by Gail Collins
Johann Friedrich Dieffenbach… Dally, pp. 23–24.
J. Marion Sims: The saga of Dr. Sims is told in his own autobiography and from a different perspective in Dally’s Women Under the Knife. For a third view, see Diana Scully’s “From Natural to Surgical Event” in Pamela Eakins’s The American Way of Birth.
Jane Todd Crawford… Dally, pp. 8–19.
Both Harriet Beecher Stowe… Hedrick, p. 175.
A famous English gynecologist… Hartman and Banner, p. 4.
Salmon P. Chase… Wertz and Wertz, p. 68.
It’s no wonder that… A brief overview of the health reformers of the era can be found in the introduction to Susan Cayleff’s Wash and Be Healed. Sylvester Graham claimed… Mary P. Ryan’s The Empire of the Mother, p. 28.
Harriet Beecher Stowe spent… Cayleff, pp. 143–44.
“AFRAID OF NOTHING SO MUCH AS GROWING STOUT”
On the issue of women’s body image throughout history, I’ve relied on Lois Banner’s American Beauty more than any other book.
William Baxter… Banner, p. 54.
Harriet Beecher Stowe theorized… Banner, p. 54.
the corset: Anyone who wants to know a great deal more about the history of corsets should consult Valerie Steele’s The Corset.
A southern woman wrote… Catherine Clinton, The Plantation Mistress, p. 99.
“We in America…” Banner, p. 47.
“They never wear…” Trollope, p. 234.
“Remember…not to go out…” Clinton, The Plantation Mistress, p. 100.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton… Stanton describes her love affair with the bloomer outfit in chapter 13 of her autobiography.
Cady Stanton, whose figure… Banner, p. 97.
“ONE OF THE BEST OBSTETRICIANS OF HIS TIME…WAS BLIND”
There are a lot of excellent studies of the history of childbirth in America, but my favorite is Lying-In by Richard and Dorothy Wertz. This section relies heavily on their research, along with the works cited below
In Philadelphia, twenty-one women… Catherine Scholten’s “On the Importance of the Obstetrick Art” in William and Mary Quarterly (July 1977), p. 434.
in 1840 at Bellevue… Janet Carlisle Bogdan’s “Aggressive Intervention and Mortality” in Eakins, p. 83.
William Dewees… Judith Walzer Leavitt, “‘Science’ Enters the Birthing Room,” Journal of American History (September 1983), p. 286.
In 1833 in Boston… Wertz and Wertz, pp. 68–69.
A Virginia doctor… Wertz and Wertz, p. 97.
Dr. Thomas Denman… Scholten, p. 443.
“I confess…” Wertz and Wertz, p. 33.
When Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes… Finley, p. 103.
“MARRIED PERSONS WILL READILY UNDERSTAND
THE NATURE OF THE TOPICS”
Except where noted, this section is based on Janet Farrell Brodie’s fascinating Contraception and Abortion in Nineteenth-Century America.
by the end of the nineteenth century… Linda Gordon, Woman’s Body, Woman’s Right, p. 48.
In 1840, Priscilla Cooper Tyler… Brodie, p. 31.
But early American recipe books… Baxandall and Gordon, p. 13.
“The Portuguese…” Gordon, pp. 53–54.
One New York firm advertised… Brodie, p. 70.
Frederick Hollick… Brodie, pp. 112–17.
Lester and Lizzie Ward… James Reed, From Private Vice to Public Virtue, pp. 30–31.
“Female Physician in the two…” Gordon, p. 54.
In real life, Madame Restell… Seymour Mandelbaum’s biography of
Ann Lohman in Notable American Women, James and James, eds., vol. 2, pp. 424–45.
“TOO SPARING IN THEIR USE OF WATER”
The two main sources of information about eighteenth- and nineteenth-century cleanliness in this book are the Bushmans’ “The Early History of Cleanliness” and Suellen Hoy’s Chasing Dirt. The best analysis of how American women handled the problem of menstruation through history is Joan Jacobs Brumberg’s The Body Project.
Lucy Larcom… Larcom, A New England Girlhood, p. 168.
William Alcott… Hoy, p. 24.
The girls at the Euphradian Academy… Clinton, The Plantation Mistress, p. 133.
By 1860 there were only about 4,000… Bushman and Bushman, pp. 1225–26.
“Females, with all…” The American Lady’s Medical Pocket-Book, p. 43.
The idea of washing… Cayleff, p. 37.
“The loss of my teeth…” Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Within the Plantation Household, pp. 4, 12, 27.
The most important function… Brumberg, p. 37.
At the very end of the nineteenth… Brumberg, p. xxvii.
