Blog 12

Part 2

1. The insight these accounts offer us about the experiences of the women in the civil rights movement is the humiliation and hard work these women went through to stand up for what they believed in .Through Diane Nash experiences of being involved in most of the major civil rights demonstrations of the 1960s we can see women’s active support to make a difference in what they believed in to pave the way for the nest generation. Women participated in their communities by supplying others with shelter and support and also communicating with the civil rights movement.

2. During the Civil Rights activities there were many obstacles faced. Many black women were frightened for their safety to vote. Furthermore, these activities were faced with violence, humiliation, Social pressures, treats, and even more severe deaths. Moreover, on top of all this Southern White Americans used financial and political powers to go against the civil rights movement and hold up any of their activities.



Part 1

1. I believe that in Betty Friedan’s book, Feminine Mystique what she has to say is accurate. “In her book she addresses how women have been encouraged to
Detain themselves to the narrow roles of domestic housewife’s and mothers.” Also she goes on to speaking of how they neglect to participate in education and career aspirations which I believe what was taking place. I also believe Betty Friedan’s perspective of women being held against participating the household and being held from education due to World War II and the Cold War was also accurate. This targeted problems working women faced. It opened many doors for women along with political activism.


2 During the Civil Rights Movement of 1960s it was a huge turning point for women’s political participation. Women began participating and joining organizations. One of the major factors due to this turning point for women was the Creation of the Presidents Commission on the status during 1961. This targeted problems of the working women’s discrimination.

3. Due to Civil Rights movement taking place many opportunities opened up for non-white women. For example, Dolores Huerta and Fannie Lou Hamer were able to participate in various political activities. This gave way for women to step up and take on more important and leadership roles. Also this opened up doors for women to show their true leadership skills and raise their voices. For example, Fannie Lou Hamer joined such causes to make the blacks citizens and equal of others and Dolores Huerta worked beside Cesar Chavez. Women were being more recognized and able to participate beside great men leaders.

BLOG #10

PART 1
1. How did African American women approach the issues of reform and suffrage?
African American women approached the issues of reform and suffrage very strongly and seriously. During the late nineteenth century, African women began to show their voices and the strength of their collective organization through the women’s club movement. These clubs provided its members with intellectually inspiring opportunities, also expanded their skills and increased their self confidence. Moreover, the women’s clubs kept women away from isolation of domestic life.

2. How do you explain the final success of the long drive to enfranchise women?
The final success of the long drive to enfranchise women started as the women began changing the views of the society that men worked outside the home and women worked in domestic housework and serving their husbands. Furthermore, they did this by creating organizations. Soon the national women’s suffrage movement and the American women’s suffrage movement came together and became NAWSA. This opened up their passage to vote in many states.

3. Describe the rise of women's trade/labor organizations.
The increase of the vast majority of women in the work force drew the rise of women’s trade/labor organization. Women began to work in professional fields and started to demand for more work and equal pay. Since they were getting little help from the trade union movement they decided to form the women’s trade union league. Compared to before individually they were afraid to speak and have their voices heard and now women are working as a team and forming unions and clubs to get what they want which is a huge leap to success. To get less hours and more benefits, they held strikes and finally got what they wanted.
PART 2

1. Why does Margaret Sanger refer to pregnancy as a “chronic condition?”
I believe Margaret Sanger refers to pregnancy as a “chronic condition because immigrant women were held from having abortion by the drugstores refusing to supply them with birth control. Because of this women were having children left and right which was very difficult for them both physically and economically due to their poor poverty condition. They were not able to raise these children with the necessities they deserved. Also their child – bearing was constant and never ending and they were being held from the one thing that could possibly save them. Moreover, the result of constant child- bearing left women’s bodies unable to function around their 30’s so they died an early age.

2. Does this excerpt offer any clues as to why birth control information could not be easily or legally disseminated?

The time period is a clue to why birth control information could not be easily or legally disseminated. During this time people were very religious and the birth of a child was a blessing of God and it shouldn’t be taken away. Moreover, Priests would tell women who considered buying condoms or having an abortion that they would be haunted by the faces of their unborn child. Abortion was against the law and it was as if you are taking a life so it was not allowed. Society and the law did not grant a woman the right of choice to have an abortion. Moreover, if an individual bought a single condom during this time they would be considered a criminal in 30 states. Women’s voice was ignored during this time and the separate sphere of men being dominated over women held women back from their voices being heard. Basically women were not able to get the help they deserved because they were not able to get their voices across. And for women to get their voice across would give them the chance to address other issues

3. Who was the intended audience for this story? Why might Sanger have included it in her Autobiography?
I believe Sanger wanted to target women and get her story across to teach women that they have a choice and not to be slaves of child-bearing. Also I believe she just wanted to educate the society and raise her voice about the truth. I believe Sanger included the story of Sadie Sachs because it changed her life; it was the death of Sadie Sachs that convinced her to devote her life to making dependable information available to women.


4. Is there a moral to this story? Do you believe Sanger was an antiabortionist? Why did she grieve? Was it for the unborn child or for the mother’s predicament? In your opinion, was the doctor’s attitude acceptable?
I believe the moral of this story is to take action and be aware of the consequences. Sanger in my opinion was not an antiabortionist. Sanger wanted women to have a choice with what they do with their bodies but also to be aware that constant abortion is also not right. I think that she grieved for the mother’s predicament and for the fact that the mother won’t see her unborn child. Also because she was close to the mother and grieved to see the harsh conditions she endured. I believe the doctor was at fault because he did not do anything in his power to help; although, how can you blame a man who is doing what he is instructed to do so. His beliefs in the society held him back from helping which is something you can’t change.

Blog # 9

1. Jacob Riis intended to shock comfortable Americans with his images of the slums. What might
contemporaries have found most disturbing about his representations of immigrant women and
girls? Why?

Jacob Riis's, images of woman and girls in the slums were of harsh conditions of desperate wife’s and mothers and girls struggling to make a living to keep their families and loved ones fed. The pictures speak louder than words and for the Contemporaries it must have been a shock since they were not aware of the immigrant’s lives being overly drastic. What the Contemporaries found most disturbing is the fact that they were not aware of such issues and also because of the pictures displaying an immigrant women or girls life in the slums facing harsh conditions. In the photos young girls were shown working in the factories with long hours and under uncomfortable conditions. Moreover, young girls joined factories in pursuit of “the American dream” but little did they know they would find no such thing there. Instead they became prostitutes and some even committed suicide due to no hope of better conditions. Jacob Riis opened the eyes of many people including contemporaries with his pictures of women and girls day to day life in his pictures and this stunned many people due to not being aware or not caring.

2. How does the symbolic use of female figures in late nineteenth-century political cartoons (Figures
6.11 and 6.12) contrast with the depictions of women in cartoons meant to amuse (Figures 6.1-
6.10)?

Women’s involvement in politics during the 1900’s gave way for mockery on women during a time where women were seen as degrading their true womanhood by participating in jobs outside the home. Women became a main target in cartoons and many who were politically involved were in the spotlight of being mocked. Women shown in the cartoons were strong, educated, and politically active. They were finally getting recognition; although, it was more of a joke. Women were finally making something out of them selves and getting out of that social norm where women only participate in domestic house work and instead of getting the recognition the deserved they were being poked at and being laughed at. Often people make a joke out of what they are afraid of, and to me it seems like the men were using cartoons and mocking women who ere politically active because they were afraid of women’s progress and finally they were rising to their level and probably thought by putting women down by mockery that they would be less active; although, I think this gave women more motivation to stand up for themselves and show the world what they are capable of.