 and 1937, there were laws against more than one person per married couple working for the federal civil service. Meaning if both parties of a couple were earning that sweet sweet New Deal cash, they’d have to decide who would quit their job between them. Since the National Recovery Administration set lower minimum wages for women than men performing the same jobs it rarely made sense for women to keep their jobs over their husbands’ higher paying work.
Generally, women were limited to jobs that fit within existing gender ideologies. They were considered unsuitable for physically-demanding jobs like heavy construction. In Federal Emergency Relief Administration (or FERA) Camps, women’s work included canning foods, sewing, producing clothes and mattresses, or working as housekeeping aides for families in need of additional help. Of course, these gender limitations on women were compounded with racial stereotypes. For example, most of the FERA employees who worked as housekeeping aides were African American women.
It’s difficult to measure the New Deal’s impact on women, when--essentially--the New Deal wasn’t written for them, or with them in mind. Between 1932 and 1937, there were laws against more than one person per married couple working for the federal civil service. Meaning if both parties of a couple were earning that sweet sweet New Deal cash, they’d have to decide who would quit their job between them. Since the National Recovery Administration set lower minimum wages for women than men performing the same jobs it rarely made sense for women to keep their jobs over their husbands’ higher paying work.
Frances Perkins, Library of Congress
Now hang on--what about our cabinet queen Frances Perkins?! Remember, she was the Secretary of Labor. How did the first female presidential cabinet member feel about this?
Well, it’s complicated. Surprisingly, Perkins shared some of the same anti-work for women views as many of her male colleagues--particularly for married women. At one point, she even said:
“the woman ‘pin-money worker’ who competes with the necessity worker is a menace to society, a selfish, shortsighted creature, who ought to be ashamed of herself.”
“Menace?” “Creature?” Are you describing some nice lady named Deborah trying to make ends meet with a part time job or a demonic woodland goblin? While Perkins’ statement might sound like an indictment against women workers, she was mostly opposed to married women who held jobs. Perkins also said:
“I am not willing to encourage those who are under no economic necessities to compete with their charm and education, their superior advantages, against the working girl who has only her two hands.”
Basically Perkins believed if women were married, ideally, they wouldn’t need to work. Their husbands should provide for them. However, if women were alone, they needed the ability to earn a decent living to protect themselves.
Perkins certainly wasn’t the only one displeased with working women. The targeting of women workers was broad scapegoating. Traditionally “women’s jobs” were less connected to the stock market, and less affected by its crash, than, say: coal mining or manufacturing. So while many men were losing their jobs, women in some “women’s industries” simply weren’t! This point was lost on many, though. Journalist Norman Cousins once wrote, “Simply fire the women, who shouldn’t be working anyway, and hire the men. Presto! No unemployment. No relief rolls. No Depression.” Cousins’ short-sighted comment ignored that a coal miner or steel worker couldn’t (or wouldn’t) exactly fit the job requirements of a clerical worker or nurse.
Well, it’s complicated. Surprisingly, Perkins shared some of the same anti-work for women views as many of her male colleagues--particularly for married women. At one point, she even said:
“the woman ‘pin-money worker’ who competes with the necessity worker is a menace to society, a selfish, shortsighted creature, who ought to be ashamed of herself.”
“Menace?” “Creature?” Are you describing some nice lady named Deborah trying to make ends meet with a part time job or a demonic woodland goblin? While Perkins’ statement might sound like an indictment against women workers, she was mostly opposed to married women who held jobs. Perkins also said:
“I am not willing to encourage those who are under no economic necessities to compete with their charm and education, their superior advantages, against the working girl who has only her two hands.”
Basically Perkins believed if women were married, ideally, they wouldn’t need to work. Their husbands should provide for them. However, if women were alone, they needed the ability to earn a decent living to protect themselves.
Perkins certainly wasn’t the only one displeased with working women. The targeting of women workers was broad scapegoating. Traditionally “women’s jobs” were less connected to the stock market, and less affected by its crash, than, say: coal mining or manufacturing. So while many men were losing their jobs, women in some “women’s industries” simply weren’t! This point was lost on many, though. Journalist Norman Cousins once wrote, “Simply fire the women, who shouldn’t be working anyway, and hire the men. Presto! No unemployment. No relief rolls. No Depression.” Cousins’ short-sighted comment ignored that a coal miner or steel worker couldn’t (or wouldn’t) exactly fit the job requirements of a clerical worker or nurse.
Eleanor Roosevelt, Library of Congress
The New Deal’s effect on women cannot just be determined by job quotas or gendered minimum wages. The Social Security Act--one of the landmark pieces of New Deal legislation--and the Fair Labor Standards Act did not initially even cover sectors of employment where women were disproportionately represented: agricultural work and domestic service. Furthermore, women who were not dependent on men got fewer Social Security benefits. This weird program structure seemed to suggest women deserved economic rights only in relation to men. They were often forced to take on more central roles within their homes and families--playing unrecognized roles in helping the country through the Great Depression. Or, they were working for less money than male peers and possibly being despised just for having jobs at all. Although the Depression was a time for many strong women to step up to the plate in their homes and workplaces, ultimately, the Depression did not subvert traditional gender roles--it reinforced them.
However, in 1933, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt wrote It’s Up to the Women. This was really the first time a first lady took action to speak on a current crisis. Women were rarely in positions of power to speak out, so Eleanor Roosevelt’s actions were quite modern and reshaped our expectations for White House First Ladies.
In It’s Up to the Women, Roosevelt provided a handbook for women during the Great Depression. It was inspirational at times, but mostly, it was practical. It provided inexpensive meal plans, recipes, instructions, and most importantly put forward the idea that women did have power to shape their homes and their destinies. She believed these trying times would just help women forge strong characters. She wrote, “The women know that life must go on and that the needs of life must be met and it is their courage and determination which, time and again, have pulled us through worse crises than the present one.”