“BEAT IT THREE QUARTERS OF AN HOUR”
This section and other pieces of this book that deal with housekeeping rely heavily on Ruth Schwartz Cowan’s More Work for Mother.
“To be sweet, nutritious…” Priscilla Brewer, From Fireplace to Cookstove, p. 98.
In her recipe book… Ellen Plante, Women at Home in Victorian America, p. 114.
In 1850, a Philadelphia… Matthews, p. 12.
“Take eight eggs…” Cowan, pp. 52–53.
Martha Coffin Wright… Boydston, p. 107.
By 1830, about a quarter… Larkin, pp. 139–44.
“Who has not…” Gilman, Recollections of a Housekeeper, pp. 62–63.
“It is all shoreless…” Hedrick, p. 186.
Writing to her sister-in-law… Hoy, p. 10.
The first brooms… Larkin, p. 131.
In Chicago in 1844… Boorstin, pp. 145–46.
“CHILDREN ARE KILLED BY THE MANNER
IN WHICH THEY ARE DRESSED”
When she was five, Helen Hunt… Rothman, p. 94.
One physician announced that… Dye and Smith, p. 344.
The influential Dr. William Dewees… Wishy, p. 40.
An 1833 guide used by… Clinton, The Plantation Mistress, p. 145.
“FADED AT TWENTY-THREE”
A Spaniard, Domingo Sarmiento… Banner, p. 80.
Alexis De To queville… De To queville, Democracy in America, pp. 233–35.
Another visitor… P. Smith, pp. 87–88.
In the 1840s, the Young Ladies…” Lee Virginia Chambers-Schiller, Liberty, a Better Husband, pp. 15–28.
An estimated 40 percent… Chambers-Schiller, pp. 27–28.
In 1850, the governor… Chambers-Schiller, pp. 32–33.
CHAPTER 7: AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN
For much of our history, when black Americans were interviewed by social scientists or historians, their answers were transcribed phonetically, complete with the dropping of the g in words like something and the t in words like don’t. The idea was to give a feeling for the rhythms of their speech, but I’ve always found it distracting. Since whites are generally given the benefit of having their words recorded in regular English, I’ve treated the quotes from African Americans the same way throughout this book. No words were changed in the process.
Anyone interested in the history of women in slavery should read two books that actually aren’t about women in particular: Herbert Gutman’s The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom and Eugene Genovese’s Roll, Jordan, Roll. However, the one book I’ve relied on most for the entire history of African American women is Jacqueline Jones’s Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow.
“THE WOMEN WERE THE PLUCKIEST”
“They are the ones who work…” John Thornton, “Slave Trade and Family Structures,” in Women and Slavery in Africa, Claire Robertson and Martin Klein, eds., p. 44.
“Women are scarce…” Robin Law, The Slave Coast of West Africa, p. 167.
One ship, acquiring…Black Voyage, Thomas Howard, ed., pp. 135–36.
In 1721, an African woman… Deborah Gray White, Ar’n’t I a Woman?
Female Slaves in the Plantation South, pp. 63–64.
Edward Manning… Howard, ed., p. 166.
Samuel Hall… John Blassingame, The Slave Community
, p. 25.
“I NEVER SEE HOW MY MAMMY STAND SUCH HARD WORK”
During the Depression one of the many public works projects underwritten by the federal government, the Federal Writers Project, dispatched workers through seventeen states to interview former slaves. Those interviews, added to ones conducted earlier by researchers from black colleges, saved the voices of an entire people and era. Everyone who cares about American history should bless that project. Those interviews are now included in dozens of books, a number of which are noted below. Others can be found in the bibliography. My own particular favorite is Remembering Slavery, edited by Ira Berlin et al.
Katy Ferguson: Black Women in White America, Gerda Lerner, ed., p. 76.
At a time when a reasonably productive… Jones, Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow, p. 15.
“The women plowed…” John Blassingame, Slave Testimony, p. 656.
Bob Ellis… Jones, p. 31.
“A child raised…” Wilma King, “Suffer With Them Till Death,” in More Than Chattel, David Gaspar and Darlene Clark Hine, eds., p. 147.
The Plantation Manual advised… White, p. 100.
“I WANT TO BE IN HEAVEN SITTING DOWN”
Angelina Grimke…Black Women in White America, Gerda Lerner, ed., p. 21.
The image of the slave…Bullwhip Days, James Mellon, ed., p. 42.
“If Marse catch…” Mellon, ed., p. 383.
Milla Granson… Darlene Clark Hine and Kathleen Thompson, A Shining Thread of Hope, p. 74.
“IT WAS FREEDOM BEFORE SHE COME OUT OF THAT CAVE”
“They’d dig a hole…” Remembering Slavery, Ira Berlin et al., eds., p. 91.
