...Asian American Women Introduction Through out history, Asian American women have required "the armor of warriors" in order to survive. For a period of 150 years, Asian women have labored and raised families in the United States, overcoming exploitation and racism from their earliest days as prostitutes, domestic servants and farm workers. In the present day, Asian American women have a representation in the most prestigious professional and managerial jobs. Today, Asians are looked at as a "model minority" whose growing mobility stands as an illustration for other racial-ethnic groups (Amott & Matthaei, 1996). The first Asian immigrants arrived in the United States from China, with the first huge wave coming in the mid-19th century. As with other cultural minorities, the Chinese and later the Japanese, Asian Indians, Filipinos, Koreans, and a host of other groups immigrated to the United States to serve mainly as a source of cheap labor. These migration trends were related to bigger worldwide transformations started by Euro-American colonialism and industrial capitalism. By the start of the Great Depression, these groups formed the prevalent Asian populations in the United States. According to United States census data and other available reports, there were close to 56,000 Filipinos, 140,000 Japanese, 75,000 Chinese several thousand Koreans and Asian Indians and living in America in 1930, most living on the West Coast (Amott & Matthaei, 1996). The Asian populace in the United...
Words: 2118 - Pages: 9
...Running head: WOMEN IN AMERICA 1 ! Women In America Katarina Davison HIS204: American History Since 1985 Laverne Peralta February 2nd , 2015 WOMEN IN AMERICA 2 ! In the history of the world, women have ruled the world, shaped the world, and changed the world and in the United States, women have had a storied and grand history that has evolved the role of women from typical housewife to leaders of women's rights movements and has shown their true worth and true potential to their male counterparts. In this paper, I will be talking about six key events and time periods that have changed not just women's history but the overall history a nation. Three of these events and time periods will be before 1930 and three of them will be after 1930 to give the reader an overall sense of the evolution of the role women have played. The events that I will be talking about are the roles that women played in World War One beginning in 1914, the second historic event is the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote, the third time period I will be talking about before 1930 is that of the roaring 1920s. After 1930, the changes were still happening for women and World War II was a major point in the evolution of what it means to be a woman, this time period was quickly followed by the baby boom. The final time period I will discuss is the Feminist Movement in the 1960s and how those efforts have led to a lasting impression of who women are in today's modern era. WOMEN IN AMERICA...
Words: 1613 - Pages: 7
...Women Throughout American History Throughout history women have created a diverse culture for our nation. Before women took a stance for themselves, history had not evolved, women were greatly disregarded and neglected. Women today have done so much for society and our nation that it is odd to think all of their contributions to American history at one point did not matter. The supremacy of the white male had taken over for a while, but there are different cultures as well as a different gender that has helped and document todays history. Okihiro is a woman that has shown that looking through history from a different point of view can change the outlook that women have set history apart for themselves, and are centered around history. Women...
Words: 334 - Pages: 2
...Women, Slaves, and Free Blacks in the Civil War What roles did the Northern women play in the war effort on the Union side during the Civil War? What roles did the Southern women play in the war effort on the Confederate side during the Civil War? How did the war affect each group? “There were just shy of 400 documented cases of women who served as soldiers during the Civil War, according to the records of the Sanitary Commission.” (Brown, 2012) Women during the 19th century, according to Historian Barbara Welters were “hostage of the home”. (Brown, 2012) Women were considered what we know now as home wives, without really the option of doing anything outside of the home. When the Civil War began, that meant that men left home behind to go join the ranks. Therefore, the duty lie heavily on the women. The war, in a sense, gave women independence. Instead of just taking care of the home and children, women had to fulfill the duties their husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons once fulfilled due to the economic hardships. (“Over the course of the war, inflation in the South caused prices to rise by 9000%.”) (U.S. History Online Textbook, 2015) The women in the South held fundraisers to raise money for army supplies and also provided soldiers with necessary supplies of everyday life. In the South, many women had to become school teachers (for the first time) and eventually were granted permission to work in the hospitals due to the lack of nurses due to all the casualties...
Words: 995 - Pages: 4
...African American Women Under Slavery This paper discusses the experiences of African American Women under slavery during the Slave Trade, their exploitation, the secrecy, the variety of tasks and positions of slave women, slave and ex-slave narratives, and significant contributions to history. Also, this paper presents the hardships African American women faced and the challenges they overcame to become equal with men in today’s society. Slavery was a destructive experience for African Americans especially women. Black women suffered doubly during the slave era. Slave Trade For most women who endured it, the experience of the Slave Trade was one of being outnumbered by men. Roughly one African woman was carried across the Atlantic for every two men. The captains of slave ships were usually instructed to buy as high a proportion of men as they could, because men could be sold for more in the Americas. Women thus arrived in the American colonies as a minority. For some reason, women did not stay a minority. Slave records found that most plantations, even during the period of the slave trade, there were relatively equal numbers of men and women. Slaveholders showed little interest in women as mothers. Their willingness to pay more for men than women, despite the fact than children born to enslaved women would also be the slaveowners’ property and would thus increase their wealth. Women who did have children, therefore, always struggled with the impossible conflict...
