WMST-230 Women in Colonial Maryland
This course examines women in three major cultures-Native, African, and European--that met and mixed in Colonial America, especially in Maryland. Particular attention is given to women's creative choices in navigating the intersectionality of race, class, gender, and sexuality from the founding of the colony in 1632 to admission to the Union in 1788. Scope will encompass indentured servants, convict bondservants, free laborers, enslaved workers, and indigenous women, and will include women's innovative strategies for living lives of meaning, individually, as well as in familial and community relationships.
Prerequisite
Eligible to enroll in
ENGL-121
Hours Weekly
1
Course Objectives
- 1. Analyze the responses of American women to an oppressive gender system; explore
innovative, creative, and risk-taking strategies invented by women to enable them to navigate
systems of race, class, gender, and sexuality, while pursuing meaningful lives for
themselves, their families, and their communities. - 2. Assess variations in the sexual division of labor as Native, African, and European women
creatively adapted to new roles during early periods of European colonization, establishment
of settlements on the eastern and western shores, agricultural and manufacturing production
and trade, conflicts and rebellions, and the American Revolutionary War. - 3. Analyze fictional portrayals, in print and film, of women and their families and communities
during this period, comparing them with what we know about actual women and their
families.
Course Objectives
- 1. Analyze the responses of American women to an oppressive gender system; explore
innovative, creative, and risk-taking strategies invented by women to enable them to navigate
systems of race, class, gender, and sexuality, while pursuing meaningful lives for
themselves, their families, and their communities. - 2. Assess variations in the sexual division of labor as Native, African, and European women
creatively adapted to new roles during early periods of European colonization, establishment
of settlements on the eastern and western shores, agricultural and manufacturing production
and trade, conflicts and rebellions, and the American Revolutionary War. - 3. Analyze fictional portrayals, in print and film, of women and their families and communities
during this period, comparing them with what we know about actual women and their
families.