WMST 231 American Women and Suffrage

This course examines women and their participation and leadership in American suffrage movements, with particular attention to women's creative choices in navigating an oppressive gender system, which denied them the vote prior to 1920. Focus will be on the lives of 19th & 20th century American women, as they experienced the intersectionality of race, class, and gender during the struggle for women's suffrage, beginning in 1848 with the Declaration of Sentiments presented at the first American women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, and ending with the ratification of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. This course will examine how women responded with innovative strategies for living lives of meaning, individually and in familial and community relationships. This course looks more deeply into one aspect of WMST 227 Women in American History: 1880 to the Present.

Credits

1

Prerequisite

Eligible to enroll in ENGL 121

Hours Weekly

1

Course Objectives

1. 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. 2. Analyze the roots of women’s disenfranchisement and campaigns for suffrage rights, as
   women creatively sought meaningful participation in American society and found innovative
   ways to adapt to new roles during the 19th & early 20th centuries.
3. 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
   and communities.

Course Objectives

1. 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. 2. Analyze the roots of women’s disenfranchisement and campaigns for suffrage rights, as
   women creatively sought meaningful participation in American society and found innovative
   ways to adapt to new roles during the 19th & early 20th centuries.
3. 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
   and communities.