SEC 02: Historical Perspectives in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Why did Frederick Douglass argue that women were central to the abolitionist movement?

Douglass believed the anti-slavery cause was “peculiarly women’s cause” because women—especially Black women—organized, fundraised, spoke publicly, and linked slavery to broader struggles for citizenship and human dignity.

How did free Black women organize politically before formal suffrage?

They formed voluntary associations (e.g., benevolent societies), spoke publicly about Black women’s citizenship, and used collective organizing to challenge racial and gender exclusion.

What message did Maria W. Stewart deliver to Black women, and why was it radical?

She urged Black women to claim public leadership and intellectual authority—challenging both racism and gender norms that restricted women to the private sphere.

How did white women abolitionists like the Grimké sisters link slavery and women’s oppression?

They argued that women’s subordination mirrored enslavement, using moral and religious arguments to challenge both systems—even when criticized as “unwomanly.”

What ethical tension existed in white women comparing themselves to enslaved people?

White women benefited from racial privilege, education, and leisure—often derived from slavery—yet used the comparison strategically to mobilize white women against slavery.

How did abolitionist activism prepare women for the women’s rights movement?

It built political consciousness, public speaking skills, organizational experience, and a critique of injustice that transferred to gender equality activism.

What was the significance of the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention?

It marked the first organized U.S. women’s rights conference and framed women’s inequality as a systemic injustice requiring political rebellion.

How did the “Declaration of Sentiments” reflect abolitionist influence?

It echoed abolitionist language, moral reasoning, and critiques of tyranny previously developed in Quaker and anti-slavery contexts.

How did the press respond to Seneca Falls, and why does this matter?

Male journalists mocked the convention as “unnatural” and “unwomanly,” reinforcing gender ideology used later to oppose women’s suffrage.

How did Sojourner Truth challenge arguments against women’s suffrage?

She exposed the contradiction between claims of women’s weakness and the physical labor expected of enslaved and poor women, highlighting racialized gender ideology.

Why does Truth’s speech demonstrate early intersectional analysis?

It shows that gender arguments do not apply equally across race and class—Black women were denied both femininity and protection.

How were slavery and Indigenous dispossession ideologically linked?

Both relied on economic exploitation justified by narratives of racial inferiority and “civilization,” reinforcing white supremacy.

What was the purpose of the Indian Removal Act of 1830?

To forcibly relocate Native and Indigenous peoples east of the Mississippi to seize land for white wealth accumulation.

What was the Trail of Tears, and what were its consequences?

A forced relocation that killed roughly one-quarter of the Cherokee population and devastated Indigenous nations culturally and physically.

Why did the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments divide feminists?

They enfranchised Black men but excluded women, causing some white suffragists to oppose Black male suffrage.

What was the difference between NWSA and AWSA?

• NWSA: Opposed the Fifteenth Amendment

• AWSA: Supported it as necessary for Black freedom and future suffrage expansion

How did some white suffragists fail Black women after the Civil War?

They deprioritized anti-lynching and racial violence, framing them as “race issues” irrelevant to women’s political equality.

What role did Ida B. Wells play in anti-lynching activism?

She exposed lynching as domestic terrorism used to enforce Jim Crow, dismantling myths about Black male criminality.

Why was the myth of the Black male rapist politically useful?

It justified lynching, racial terror, and white vigilantism while obscuring white violence and power.

How did the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) embody intersectionality?

It addressed suffrage, racial violence, class uplift, and gender oppression as interconnected struggles.

What tensions existed in Mary Church Terrell’s “lifting as we climb” philosophy?

It promoted racial uplift but sometimes reinforced respectability politics that marginalized poor Black women.

Why did Native women’s activism center land restoration?

Land dispossession was foundational to settler colonialism and Indigenous oppression.

How did Sarah Winnemucca navigate political barriers?

She leveraged public speaking, writing, and diplomacy despite being barred from formal leadership roles.

Why was Winnemucca’s strategy controversial among her people?

Her cooperation with U.S. officials often resulted in broken promises, leading some to view her as too conciliatory.

What strategies led to the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment?

State-level voting campaigns, constitutional advocacy, White House picketing, hunger strikes, and civil disobedience.

Why was the Nineteenth Amendment an incomplete victory?

Racial discrimination, citizenship restrictions, and voter suppression barred many women of color from voting.

How did the Voting Rights Act of 1965 relate to women’s suffrage?

It finally enforced voting rights for women of color decades after the Nineteenth Amendment.

What was the Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL)?

A cross-class coalition organizing women workers to fight labor exploitation and regulate capitalism.

Why was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire pivotal?

It exposed deadly working conditions and spurred labor safety regulations through public outrage.

How did race and class hierarchies weaken women’s labor organizing?

Divisions between factory, domestic, retail, and agricultural workers depressed wages and solidarity.

What dilemma did the Equal Rights Amendment pose for women labor activists?

They feared it would eliminate protective labor laws, while supporters saw those laws as reinforcing inferiority.

How did women outside paid labor engage in activism?

Through union auxiliaries, consumer boycotts, rent strikes, and anti-eviction protests.

Why was the Mine-Mill Ladies Auxiliary 209 significant?

Mexican American women led picketing when men were legally barred, demonstrating women’s political agency.

What limits remained after women’s participation in strikes?

Gender hierarchies persisted in unions and families, and women’s demands were often sidelined.

How did housewives use consumer power politically?

By boycotting goods, enforcing price cuts, and framing food and housing as economic rights.

What does “the personal is political” mean?

Private experiences (housework, marriage, reproduction) reflect systemic power relations.

How did Pat Mainardi link housework to gender oppression?

Housework’s unpaid, devalued status reinforces women’s subordination and limits their political power.

Why did reproductive politics differ by race and class?

Women of color faced coerced sterilization, while white feminists focused on access and choice.

How did reproductive justice activism challenge mainstream feminism?

By exposing how “choice” rhetoric ignored racialized state control over women’s bodies.

How did medical discourse shape sexual norms?

It pathologized queer desire and defined heterosexuality as “normal.”

Why was the removal of homosexuality from the DSM in 1973 significant?

It challenged medical authority and reframed queerness as a social—not psychological—issue.

How did Stonewall transform queer activism?

It shifted the narrative from assimilation to rebellion and collective resistance.

What critique did Black feminists make of mainstream feminism?

That it centered white, middle-class women and ignored race, class, and survival issues.

How does intersectionality strengthen feminist politics?

By recognizing that systems of oppression are interconnected and must be challenged together.

What is hegemonic masculinity (Connell)?

A dominant form of masculinity that maintains gender hierarchies and legitimizes violence.

Why are movements like MeToo and SayHerName intersectional?

They center marginalized voices and reveal how gendered violence is shaped by race and power.