Translation? “Ladies, we’ve been through some stuff. If we made it through that, we can make it through this depression.” That said, it’s important to remember, as we’ve already touched on, women’s experiences of this hard time varied greatly based on my factors. Women’s age, marital status, geographic location, race, and ethnicity all affected how complicated a woman’s chance at surviving difficult Depression circumstances were. For example, an urban housewife with electricity and running water might have been struggling, but she arguably still had an easier time than a similarly struggling rural woman...who also had to deal with the lack of these conveniences.
However, in 1933, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt wrote It’s Up to the Women. This was really the first time a first lady took action to speak on a current crisis. Women were rarely in positions of power to speak out, so Eleanor Roosevelt’s actions were quite modern and reshaped our expectations for White House First Ladies.
In It’s Up to the Women, Roosevelt provided a handbook for women during the Great Depression. It was inspirational at times, but mostly, it was practical. It provided inexpensive meal plans, recipes, instructions, and most importantly put forward the idea that women did have power to shape their homes and their destinies. She believed these trying times would just help women forge strong characters. She wrote, “The women know that life must go on and that the needs of life must be met and it is their courage and determination which, time and again, have pulled us through worse crises than the present one.”
Translation? “Ladies, we’ve been through some stuff. If we made it through that, we can make it through this depression.” That said, it’s important to remember, as we’ve already touched on, women’s experiences of this hard time varied greatly based on my factors. Women’s age, marital status, geographic location, race, and ethnicity all affected how complicated a woman’s chance at surviving difficult Depression circumstances were. For example, an urban housewife with electricity and running water might have been struggling, but she arguably still had an easier time than a similarly struggling rural woman...who also had to deal with the lack of these conveniences.
Charlotta Bass, Wikimedia Commons
The typical married woman in the 1930s had a husband who was still employed, but who likely took a pay cut or reduced hours to keep his job. If he had lost his job, often the family had enough resources to survive without going on relief or losing all their possessions. Nearly every woman, rich or poor, faced a reduction in income.
For some women, though, this reduction of income and the effects of the Depression were more extreme than others. Many Black Americans obviously experienced the Depression differently than white people. Many of them were already struggling under the yoke of discrimination and prejudice. Even before Black Tuesday, Black Americans had way fewer job options than white people. Times were already hard, but then they became harder.
Charlotta Bass was born in Sumter, South Carolina in 1874. In 1910, she moved to Los Angeles, California where she became the owner of the California Eagle, a Los Angeles-based newspaper for L.A.’s growing African American community. She became a prominent figure in the community and organized a campaign to promote Black employment. By urging her readers to only shop at places that hire Black employees, she sought to reinvigorate the insular Black economy in Los Angeles!
Her efforts were mirrored in other communities with large African American populations. These movements did make change, but overall, Black Americans still had an unemployment rate that was twice that of white Americans, while simultaneously benefiting less from government relief and public works projects than their white counterparts.
Meanwhile, President Roosevelt was at least attempting to improve Black rights in the US. He himself hired Black Americans and placed critics of segregation, disenfranchisement, and lynching in key positions in his administration. One of these additions was Mary McLeoud Bethune. Bethune was born in South Carolina to former enslaved persons and eventually became one of the most well known educators and civil rights leaders of the 20th century. Bethune may have been Roosevelt’s advisor on minority affairs, but her appointment was a major step for Black women.
For some women, though, this reduction of income and the effects of the Depression were more extreme than others. Many Black Americans obviously experienced the Depression differently than white people. Many of them were already struggling under the yoke of discrimination and prejudice. Even before Black Tuesday, Black Americans had way fewer job options than white people. Times were already hard, but then they became harder.
Charlotta Bass was born in Sumter, South Carolina in 1874. In 1910, she moved to Los Angeles, California where she became the owner of the California Eagle, a Los Angeles-based newspaper for L.A.’s growing African American community. She became a prominent figure in the community and organized a campaign to promote Black employment. By urging her readers to only shop at places that hire Black employees, she sought to reinvigorate the insular Black economy in Los Angeles!
Her efforts were mirrored in other communities with large African American populations. These movements did make change, but overall, Black Americans still had an unemployment rate that was twice that of white Americans, while simultaneously benefiting less from government relief and public works projects than their white counterparts.
Meanwhile, President Roosevelt was at least attempting to improve Black rights in the US. He himself hired Black Americans and placed critics of segregation, disenfranchisement, and lynching in key positions in his administration. One of these additions was Mary McLeoud Bethune. Bethune was born in South Carolina to former enslaved persons and eventually became one of the most well known educators and civil rights leaders of the 20th century. Bethune may have been Roosevelt’s advisor on minority affairs, but her appointment was a major step for Black women.
The Migrant Mother, Library of Congress
Farm families also struggled beyond the typical American family with declining agricultural prices, foreclosures, and drought. Their plight became visible to the rest of Americans through photographer Dorothea Lange’s “Migrant Mother”. In 1936, Lange was hired by the Farm Security Administration (FSA) to photograph migrant workers to raise awareness and urge the federal government to provide them with aid. Lange went to Nipomo, California where she encountered Florence Owens Thompson, the subject of the notorious photograph.
While Roosevelt envisioned the New Deal as a broad support package to help as many Americans as possible, there were limits. Ultimately, cultural norms about race and gender shaped legislation. The ideal of a male-headed household certainly shaped policy and resulted in few women being covered by things like Social Security on their own.
However, the New Deal brought some progress to women. More women earned government positions than in any previous administration, and the First Lady used her power to push for reform in civil rights and labor laws. But on the flip side, there was no organized feminist movement in the 1930s, and the many calls for women--particularly married women--to exit the work force did not pass the feminist agenda.
While Roosevelt envisioned the New Deal as a broad support package to help as many Americans as possible, there were limits. Ultimately, cultural norms about race and gender shaped legislation. The ideal of a male-headed household certainly shaped policy and resulted in few women being covered by things like Social Security on their own.