“Husbands always went…” Berlin et al., eds., p. 140.
Leah Garrett… Berlin et al., eds., pp. 23–24.
Salomon Oliver… Berlin et al., eds., p. 49.
“WE MADE THE GALS HOOPS OUT OF GRAPEVINES”
In the 1930s, Violet Guntharpe…Before Freedom When I Can Just Remember, Belinda Hurmence, ed., pp. 5–6.
When Fanny Kemble urged… Kemble, p. 100.
A white Georgian…To Toil the Livelong Day, Carol Groneman and Mary Beth Norton, eds., pp. 79–80.
“Sunday clothes was dyed…” Genovese, p. 555.
“That sure was hard living…” Fox-Genovese, p. 165.
A former slave in Nashville… Tera Hunter, To ’Joy My Freedom, p. 12.
Katie Phoenix… Berlin et al., eds., p. 214.
“Slaves lived just…” Weevils in the Wheat, Charles Perdue et al., eds., p. 49.
“All week they wear…” Fox-Genovese, p. 219.
“Couldn’t spring up…” Jones, p. 34.
“A CHANCE HERE THAT WOMEN HAVE NOWHERE ELSE”
Slave women, the well-to-do… Gutman, pp. 63–64.
Priscilla McCullough… Gutman, p. 70.
One black preacher in Kentucky… Steven Mintz and Susan Kellogg, Domestic Revolutions: A Social History of American Family Life, p. 72.
“We was married…” Berlin et al., eds., pp. 123–25.
“Didn’t have to ask…” Berlin et al., eds., p. 126.
Hannah Chapman… Jones, p. 37.
Mattie Jackson… Gutman, p. 287.
Charles Ingram… Joan Cashin, A Family Venture, p. 50.
“THE GREATEST ORATOR I EVER HEARD WAS A WOMAN”
Cornelius Garner… Gutman, p. 148.
One historian estimated… Mintz and Kellogg, p. 70.
“Oh, my mother!…” Mary Ryan, Six Women’s Slave Narratives, p. 5.
Sojourner Truth’s parents… Nell Irvin Painter, Sojourner Truth: A Life, a Symbol, pp. 12–13, 39.
John Randolph… Genovese, p. 456.
When Delcia Patterson… Berlin et al., eds., pp. 42–43.
William Massie… Genovese, p. 453.
“One morning we is…” Berlin et al., eds., p. 157.
Laura Clark: Cashin, p. 55.
nearly 20 percent said… Mintz and Kellogg, pp. 69–70.
“I love you just as well…” Gutman, pp. 6–7.
In 1863, an ex-slave… Gutman, p. 149.
“I WAS TOO YOUNG TO UNDERSTAND RIGHTLY MY CONDITION”
But their infants died… King in Gaspar and Hine, eds., p. 150.
More than a third died… Mintz, p. 72.
Octavia George… Berlin et al., eds., p. 114.
“This was the happiest…” Ryan, Six Women’s Slave Narratives, p. 1.
Ellen Betts… Mellon, p. 381.
Leah Garrett… Berlin et al., eds., p. 23.
Angelina Grimke…Black Women in White America, Lerner, ed., p. 20.
Young Henrietta King’s… Berlin et al., eds., pp. 20–21.
“A SAD EPOCH IN THE LIFE OF A SLAVE GIRL”
Fannie Berry treasured… King in Gaspar and Hine, eds., pp. 171–72.
Harriet Jacobs… Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, p. 26.
Anne Broome… Genovese, pp. 462–63.
One ex-slave told…In Joy and Sorrow, Carol Bleser, ed., p. 64.
Annie Burton…Black Women in Nineteenth-Century American Life, Bert James Lowenberg and Ruth Bogin, eds., p. 98.
Thomas Foster… Bleser, ed., p. 61.
When Senator Richard Johnson… Collins, pp. 53–54.
In Mississippi shortly before… Bleser, ed., pp. 63–64.
New Orleans had a “fancy girl”…Black Women in White America, Lerner, ed., pp. 10–12.
“IT’SME, HARRIET. IT’S TIME TO GO NORTH.”
This section is based on John Hope Franklin’s short biography of Tubman in Notable American Women, James and James, eds., and Darlene Clark Hine’s in Black Women in America.
“Col. Montgomery and his gallant…” Hine and Thompson, p. 132.
“STOMP DOWN FREEDOM TODAY”
“The news went…” Berlin et al., eds., p. 234.
“I remember the first Sunday…” Berlin et al., eds., p. 267.
CHAPTER 8: WOMEN AND ABOLITION
“THEN LET IT SINK. I WILL NOT DISMISS HER.”
Except when otherwise noted, this section relies on the work in Three Who Dared, by Philip Foner and Josephine Pacheco, and A Whole-Souled Woman, by Susan Strane.