Words: 2409 - Pages: 10
...Women in our country have been second class citizens since our countries inception and still struggle today with maintaining equal rights. Women in the United States have faced a long and arduous road towards acquiring equal rights in the eyes of the government and still fight today to be seen as equals in all that they do. From the time before the Civil War until present day the issue of equal rights for women has been fought for by many activists. Women have struggled with issues such as the right to vote in elections and receive equal pay for equal work in the workplace. There have been many victories in the battle to become equal citizens by women, but there have also been many setbacks throughout the history of our country. In 1868 one of the pioneers of the women’s movement Elizabeth Stanton gave a speech to the Women’s Suffrage Convention entitled the Destructive Male. “Twenty years earlier, at Seneca Falls, New York, she had helped to launch the women’s right movement in America.”(History, Art & Archives 2013) In her speech she outlined how masculinity offered elements of negativity to the world and that a woman’s touch would be needed to help counter balance this fact. “The male element is a destructive force, stern, selfish, aggrandizing, loving war, violence, conquest, acquisition, breeding in the material and moral world alike discord, disorder, disease, and death.” (Stanton, Elizabeth, 1868) Her speech at the convention is important because it outlined how women...
Words: 2858 - Pages: 12
...The Family Sphere: The Changing Role of Women in the Home HIS 310 American Women's History Instructor: Dr. Cheryl Lemus April 18, 2016 Dr. Barbara Welter penned an influential article in 1966 titled “The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820–1860” which shed light on the often restrictive family sphere of existence within which, most American women throughout history had dwelt. According to Welter, true womanhood held that women were designed exclusively for the roles of wife and mother and were expected to cultivate Piety, Purity, Submissiveness, and Domesticity in all their relations (para.2). The Cult of True Womanhood, the idealized sainted mother, unconditional devotee of her husband and children, and the core power within the home still exists in the minds of many American men and women and seems to be an intrinsic part of our shared history. The ideal of the sphere of the American women and her relationship to the family evolved as the colonization of the United States evolved. When the first settlers arrived, women held a much more equitable role, laboring alongside the men to establish the country’s first settlements. As the initial settlements grew, the women who had proved vital in their creation were expected to lay down their hammers and saws and return to the family sphere. The supposition being that the return of the American woman to the family sphere was a returning to of them to their natural roles. She would leave the public sphere and revert to the more domestic...
Words: 2503 - Pages: 11
...Contrary to the popular belief of men contributing the biggest part to the American Revolution, women have made significant impact in our history as well. Unfortunately, most of our history books minimize the impact of women on our history, and when it is mentioned, it is often belittles or even romanticized through the authors eyes. Carol Berkin attempts to portray a more accurate representation of these influences in her book Revolutionary Mothers, Women in the Struggle for American Independence. Berkin discusses the Colonial white women, Native American, and African American women and how they have helped to construct and shape our history. By basing her position in this book on the various socioeconomic statuses such as the high and low classes, as well as those who supported Loyalist and Patriotic causes during this lengthy battle for Americas Independence. Overall, Berkin has constructed a piece of literature that attempts to depict the real influence of both average common folks as well as famous women have had in our history and how they were affected by the Revolutionary war. By using many different sources and numerous footnotes throughout her 120 page book , Berkin defends her stance on the roles of many women throughout history and their influences. Berkin position is backed up by using diaries from numerous women written during the days of the Revolution, memoirs, legal opinions, law books as well as news paper articles. Also to discredit any other possible...
Words: 1041 - Pages: 5
...Hemphill, C. Dallett. "Women in Court: Sex-Role Differentiation in Salem, Massachusetts, 1636 to 1683." The William and Mary Quarterly 39, no. 1 (1982): 164-75. This source pints out the fact that men held power and authority over women since the beginning of Salem and throughout its development. The law was enforced by patriarchal figures and women were subjects who were expected to follow it. While Salem was a patriarchal society, it surprisingly also allowed women to testify in court and were active in their duties outside of the household. Women were aware of the social issues that surrounded them. This source shows the shift that occurred in Salem and caused women to eventually feel “economically helpless”. The experience of abuse between...
Words: 873 - Pages: 4
...called a dissent. The history of an American change the world into a better place. Additionally, America is becoming better than before. Dissent plays an important role in shaping the American history is because it made people believe that there is hope. The dissenters back in the days would give up the world to just fight for their children and relatives freedom. For example, women back in the era did not have the rights to vote nor have freedom, they were unrecognized. Susan B. Anthony was one of an astonishing dissenter who fought for women’s rights and suffrage movement. Her goal is to lead women into the right...