However, the New Deal brought some progress to women. More women earned government positions than in any previous administration, and the First Lady used her power to push for reform in civil rights and labor laws. But on the flip side, there was no organized feminist movement in the 1930s, and the many calls for women--particularly married women--to exit the work force did not pass the feminist agenda.
Men in a Breadline, SWHP
Aside from Lange’s “Migrant Mother”, another iconic image from the Depression is the newly unemployed, downwardly mobile, breadline-waiting “Forgotten Man.” In hindsight it’s difficult to understand how most folks could look at this photo and feel empathy, but many would look at a photo of a woman in the same situation, desperately looking for work, and find her greedy or entitled. Nevertheless, women’s wages were crucial to families’ survival during the Depression, so the realities of the economy continued to pressure women to find paid work whenever, and wherever, they could. Once again, the Depression proved, despite cultural stereotypes, women work.
By the end of this era, so much remained in question. How did gender roles ultimately shape public policy? How did racial ideologies impact the roll out of the New Deal? What did the federal government’s neglect of women say about their status as citizens? While social factors were demanding that married women leave the workforce, economic factors were compelling them to work.How did federal programs fail to see the role that women played in the economy?
By the end of this era, so much remained in question. How did gender roles ultimately shape public policy? How did racial ideologies impact the roll out of the New Deal? What did the federal government’s neglect of women say about their status as citizens? While social factors were demanding that married women leave the workforce, economic factors were compelling them to work.How did federal programs fail to see the role that women played in the economy?
Draw your own conclusions
Migrant Mother, Library of Congress
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How did the Depression impact women?
In this inquiry, students explore primary material related to the impact of the Great Depression on women's jobs and their roles as caregivers in a time of scarcity. 
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Secretary Frances Perkins with FDR, Library of Congress
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Did the New Deal help women?
In this inquiry, students explore the impact of New Deal policies (designed for men) on women. How did they impact women's lives?
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Who Was The Real Lady Lindy?
Who was the true Lady Lindy? In this inquiry students will be able to examine primary sources by women, to decide for themselves who the true Lady Lindy was.
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Lesson Plans from Other Organizations
- The National Women's History Museum has lesson plans on women's history.
- The Guilder Lehrman Institute for American History has lesson plans on women's history.
- The NY Historical Society has articles and classroom activities for teaching women's history.
- Unladylike 2020, in partnership with PBS, has primary sources to explore with students and outstanding videos on women from the Progressive era.
- The Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media has produced recommendations for teaching women's history with primary sources and provided a collection of sources for world history. Check them out!
- The Stanford History Education Group has a number of lesson plans about women in World History.
Period Specific Lesson Plans from Other Organizations
- National History Day: Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973) was born and raised in Montana. While studying social work at the University of Washington, she joined the woman suffrage movement. Soon after, she became a field secretary for the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). She traveled across the United States, advocating for suffrage. In 1916, she was elected as the first woman in the U.S. House of Representatives. Just three days after being sworn in, she cast one of two votes that would define public memory of her service - a vote against the American declaration of war on Germany in World War I. Rankin introduced a voting rights amendment that passed the House in 1918, and was the only woman in Congress to cast a vote for woman suffrage. She unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in 1918, and spent the next two decades advocating for peace and social welfare. In 1940, she was again elected to the House, and in 1941, cast the only vote against the declaration of war on Japan. She left Congress in 1942, and remained active in anti-war movements and the philosophy of nonviolent protest for the rest of her life. She died in California in 1973.
- Unladylike: Learn how Jeannette Rankin became the first woman in United States history elected to the U.S. Congress, representing the state of Montana in the U.S. House of Representatives, in this video from Unladylike2020. As a suffragist and life-long pacifist, Rankin fought tirelessly for women’s right to vote, and voted against United States entry into WWI and WWII. Utilizing video, discussion questions, vocabulary, and teaching tips, students learn about Rankin’s role in securing women the vote nationally, and her enduring commitment to ending war.
- Great Depression:
- Gilder Lehrman: The greatest economic calamity in the history of the United States occurred in the third decade of the twentieth century. When the stock market crashed in 1929 and the economy plummeted over the next few years, the nation sunk into the most pervasive depression in American history. No one escaped the suffering that the Great Depression produced. The ranks of the suffering went well beyond those who lost everything as a direct result of the stock market crash. While millions lost their fortunes in investments on and after October of 1929, many more lost their savings when banks collapsed and their livelihoods when whole industries failed and businesses closed their doors. The drought that hit the Midwest produced additional suffering. By 1932, every economic sector and geographic region in the country was in dire condition. Few persons escaped the disastrous effects of the depression. The hardship of unemployment, the loss of homes and farms, and the lack of institutions that could provide adequate assistance were central to the pain caused by the economic crisis. The personal cost was perhaps greatest to the part of the population on the margin of economic activity. Though women were often faced with caring for families without income from employment or traditional support, the vast majority of the government’s recovery efforts were directed at bringing life to the economy, and men were the primary recipients of these efforts. In this lesson, we will consider the lives of the millions of women in need during the depression. In order to understand the impact of the Great Depression on women, we will read accounts, look at images, and evaluate programs directed toward some of those women. Finally we will analyze society’s expectations of women before, during, and after the Great Depression.
- Stanford History Education Group: Dorothea Lange’s iconic “Migrant Mother” photograph is often used to illustrate the toll of the Great Depression, but many neglect to examine the photograph as historical evidence. This lesson asks students to think carefully about the strengths and weaknesses of the photo as evidence of the conditions facing migrant workers during the Great Depression.
- Eleanor Roosevelt:
- Gilder Lehrman: Students will be asked to read and analyze primary and secondary sources about Eleanor Roosevelt and the work she did to support social justice issues both in the United States and around the world. They will look at the role of first lady and see how Mrs. Roosevelt expanded that role to influence the political, social, and economic issues of the twentieth century. Students will increase their literacy skills as outlined in the Common Core Standards as they explore the social justice actions taken by Eleanor Roosevelt, which at times changed the course of world events.
