My name is Jennifer Barwig and I just received my Multiple Subject Teaching Credential from Saint Mary’s College of California and currently working on my Masters in the Art of Teaching. I am a 5th Grade Teacher in Tracy, CA. I found interest in the Women in the American Revolution through my interest in history and women’s rights movements throughout history.
Chronicles of the Revolution . (n.d.). Retrieved July 14, 2017, from http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/popup_vonriedesel.html
On PBS there is a link to many important figures during the American Revolution. There are a variety of both men and women represented form both sides of the War. One link that I decided to explore more was about a woman by the name of Baroness von Riedesel. She was a women who had to go along with her husband who was British fighting in the Revolutionary war. The life that she had made up for herself was brought on by her husband and she couldn’t do much but follow behind. When the British surrendered in New York, over 6,000 people were taken into custody and forced to probation. There they stayed in Virginia. They were proven innocent, yet decided to flea to Canada until the peace treaty was signed years later.
I found this story so compelling because a majority of the stories you hear about women in the American Revolution is about women taking a stand for Liberty in America. This is a unique story of a women that he power and life was decided by her husband. She has no choice but to follow along side her husband and be taken in as prisoner for doing nothing wrong. Another thing that I learned from this website was that so many women and men from the British side were falsely accused of being apart of the war, causing them to be in probation after the war. Life for them must not of been easy as the Declaration of Independence was being signed.
This relates to my content questions by presenting an article of a women in the Revolution. She may have been on the other side of the revolution than what I have previously viewed, but it gives great insight. It shows that a lot of women weren’t able to voice their opinion during the war and their lives were determined by the men in it.
To view the website, please visit: http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/popup_vonriedesel.html
Gallery | Keywords & People. (n.d.). Retrieved July 14, 2017, from http://www.americanrevolution.org/women/women27.php
This website has a variety of links to resources with the American Revolution including battles, images, signers, women and key figures. To support my sources, I focused on the Women’s link which provided me with 20+ names and stories of women within the revolution. They all have detailed synopsis of women’s response to the war and taking a stand. A lot of the accounts show the impact that the war had on their husbands and children and how they stood up for what they say as right. There are accounts of both women on the British said and on Washington’s side.
Something that I gained from this website was different perspectives of women in the war. So often we just encounter women’s stories from the Quakers or those under or in correlation with General Washington. I found that women were discouraged to take a stand but many did so anyway, which changed history a we know it.
One of the stories that I found interesting was Lady Stirling, who went off to camp with her husband and children during the time of war. She worked for the camps in serve and helped keep up keeping. When she went off to visit her eldest daughter, the city was taking captive by the British, and they refused to leave. They wrote letters back to camp describing their act of patriotism for not letting the enemy completely take over and relayed any information to her husband. She was later rewarded for her acts by President Washington. I found that this is a story that women could relate to in todays society, what would you do if this situation arose in a time of war?
This website answers my content questions by answering women’s roles in the American Revolution. It allows me to not only see the general concept of the American Revolution, but gives access to so many women and their stories during this time.
To visit this website and access the woman’s stories please see: http://www.americanrevolution.org/women/women57.php
R. (2015, October 01). History Brief: Women in the American Revolution. Retrieved July 14, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkhoubO8yTA
This video is an overview of the Women that Played a role in the American Revolution. The women that he spoke about during this video was Abigail Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, Judith Sargent Murray, Mary Ludwig Hayes, Margaret Corbin, and Deborah Sampson. These women gave contributions by being on the war front, writing letters to their husbands, writing plays and speaking out when women were not suppose to say a word.
One unique story that I gained from this video was the story of Judith Sargent Murray. Murray was making an impact before the war by writing and publishing plays about the British wrong doings. She also suggested to many women how they could take a stand and boycott British goods during the war. She also was one of the first women to document the history of the war titled “History of the Rise”. By having the thoughts that woman’s minds work the same as a man, she gave herself power to take a stand.
Another story that I found interesting was Deborah Sampson, who dressed as a man and went off to war. She remained unnoticed until she became injured and a nurse noticed that she was a women in uniform. This proses the questions how many other heroic women went on to fight in the Revolutionary War for our country.
This source is a great resource for my content questions. It explains and illustrates stories of women within the revolution. Having the visual of moving words and pictures help bring to life the stories that I have either heard before or are hearing for the first time. This video is a great resource for showing such a large variety of women that played different roles within the revolution.
Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. (2016). The American Revolution. Digital History. Retrieved July 14, 2017 from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraID=3&smtID=5
This website is an interactive website with a variety of different historical topics, one being the American Revolution. This website presents you with a variety of different information from a timeline of events, to key people, music, videos and documents that all support the time period. This website would be a good support of background knowledge of what the revolution is and all that played a factor in it.
One interesting thing I discovered on this website was the timeline of events that occurred during the American Revolution. Before viewing this website, I did not realize how long of a period the Revolution went on and all that occurred even after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. I also discovered was the importance of music during this time period. They had songs through out the Revolutionary War to raise the spirits of those men who were fighting. It also brought unity at the end of the war with victory songs about patriotism and standing together as a country.
This website relates to my content questions by being an interactive website for students and teachers to get the background knowledge they need to understand the American Revolution, so that they can deepen their understanding of why women’s roles were so important. I realized when explaining my topic to someone, in order of them to understand women’s roles, they need background knowledge to support what the American Revolution was. It helped in my research to deepen my understand and connect it to all the information I have already gathered.
To view the website, please go to: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraID=3&smtID=5
B. (2012, October 17). Mini BIO – Abigail Adams. Retrieved July 14, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCMm-u5QOVw
This video is a mini Biography of Abigail Adams and her role in the revolution as John Adams wife and through out his presidency. John and Abigail met when they were young and got married before the Revolutionary War began. As the war went on, they went months without seeing each other, writing letters constantly. Once the revolutionary war was over, her husband served as a Founding Father of the Constitution. He also became the second president of the United States, where Abigail Adams was able to voice her opinion and be an active woman’s activist. She was a well know historical figure during this time period and used her power to the best of her abilities.
Something that I found interesting about this video was that it stated the importance of the letters that Abigail and John Adams wrote to each other. It claimed that the letters are still prized artifacts because they tell us a personal sense of who they were and the uncertainty that came with developing the new country. I also found it an interesting fact that she expressed herself through her husband during his presidency as a political activist which interfered with his presidency. I am curious to research if Abigail’s voice in his presidency was the reason he lost the next election against Thomas Jefferson?
This relates to my topic because it is a biography of an important historical figure during this time. I found that she represented a lot of the women in the upper class during this time who were educated and wrote letters to their husband about there experiences during this time. We can learn a lot from these letters and develop a greater understanding of the women’s roles during the American Revolution.
To view the video please visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCMm-u5QOVw
Revolutionary War Women. (n.d.). Retrieved July 13, 2017, from http://www.revolutionary-war.net/revolutionary-war-women.html
The revolutionary war women website is a website that presents over 20 women and their impact of the revolutionary war. Some of these women include Ann Bates, Miss Jenny, Henry Clinton, Abigail Adams and so many more. These stories are of triumph and perseverance to make a difference even when women were not thought to have a huge influence.
A new womens revolution story that I came across within this website was Ann Bates. Ann Bates was loyal to the crown and spied for the British as an elementary school teacher. I found this interesting because it is common for us to hear the stories of those women on the side of the patriots, but this showed that women on both sides were spies and taking a stand. There are so many women that went unnoticed within the revolution and that could be that they were under the table that they did not become publicly known.
This website ties to my guiding questions by addressing that such a large variety of women that many websites fail to mention. It gives a good variety of both perspectives within the war. It also gives a large variety of women from spies, to women stepping up on the front line and those that gained importance through her husband.
to see the full website, please visit: http://www.revolutionary-war.net/revolutionary-war-women.html
National Women’s History Museum. (2010, February 05). Retrieved July 13, 2017, from https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/
The Nation Women’s History Museum is an online area where people can explore women’s roles from a variety of eras within the history of America. They have different links to different exhibits online that document the progression over time, from Jamestown to women’s walks in 2017. This website allows us to see inspirational stories of women taking a stand. It is an inspirational and empowering source of what triggers women to fight for what they believe in and how we have the rights we have in today.
I took away from this website inspirational women that were in the American Revolution. I found that women were referred to as “patriots in petticoats” because they made a huge contribution to the Revolution by working as housewives, cooks and camp followers to care for the society while they were away. Another interesting finding was Abigail Adams’ impact of instructing her husband to “remember the ladies”. Through this act, she was making a public notice that women have been making a difference, and deserve to be in consideration while developing the constitution of the 13 colonies.