“Then let it sink…” This version of Prudence’s famous quote comes from Strane. Foner uses another version “Then it might sink then, for I should not turn her out.”
One was dumped… Strane, pp. 70–72.
“would not let me…” Thomas Drake in Notable American Women, James and James, eds., vol. 1, p. 400.
“WE ABOLITION WOMEN ARE TURNING
THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN”
Except when noted, the information on the Grimke sisters is taken from Gerda Lerner’s biography, The Grimke Sisters from South Carolina. More recently, Mark Perry has written a study of both the sisters and their half-black nephews, Lift Up Thy Voice: The Grimke Family’s Journey from Slaveholders to Civil Rights Leaders.
Between 1834 and 1837… Julie Roy Jeffrey’s Great Silent Army of Abolition, p. 49.
Ellen Smith… Jeffrey, Great Silent Army, p. 198.
“If this is the last bulwark…” Alma Lutz’s biography of Maria Chapman in Notable American Women, James and James, eds., vol. 1, p. 324.
One Boston volunteer… Jeffrey, Great Silent Army, p. 51.
“Confusion has seized…” Lerner, The Grimke Sisters, p. 145.
“PUTTING THEM ON AN EQUALITY WITH OURSELVES”
For this section, and much else in this chapter, I’m indebted to Julie Roy Jeffrey’s The Great Silent Army of Abolition.
“Her fine genius…” Michael Goldberg’s “An Unfinished Battle” in No Small Courage, Nancy Cott, ed., p. 228.
In Fall River… Jeffrey, Great Silent Army, pp. 43–44.
The Buffum sisters… Chace and Lovell, pp. 31–32.
Hannah Austin… Jeffrey, Great Silent Army, p. 45.
“THE MOST ODIOUS OF TASKS”
“How can you eat…” Jeffrey, Great Silent Army, p. 19.
&n
bsp; “almost everything good”… Jeffrey, Great Silent Army, p. 48.
The Dover Anti-Slavery… Jeffrey, Great Silent Army, p. 79.
Even the unstoppable… Jeffrey, Great Silent Army, p. 90.
In 1836, 20 percent… Edward Magdol, The Anti-Slavery Rank and File, p. 102.
Embroidered linens… Ronald Walters, The Antislavery Appeal, p. 24.
Lewis Tappen, Garrison’s opponent… Ginzberg, p. 64.
“How heretical, harsh…” Catherine Clinton’s biography of Chapman in Portraits of American Women, Barker-Benfield and Clinton, eds., pp. 150–53.
Julia Lovejoy… Ginzberg, pp. 115–16.
“I AM TRYING TO GET UNCLE TOM OUT OF THE WAY”
Except where noted, this section is based on information in Joan Hedrick’s Harriet Beecher Stowe.
“Many families who…” Jacobs, pp. 14–15
“Why I have felt almost choked…” Hedrick, pp. 204–7.
“I am trying…” Hedrick, p. 221.
the crowd chanted… Hedrick, p. 306.
“I CRAWLED ABOUT MY DEN FOR EXERCISE”
The real Eliza… Henrietta Buckmaster, Let My People Go, pp. 121–22.
Ellen Craft: Lerner, Black Women in America, pp. 65–72; Buckmaster, pp. 157–58.
“The garret was…” Jacobs, pp. 128–29.
Child, the editor… Jacobs, p. xx.
Not every writer… Hedrick, pp. 248–49.
“WHY CAN’T SHE HAVE HER LITTLE PINT FULL?”
Except when otherwise noted, this section is based on Nell Irvin Painter’s Sojourner Truth: A Life, a Symbol.
“See if Im not…” Ginzberg, p. 105.
“If colored men…” Painter, Sojourner Truth, p. 220.
Frances Watkins Harper decided… Painter, Sojourner Truth, p. 225.
“DOES SHE BELONG TO YOU?”
Elizabeth Jennings: This information is taken from “The Search for Elizabeth Jennings” by John Hewitt, New York History 71, no. 4, pp. 387–415.
Frances Watkins Harper had… Jeffrey, Great Silent Army, p. 208.
Sarah Walker Fossett… Jeffrey, Great Silent Army, pp. 127–28.
In 1865, Harriet Tubman… Massey, p. 269.
Sojourner Truth… Painter, Sojourner Truth, p. 211.
“IT IS PLEASANT TO LOOK AT—ALTHOUGH IT IS BLACK”
Charlotte Forten, a member… Jeffrey, Great Silent Army, p. 196.
Forten’s story… Unless otherwise noted, Brenda Stevenson’s biography of Forten in Portraits of American Women, Barker-Benfield and Clenton, eds., was the source of information for this section.