- Edcitement: This lesson asks students to explore the various roles that Eleanor Roosevelt took on, among them: First Lady, political activist for civil rights, newspaper columnist and author, and representative to the United Nations. Students will read and analyze materials written by and about Eleanor Roosevelt to understand the changing roles of women in politics. They will look at Eleanor Roosevelt's role during and after the New Deal as well as examine the lives and works of influential women who were part of her political network. They will also examine the contributions of women in Roosevelt's network who played critical roles in shaping and administering New Deal policies.
- National Womens History Museum: The purpose of this lesson is to learn about Eleanor Roosevelt as an agent of social change as the First Lady of the United States and later as a representative to the United Nations. Moreover, students will learn how Mrs. Roosevelt used her position as the First Lady to become a champion of human rights which extended after her time in the White House. Students will read primary sources to better understand the legacy of Mrs. Roosevelt.
- Mary McLeod Bethune:
- Teaching Tolerance: In this lesson, students will read an excerpt of an interview given by Mary McLeod Bethune and will learn that she founded the Daytona National and Industrial School for Negro Girls (now Bethune-Cookman College) in 1904. Through close reading, they will explore and discuss connections between events from Bethune’s life experiences and their own lives, and connections between past and current events.
- National History Day: Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955) was born in South Carolina to parents who were former slaves. From childhood Bethune realized that education held the key for African American advancement. In 1904, she founded the Daytona Literary and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls. Her school grew rapidly, and in the 1920s merged with the all-male Cookman Institute; Mary McLeod Bethune served as the first president of the new Bethune-Cookman College. Bethune worked tirelessly for civil rights, women’s rights, and social justice. She served on commissions under Presidents Coolidge and Hoover, and in 1936 Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed her the Director of the Division of Negro Affairs, part of the National Youth Administration, a New Deal program designed to help young people find jobs. Bethune became the first African American woman to serve as head of a federal agency and used her position to persistently lobby for African American issues. She founded the National Council for Negro Women in 1935, co-founded the United Negro College Fund in 1944, and attended the founding conference of the United Nations in 1949. Before her death in 1955, Bethune wrote a last will and testament that expressed her hope for a “world of Peace, Progress, Brotherhood, and Love.”
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Remedial Herstory Editors. "18. WOMEN AND THE GREAT DEPRESSION." The Remedial Herstory Project. November 20, 2022. www.remedialherstory.com.
Primary AUTHOR: |
Dr. Alicia Guitierrez-Romine
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Primary ReviewerS: |
Dr. Barbara Tischler
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Consulting TeamKelsie Brook Eckert, Project Director
Coordinator of Social Studies Education at Plymouth State University Dr. Barbara Tischler, Consultant Professor of History Hunter College and Columbia University Dr. Alicia Gutierrez-Romine, Consultant Assistant Professor of History at La Sierra University Jacqui Nelson, Consultant Teaching Lecturer of Military History at Plymouth State University Dr. Deanna Beachley Professor of History and Women's Studies at College of Southern Nevada |
EditorsAlice Stanley
ReviewersColonial
Dr. Margaret Huettl Hannah Dutton Dr. John Krueckeberg 19th Century Dr. Rebecca Noel Michelle Stonis, MA Annabelle L. Blevins Pifer, MA Cony Marquez, PhD Candidate 20th Century Dr. Tanya Roth Dr. Jessica Frazier Mary Bezbatchenko, MA |
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Revolutionary Period 1763-1783
Women of all classes and races were not only supporters and opponents of the American Revolution, they actively promoted, engaged, wrote, fought, and were deeply impacted by the outcome of the American Revolution. There are a lot of perspectives to consider, and we can only brush the surface.
Liberty's Daughters is widely considered a landmark book on the history of American women and on the Revolution itself. Norton brilliantly portrays a dramatic transformation of women's private lives in the wake of the Revolution. This fascinating human story includes lively anecdotes and revealing details from the personal papers of 450 eighteenth-century families.
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Holton describes the origins and crucial battles of the Revolution from Lexington and Concord to the British surrender at Yorktown, always focusing on marginalized Americans—enslaved Africans and African Americans, Native Americans, women, and dissenters—and on overlooked factors such as weather, North America’s unique geography, chance, misperception, attempts to manipulate public opinion, and (most of all) disease.
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They baked New England's Thanksgiving pies, preached their faith to crowds of worshippers, spied for the patriots during the Revolution, wrote that human bondage was a sin, and demanded reparations for slavery. Black women in colonial and revolutionary New England sought not only legal emancipation from slavery but defined freedom more broadly to include spiritual, familial, and economic dimensions.
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The American Revolution was a home-front war that brought scarcity, bloodshed, and danger into the life of every American. In this book, Carol Berkin shows us how women played a vital role throughout the conflict. This incisive and comprehensive history illuminates a fascinating and unknown side of the struggle for American independence.
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Mercy Otis Warren’s book is one of the earliest histories of the American Revolution, and the first to be written by a woman. It charts the progress of the entire revolution, from the imposition of the Stamp Act in 1765 through to ratification of the Constitution in 1787.This book provides brilliant insight into the history of the American Revolution from the perspective of a contemporary who was able to talk to the key figures involved. This book should be essential reading for anyone interested in the Revolutionary period and how the United States was founded.
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Early Republic 1783-1815
Following the American Revolution, US culture morphed and shifted. Women in this new republic found new roles and expectations as mothers: for to give power to the masses in a democracy, meant men needed to be educated, and their mothers needed to do it. The ideal of a Republican Mother emerged and the dynamic women of the colonial and revolutionary eras became a thing of the past.
"A New England Girlhood" is the autobiography of poet Lucy Larcom. Arriving in Lowell, Massachusetts, in the 1830s after the death of her shipmaster father, eleven-year-old Lucy Larcom went to work in a textile mill to help her family make ends meet. Originally published in 1889, her engaging autobiography offers glimpses of the early years of the American factory system as well as of the social influences on her development.