This website is a great resource in answering my research question by having a visual exhibit of the American Revolution and woman’s impact to who we are today. Through these empowering stories, it allows us to take a different perspective of the women during this time and apply it to what we go through today as women.
To see more about this website, please seee: https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/
This primary source is the Massachusetts Spy or Thomas’s Bolton Journal that was written on Thursday, July 7, 1774 which highlights the need for women to to join the fight in the Revolutionary War. Within the headlines it says to “Join or Die” emphasizing the impact the need for women to join in on the argument. In the top upper left corner of the news paper, there is a female figure, showing that it is directed towards women. In the upper right hand corner, there is a rattlesnake, representing the 13 colonies, challenging all the grief that is happening during the revolutionary war.
Something that I took away from this news paper was that it showed the culture during this time period. It showed that there was such a strong push for women to be on board in the revolution, even though they did not have a primary role. I also gained the type of art that was used during this time. I just question, how many women were able to read this if they were not educated? I find that the words that it speaks are complex for those women that are not education. That shows that it was geared for an upper white class, female to understand.
This answers my guiding question by showing that women did play an important role in the war even though a majority of them were not on the front lines. It also shows the culture of women during this time, as they posted a picture of what the women look like physically.
To see the full source please go to:
https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3a10607/
Kirkpatrick, P. (1970, January 01). Our Own History. Retrieved July 12, 2017, from http://ourownhistory.blogspot.com/2013/03/fearless-females-mammy-kate.html
This blog post is about Mammy Kate who was one of the women of the revolution who had an act of patriotism. Her husband was enslaved for the British army and she tried to find a way to free him. She gained the British soldiers trust by doing their laundry a few times a week. One day she asked if she could take a large amount of clothing for the soldier’s and do it on her own home. She put her husband in the basket and took him out of slavery. This was a heroic act of a minority women during the time and paved the way for so many women still to come.
Something that I have gained that so many acts of patriotism remained undocumented because there was no one to record their stories. For this couples act of patriotism, Michael Henderson, who was the first black person inducted into the state Sons of the American Revolution, brought their story to life. The list of names they have compiled of 6,600 names of other African American and Indian American names.
This helps to answer my guiding questions by being an example of the women’s role during the revolution. I found it interesting that so many heroic stories by minority women remain untold by the lack of education and resources to transcribe their results. This shows the impact women had in response to the war and without woman, they would not of been as successful in the overall out come of the war.
To see the actual blog please visit: http://ourownhistory.blogspot.com/2013/03/fearless-females-mammy-kate.html
Rosie the Riveter (2017, July 11). Richmond, California. Field Experience.
Due to a lack of American Revolution museums in California, I decided to go to a museum that shows the women’s role during a different time period.
Based on my findings at the museum, “Rosie the Riveter” was an icon with songs and images to campaign the recruitment of women into the work force and to persuade men to accept them. This museum honored the men and women in World War II. It highlighted the roles that women played as men went off to war, and the impact that it had for women of future generations. The museum also brought attention to Richmond California’s role in World War II. Overall it shows that the need for supplies from the war and not enough man power allowed women to enter a wide variety of industrial jobs.
Something that I took away from the museum was that six million women entered the US workforce during the war. The war pushed so many men out of their jobs to go to work that it made the government go out and recruit women to take their place. They first recruited white single women, then went to married women then minority women. When the men came back from war, a lot of women had to give up their jobs or did not make as much as men did, but it paved the way for showing women could do the work of a man.
Another thing that I found interesting about this museum was it showed women taking a stand and fighting for equality. Women did not get paid as much for the same job a man did. They did not only seek for gender equality but for African Americans and other minorities looked for equal opportunity. Through all their efforts of equality, President Roosevelt signed and Executive Order (8802) requiring fair hiring practices in the defense industry.
Though this museum does not directly answer my guiding questions, it does help identify the role that women played in a different part of history. It helps show that women in the American Revolution helped set the way for women’s roll during war time. While men are away at war, a lot of positions open up and women need to step up to keep the government going smoothly. There are some similarities in stories of women taking over on the battle field and in jobs back at home. I decided to include this in my collection because it gives a different perspective and time period of women’s roles during war time.
I highly recommend going to this exhibit: 1414 Harbour Way S, Richmond.
Here are a few more pictures from my trip:
Jennifer Barwig's Content Resources 