Words: 499 - Pages: 2
...The Quest for Equality Debbie Werley U.S. History 1312 Dr. Wendell Hunnicut Final Essay March 21, 2012 Although the United States was founded on the ideal that all men are created equal, many Americans throughout our history have not enjoyed this privilege. Several issues, such as voting rights, labor equality, and equal opportunities in education have faced minorities and women in our country. Many gains in improving equality have been made. Voting rights for all Americans, improvement in workplace discrimination, and equal opportunities in education are some examples of these gains. Various prominent citizens have worked diligently throughout our history to accomplish equality for these groups using different methods. Some of these methods have worked better than others. Boycotts, peaceful marches and courtroom battles were some of the methods that brought better results. Many equality issues have affected minorities and women in our country. The fight for the right to vote was long and difficult for both groups. Although the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified in 1870, granting all black men voting rights, (Jones et al, 2009, 373) it was not until after World War II that this right was realized. Women’s suffrage was an even longer battle. Begun in 1866, when women reformers attempted to secure this right along with African American’s right to vote, women would not gain the vote until ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 (Jones et al, 2009, 476). Equality...
Words: 1189 - Pages: 5
...The Women’s Rights Movement: Women’s Suffrage Jamuel Breeze Old Dominion University Abstract Women’s history is still being reclaimed. Women played critical roles in the twentieth-century American life. Women were workers, artists, parents, and women offered in many forms energies, insights, and strengths in periods of crisis and prosperity. Our forefathers wrote that all men were created equal, but growing up as a females has never been easy. When children are young there are not many differences between boys and girls, but as life continues things change. When young girls grow to become women they face discrimination, from the onset, as opposed to their male counterparts. This discrimination comes from society, and can even come from within their household from parents, siblings, and other family members. Women were viewed as only suitable for domestic works and were not given opportunities for advancement nor knowledge of other skills and trades. This essay will cover the route that women took in order to become equal; The Women’s Rights Movement, but more specifically focus on Women’s Suffrage. The Women’s Rights Movement Women’s rights movements are primarily concerned with making the political, social, and economic status of women equal to that of men while establishing legislative safeguards against discrimination on the basis of sex. The Women’s Right Movement began in 1848 with the first women’s rights convention being held in Seneca Falls, New York. Elizabeth...
Words: 2562 - Pages: 11
...T.V.E.E History 222 Short Paper John Moss Professor Gunshore History 222 African American History Since 1877 January 21, 2012 Topic: Women in the Civil Right Movement Women played a significance role in the Civil Rights Movement Viewpoint: Women played a major role in the Civil Rights Movement Evidence: “?[Women in the Civil Rights Movement] helps break the gender line that restricted women in civil rights history to background and backstage roles, and places them in front, behind, and in the middle of the Southern movement that re-made America. . . . It is an invaluable resource which helps set history straight.” —1 Four of the six women were born in nineteenth century but five of them died in this century: Wells-Barnett in 1931; Terrell in 1954; Bethune in 1955; Roosevelt in 1962; Baker in 1986; Parks is still alive. There are also some common threads that weave their way through each of these women’s lives. They all valued education, not just formal schooling but a love of learning making them truly life long learners. Each woman kept her mind open to new possibilities and each cared deeply about people 2 In 1963, for example, Betty Friedan, founder of the National Organization for Women, published The Feminine Mystique, which exposed the strict and confining gender roles instilled in U.S. society in the 1950s and 1960s -- and, arguably, today 3 Ida Wells-Barnett was one of two black women to sign the call for the formation of the National Association for...
Words: 701 - Pages: 3
...Throughout history there has been different forms of discrimination. Women and African Americans have both faced discrimination. There are different forms of discrimination such as voting and segregation. Federal and state governments have taken action but not all the time. Some actions have protected rights while others have limited rights. Women and African Americans are just two groups of many that have been discriminated. Discrimination to African Americans and Women has changed through history in different ways. Voting rights for African Americans have been denied. Most African Americans came to the U.S. as slaves and for many years were slaves. After the Civil War (during Reconstruction) African Americans could vote but that did...
Words: 648 - Pages: 3
...The History of Women HIS 204 American History Since 1865 The History of Women What would the world be if not for the powerful women who have helped to guide the path of women’s rights in the nation? Would women enjoy the same freedoms or would women still be prisoners to the home? Thankfully women don’t need to spend much time contemplating this as we did have strong, powerful women that fought for women’s rights for centuries. Women encouraged other women to fight for equality, fight for freedom, fight for the opportunity to be a strong independent woman in a nation of strong independent men. This paper will discuss several significant events that shaped the future for women in America. Events driven by women that wanted their voices to be heard through a sea of men, women that wanted men to realize that women had a lot to offer this world we live in. The first event this paper will discuss is the American Equal Rights Association started in 1866 by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. This association would shine a light on women’s suffrage in the nation and later inspire a more radical group called The National Woman Suffrage Association. World War I was another event that that the shaped the future for women in America and around the world. Women left their homes to become nurses that would care for wounded soldiers around the world. Another event is the passage of the 19th amendment in 1920. The 19th amendment gave women a voice in elections throughout...
Words: 3271 - Pages: 14