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In 1762, John Adams penned a flirtatious note to “Miss Adorable,” the 17-year-old Abigail Smith. In 1801, Abigail wrote to wish her husband John a safe journey as he headed home to Quincy after serving as president of the nation he helped create. The letters that span these nearly forty years form the most significant correspondence―and reveal one of the most intriguing and inspiring partnerships―in American history.
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In Mere Equals, Lucia McMahon narrates a story about how a generation of young women who enjoyed access to new educational opportunities made sense of their individual and social identities in an American nation marked by stark political inequality between the sexes.
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Antebellum 1815-1861
The Antebellum Period is full of historical events and movements. From the rise of the abolitionist movement, the Mexican-American War, and the Trail of Tears.
In Patriots, Prostitutes, and Spies, John M. Belohlavek tells the story of women on both sides of the Mexican-American War (1846-48) as they were propelled by the bloody conflict to adopt new roles and expand traditional ones.
American women "back home" functioned as anti-war activists, pro-war supporters, and pioneering female journalists. Others moved west and established their own reputations for courage and determination in dusty border towns or bordellos. |
Bridging women's history, the history of the South, and African American history, this book makes a bold argument about the role of white women in American slavery. Historian Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers draws on a variety of sources to show that slave‑owning women were sophisticated economic actors who directly engaged in and benefited from the South's slave market.
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This book traces the lived experiences of women lawbreakers in the state of Pennsylvania from 1820 to 1860 through the records of more than six thousand criminal court cases. By following these women from the perpetration of their crimes through the state’s efforts to punish and reform them, Erica Rhodes Hayden places them at the center of their own stories.
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The brave pioneers who made a life on the frontier were not only male—and they were not only white. The story of African-American women in the Old West is one that has largely gone untold until now. The stories of ten African-American women are reconstructed from historic documents found in century-old archives. Some of these women slaves, some were free, and some were born into slavery and found freedom in the old west.
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Civil War & Reconstruction 1861-1877
The role of women throughout the American Civil War was diverse and widespread. No matter whether one was black or white, southern or northern, women were vital in the war efforts. Some were soldiers, nurses, or took control over their farms and families stations that the men usually would.
Through richly detailed letters from the time and exhaustive research, Wickenden traces the second American revolution these women fought to bring about, the toll it took on their families, and its lasting effects on the country. Riveting and profoundly relevant to our own time, The Agitators brings a vibrant, original voice to this transformative period in our history.
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This lively and authoritative book opens a hitherto neglected chapter of Civil War history, telling the stories of hundreds of women who adopted male disguise and fought as soldiers. It explores their reasons for enlisting; their experiences in combat, and the way they were seen by their fellow soldiers and the American public.
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Historians of the Civil War often speak of "wars within a war"—the military fight, wartime struggles on the home front, and the political and moral battle to preserve the Union and end slavery. In this broadly conceived book, Thavolia Glymph provides a comprehensive new history of women's roles and lives in the Civil War—North and South, white and black, slave and free—showing how women were essentially and fully engaged in all three arenas.
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When Confederate men marched off to battle, southern women struggled with the new responsibilities of directing farms and plantations, providing for families, and supervising increasingly restive slaves. Drew Faust offers a compelling picture of the more than half-million women who belonged to the slaveholding families of the Confederacy during this period of acute crisis, when every part of these women's lives became vexed and uncertain.
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Freedom's Women examines African American women's experiences during the Civil War and early Reconstruction years in Mississippi. Exploring issues of family and work, the author shows how African American women's attempts to achieve more control over their lives shaped their attitudes toward work, marriage, family, and community.
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Emilie Davis was a free African American woman who lived in Philadelphia during the Civil War. She lived an average life in her day, but what sets her apart is that she kept a diary. Her daily entries from 1863 to 1865 touch on the momentous and the mundane: she discusses her own and her community’s reactions to events of the war, such as the Battle of Gettysburg, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the assassination of President Lincoln, as well as the minutiae of social life in Philadelphia’s black community.
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Karen Abbott illuminates one of the most fascinating yet little known aspects of the Civil War: the stories of four courageous women—a socialite, a farmgirl, an abolitionist, and a widow—who were spies. Using a wealth of primary source material and interviews with the spies’ descendants, Abbott seamlessly weaves the adventures of these four heroines throughout the tumultuous years of the war.
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Women in the Reconstruction Era, which followed the American Civil War, faced many new challenges. Freedwomen struggled to find their place in society due to separated families, mistreatment from former masters, racism, and no substantial help. Some White Northern women helped with the Freedman's Bureau and fought to help African American's where they could. Whereas, White Southern women worked towards honoring their dead and mythologizing the Confederacy.
This book examines the problems that Southern women faced during the Reconstruction Era, in Part I as mothers, wives, daughters or sisters of men burdened with financial difficulties and the radical Republican regime, and in Part II with specific illustrations of their tribulations through the letters and diaries of five different women.
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In this first critical study of female abolitionists and feminists in the freedmen's aid movement, Carol Faulkner describes these women's radical view of former slaves and the nation's responsibility to them. Moving beyond the image of the Yankee schoolmarm, Women's Radical Reconstruction demonstrates fully the complex and dynamic part played by Northern women in the design, implementation, and administration of Reconstruction policy.
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The advocates of woman suffrage and black suffrage came to a bitter falling-out in the midst of Reconstruction, when Elizabeth Cady Stanton opposed the 15th Amendment because it granted the vote to black men but not to women. How did these two causes, so long allied, come to this? Based on extensive research, Fighting Chance is a major contribution to women's history and to 19th-century political history--a story of how idealists descended to racist betrayal and desperate failure.
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The Wild West 1876-1897
On May 30, 1899, history was made when Pearl Hart, disguised as a man, held up a stagecoach in Arizona and robbed the passengers at gunpoint. A manhunt ensued as word of her heist spread, and Pearl Hart went on to become a media sensation and the most notorious female outlaw on the Western frontier.
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Hard-drinking, hard-living poker players and prostitutes of the new boom towns; wives and mothers traveling two and a half thousand miles across the prairies in covered-wagon convoys, some of them so poor they walked the entire route.
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Born a slave in eastern Tennessee, Sarah Blair Bickford (1852–1931) made her way while still a teenager to Montana Territory, where she settled in the mining boomtown of Virginia City. Race and the Wild West is the first full-length biography of this remarkable woman, whose life story affords new insight into race and belonging in the American West around the turn of the twentieth century.
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In Women of the Northern Plains, Barbara Handy-Marchello tells the stories of the unsung heroes of North Dakota's settlement era: the farm women. Enlivened by interviews with pioneer families as well as diaries, memoirs, and other primary sources, Women of the Northern Plains uncovers the significant and changing roles of Dakota farm women who were true partners to their husbands, their efforts marking the difference between success and failure for their families.
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Soiled Doves tells the story of the grey world of prostitution and the women who participated in the oldest profession. Colorful, if not socially acceptable, these ladies of easy virtue were a definite part of the early West--wearing ruffled petticoats with fancy bows, they were glamorous and plain, good and ad and many were as wild as the land they came to tame.
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Daughters of Joy will prove to be a gold mine of information, since the author's massive research makes the book a primary source as well as a thoughtful study of soiled doves on the frontier.....Butler has portrayed the stark realities of prostitution in the American West With sensitivity and insight.
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The Progressive Era 1897-1920
Following the Civil War, Americans were still divided on many many socio-political topics--including universal suffrage. Although female suffragist fought tooth and nail for the right other women fought just as hard against it. Women of all backgrounds played important roles on both sides of the journey to suffrage.
Women of color, especially African American women, were fighting for their right to vote and to be treated as full, equal citizens of the United States. Their battlefront wasn't just about gender. African American women had to deal with white abolitionist-suffragists who drew the line at sharing power with their black sisters. They had to overcome deep, exclusionary racial prejudices that were rife in the American suffrage movement. And they had to maintain their dignity--and safety--in a society that tried to keep them in its bottom ranks.
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Woodrow Wilson lands in Washington, DC, in March of 1913, a day before he is set to take the presidential oath of office. He is surprised by the modest turnout. The crowds and reporters are blocks away from Union Station, watching a parade of eight thousand suffragists on Pennsylvania Avenue in a first-of-its-kind protest organized by a twenty-five-year-old activist named Alice Paul. The next day, The New York Times calls the procession “one of the most impressively beautiful spectacles ever staged in this country.”
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Comprised of historical texts spanning two centuries, The Women's Suffrage Movement is a comprehensive and singular volume with a distinctive focus on incorporating race, class, and gender, and illuminating minority voices. At a time of enormous political and social upheaval, there could be no more important book than one that recognizes a group of exemplary women--in their own words--as they paved the way for future generations.
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Ever wonder what our foremothers were doing while our forefathers were making recorded history? And what did these women do to claim their social and political power to change their circumstances? We Demand the Right to Vote: The Journey to the 19th Amendment introduces readers to American women's first civil rights movement known as "Women's Suffrage"--women's 72-year struggle for social and political equality that culminated in their winning the right to vote via the 19th Amendment.
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Early in the twentieth century, maternal and child welfare evolved from a private family responsibility into a matter of national policy. Molly Ladd-Taylor explores both the private and public aspects of child-rearing, using the relationship between them to cast new light on the histories of motherhood, the welfare state, and women's activism in the United States.
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During the Progessive Era, a period of unprecedented ingenuity, women evangelists built the old time religion with brick and mortar, uniforms and automobiles, fresh converts and devoted protégés. Across America, entrepreneurial women founded churches, denominations, religious training schools, rescue homes, rescue missions, and evangelistic organizations.
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World War I 1914-1918
The significant roles women played during World War I implored Americans to take a hard look at gender equality. The contributions and sacrifices made by women during this time ignited the demand for social change, which ultimately led to the ratification of the 19th Amendment.
Into the Breach uses excerpts from diaries, memoirs, letters, and newspaper accounts to depict the experiences of wartime nurses, entertainers, canteen workers, interpreters, and journalists
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The Curies’ newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty, and wonder drug of the medical community. From body lotion to tonic water, the popular new element shines bright in the otherwise dark years of the First World War.
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In 1916, at the height of World War I, brilliant Shakespeare expert Elizebeth Smith went to work for an eccentric tycoon on his estate outside Chicago. The tycoon had close ties to the U.S. government, and he soon asked Elizebeth to apply her language skills to an exciting new venture: code-breaking. Fagone unveils America’s code-breaking history through the prism of Smith’s life, bringing into focus the unforgettable events and colorful personalities that would help shape modern intelligence.
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When World War I began, war reporting was a thoroughly masculine bastion of journalism. But that did not stop dozens of women reporters from stepping into the breach, defying gender norms and official restrictions to establish roles for themselves—and to write new kinds of narratives about women and war.
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Roaring 20's & The Great Depression 1920-1939
Macy offers a rare and fascinating glimpse into the journey of women's rights through the lens of women in sports during the pivotal decade of the 1920s. With elegant prose, poignant wit, and fascinating primary sources, Macy explores the many hurdles presented to female athletes as they stormed the field, stepped up to bat, and won the right to compete in sports.
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By the 1920s, women were on the verge of something huge. Jazz, racy fashions, eyebrowraising new attitudes about art and sex—all of this pointed to a sleek, modern world, one that could shake off the grimness of the Great War and stride into the future in one deft, stylized gesture.
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The passage of the 18th Amendment (banning the sale of alcohol) and the 19th (women's suffrage) in the same year is no coincidence. These two Constitutional Amendments enabled women to redefine themselves and their place in society in a way historians have neglected to explore. Liberated Spirits describes how the fight both to pass and later to repeal Prohibition was driven by women, as exemplified by two remarkable women in particular.
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In this first study of Black radicalism in midwestern cities before the civil rights movement, Melissa Ford connects the activism of Black women who championed justice during the Great Depression to those involved in the Ferguson Uprising and the Black Lives Matter movement.
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Daughters of the Great Depression is a reinterpretation of more than fifty well-known and rediscovered works of Depression-era fiction that illuminate one of the decade's central conflicts: whether to include women in the hard-pressed workforce or relegate them to a literal or figurative home sphere.
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Making Choices, Making Do is a comparative study of Black and white working-class women’s survival strategies during the Great Depression. Based on analysis of employment histories and Depression-era interviews of 1,340 women in Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and South Bend and letters from domestic workers.
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Native American women
Based on an Athabascan Indian legend passed along for many generations from mothers to daughters of the upper Yukon River Valley in Alaska, this is the suspenseful, shocking, ultimately inspirational tale of two old women abandoned by their tribe during a brutal winter famine.
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In this haunting and groundbreaking historical novel, Danielle Daniel imagines the lives of women in the Algonquin territories of the 1600s, a story inspired by her family’s ancestral link to a young girl who was murdered by French settlers.
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Daunis Fontaine must learn what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how far she’ll go for her community, even if it tears apart the only world she’s ever known.
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Colonial Women
Amari's life was once perfect. Engaged to the handsomest man in her tribe, adored by her family, and fortunate enough to live in a beautiful village, it never occurred to her that it could all be taken away in an instant. But that was what happened when her village was invaded by slave traders. Her family was brutally murdered as she was dragged away to a slave ship and sent to be sold in the Carolinas. There she was bought by a plantation owner and given to his son as a "birthday present".
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A riveting historical novel about Peggy Shippen Arnold, the cunning wife of Benedict Arnold and mastermind behind America’s most infamous act of treason.
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A young Puritan woman—faithful, resourceful, but afraid of the demons that dog her soul—plots her escape from a violent marriage in this riveting and propulsive novel of historical suspense.
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Revolutionary Era Women
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Rebellious Frannie Tasker knows little about the war between England and its thirteen colonies in 1776, until a shipwreck off her home in Grand Bahama Island presents an unthinkable opportunity. The body of a young woman floating in the sea gives Frannie the chance to escape her brutal stepfather--and she takes it.
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Antebellum Women
Born on a plantation in Charles City, Virginia, Pheby Delores Brown has lived a relatively sheltered life. Shielded by her mother’s position as the estate’s medicine woman and cherished by the Master’s sister, she is set apart from the others on the plantation, belonging to neither world.
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The House Girl, the historical fiction debut by Tara Conklin, is an unforgettable story of love, history, and a search for justice, set in modern-day New York and 1852 Virginia.
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Moments after Lisbeth is born, she’s taken from her mother and handed over to an enslaved wet nurse, Mattie, a young mother separated from her own infant son in order to care for her tiny charge. Thus begins an intense relationship that will shape both of their lives for decades to come.
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The Civil War and Reconstruction
Conjure Women is a sweeping story that brings the world of the South before and after the Civil War vividly to life. Spanning eras and generations, it tells of the lives of three unforgettable women: Miss May Belle, a wise healing woman; her precocious and observant daughter Rue, who is reluctant to follow in her mother’s footsteps as a midwife; and their master’s daughter Varina.
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Set in the midst of the Civil War, The Thread Collectors follows two very different women whose paths collide unexpectedly. In New Orleans, Stella, a young Black woman, sews maps that help enslaved men escape and join the Union Army. Lily, a Jewish woman in New York City, creates a quilt for her husband, a Union soldier stationed in Louisiana. When she goes months without hearing from him, she decides to journey to Louisiana to find him.
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Josephine N. Leary is determined to build a life of her own and a future for her family. When she moves to Edenton, North Carolina, from the plantation where she was born, she is free, newly married, and ready to follow her dreams.
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The wild West and Second Industrial Revolution
The day of her wedding, 17 year old Ada’s life looks good; she loves her husband, and she loves working as an apprentice to her mother, a respected midwife. But after a year of marriage and no pregnancy, in a town where barren women are routinely hanged as witches, her survival depends on leaving behind everything she knows.
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When Kate Thompson’s father is killed by the notorious Rose Riders for a mysterious journal that reveals the secret location of a gold mine, the eighteen-year-old disguises herself as a boy and takes to the gritty plains looking for answers and justice.
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In this gripping historical, Chance exposes the horrors women faced in late 19th-century New York when they dared to show passion of any kind or repudiate society's norms.
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The Progressive Era
Since childhood, Anita Hemmings has longed to attend the country’s most exclusive school for women, Vassar College. Now, a bright, beautiful senior in the class of 1897, she is hiding a secret that would have banned her from admission: Anita is the only African-American student ever to attend Vassar. With her olive complexion and dark hair, this daughter of a janitor and descendant of slaves has successfully passed as white, but now finds herself rooming with Louise “Lottie” Taylor, the scion of one of New York’s most prominent families.
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It's 1913 and Laura Lyons lives with her husband, superintendent of the New York Public Library building, and their two children in an apartment located in the grand building on 5th Avenue. But Laura wants more—she applies to the Columbia Journalism School and her world is cracked open. She discovers a radical, all-female group where women loudly share their opinions on suffrage, birth control, and women's rights. Soon, Laura finds herself questioning her traditional role as wife and mother.
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In City of Lies, con woman Elizabeth Miles is desperately trying to escape men that are after her in 1917 Washington D.C. so she joins a suffragist parade in front of the White House only to get swept up, arrested and sent to the Occoquan, VA women’s prison with the other marchers.
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World War 1
Inspired by real women, this powerful novel tells the story of two unconventional American sisters who volunteer at the front during World War I.
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A group of young women from Smith College risk their lives in France at the height of World War I in this sweeping novel based on a true story—a skillful blend of Call the Midwife and The Alice Network—from New York Times bestselling author Lauren Willig.
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December 1917. As World War I rages in Europe, twenty-four-year-old Ruby Wagner, the jewel in a prominent Philadelphia family, prepares for her upcoming wedding to a society scion. Like her life so far, it’s all been carefully arranged. But when her beloved older brother is killed in combat, Ruby follows her heart and answers the Army Signal Corps’ call for women operators to help overseas.
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The roaring 20's and The Great Depression
In 1923, fifteen-year-old Hattie Shepherd, swept up by the tides of the Great Migration, flees Georgia and heads north. Full of hope, she settles in Philadelphia to build a better life. Instead she marries a man who will bring her nothing but disappointment, and watches helplessly as her firstborn twins are lost to an illness that a few pennies could have prevented. Hattie gives birth to nine more children, whom she raises with grit, mettle, and not an ounce of the tenderness they crave. She vows to prepare them to meet a world that will not be kind. Their lives, captured here in twelve luminous threads, tell the story of a mother’s monumental courage—and a nation's tumultuous journey.
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In 1935, Dottie Krasinsky is the epitome of the modern girl. A bookkeeper in Midtown Manhattan, Dottie steals kisses from her steady beau, meets her girlfriends for drinks, and eyes the latest fashions. Yet at heart, she is a dutiful daughter, living with her Yiddish-speaking parents on the Lower East Side. So when, after a single careless night, she finds herself in a family way by a charismatic but unsuitable man, she is desperate: unwed, unsure, and running out of options. After the birth of five children—and twenty years as a housewife—Dottie’s immigrant mother, Rose, is itching to return to the social activism she embraced as a young woman. With strikes and breadlines at home and National Socialism rising in Europe, there is much more important work to do than cooking and cleaning. So when she realizes that she, too, is pregnant, she struggles to reconcile her longings with her faith.
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Harlem, 1926. Young Black women like Louise Lloyd are ending up dead. Following a harrowing kidnapping ordeal when she was in her teens, Louise is doing everything she can to maintain a normal life. She’s succeeding, too. She spends her days working at Maggie’s Café and her nights at the Zodiac, Harlem’s hottest speakeasy. Louise’s friends, especially her girlfriend, Rosa Maria Moreno, might say she’s running from her past and the notoriety that still stalks her, but don’t tell her that.
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How to teach with Films:
Remember, teachers want the student to be the historian. What do historians do when they watch films?
- Before they watch, ask students to research the director and producers. These are the source of the information. How will their background and experience likely bias this film?
- Also, ask students to consider the context the film was created in. The film may be about history, but it was made recently. What was going on the year the film was made that could bias the film? In particular, how do you think the gains of feminism will impact the portrayal of the female characters?
- As they watch, ask students to research the historical accuracy of the film. What do online sources say about what the film gets right or wrong?
- Afterward, ask students to describe how the female characters were portrayed and what lessons they got from the film.
- Then, ask students to evaluate this film as a learning tool. Was it helpful to better understand this topic? Did the historical inaccuracies make it unhelpful? Make it clear any informed opinion is valid.
Documentaries
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Ascent of Woman: is a documentary about prehistoric and Ancient women's history across cultures.
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Witches: A Century of Murder is about the witch trials that plagued England under Kings James IV and I and Charles I.
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Taking Root is a documentary about the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, Wangari Maathai. She was from Kenya and her work was on environmental protection.
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Feature Length Movies
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The Last Duel highlights the way that rape was handled in medieval Europe. It barely passes the Bechdel Test, with main actors being the male characters, but the whole theme of sex, sexuality, and gender dynamics cannot be ignored.
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Elizabeth tells the story of Elizabeth's Golden era.
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Mary Queen of Scots is a film about the relationship between the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I of England and her Catholic cousin Mary Queen of Scots who challenged her throne.
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Catherine the Great is about the career of Catherine of Russia and her challenges as a female leader.
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The Favorite is about the interesting palace life of Queen Anne and her closest female confidants. This film expands upon rumors of lesbianism within the court.
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The Woman King is a film about the Dahomey "Amazons," women warriors who fought European imperialism in West Africa.
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Albert Nobbs is a film about the life of a poor woman living in 19th century Ireland who cross dresses in order to improve her station.
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Victoria and Abdul is a film about the interesting relationship between Queen Victoria and Abdul Karim, an Indian man who earned her confidence.
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Suffragette tells the stories of English women who grappled with a way to have their voices heard in the early movement.
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The Danish Girl is historical fiction based losely on the life and marriage of a transgender pioneer.
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A Call to Spy is about the first British and American women spies that worked on the ground in France during WWII.
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Frida is a film about the first Mexican woman to have her work displayed at the Louvre in Paris, FR.
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Television Series
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The White Queen and the series that follow are based on a historical fiction novel about the rise of the Tudor family in England. The main characters are the women, who through marriage gain and lose the crown.
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The Serpent Queen tells the story of Queen Catherine de Medici of France and the complexities of being a queen regent.
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The Tudors tells the story of Henry VIII and each of his six wives. Remember the old school tale: divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.
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Victoria is a TV series about the rise and career of Queen Victoria, whose reign spanned much of the 19th century.
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The Crown is a TV series that shows the rise and career of the current Queen of England, Elizabeth II. Her reign began shortly after WWII.
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Bibliography
Collins, Gail, America's Women: Four Hundred Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines. New York, William Morrow, 2003.
DuBois, Ellen Carol, 1947-. Through Women's Eyes : an American History with Documents. Boston :Bedford/St. Martin's, 2005.Indians Editors. “NATIVE AMERICAN WOMEN.” Indians. N.D. http://indians.org/articles/Native-american-women.html.
Ware, Susan. American Women’s History: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
DuBois, Ellen Carol, 1947-. Through Women's Eyes : an American History with Documents. Boston :Bedford/St. Martin's, 2005.Indians Editors. “NATIVE AMERICAN WOMEN.” Indians. N.D. http://indians.org/articles/Native-american-women.html.
Ware, Susan. American Women’s History: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
