Women During The Civil War - 997 Words

Many people believe that women did not play any essential roles in our country’s history until the 1960s. However, this is not the case. Women have played many vital roles in suffrage movements as attempts to shed light upon or cure many of the ills of American society throughout American history. As an example, women fought to change the course and ideologies that were bestowed upon them by the traditional viewpoints of society of the time. The status of women was shifting rapidly in the Progressive Era. However, middle-class white married women still did not work outside the home. They were expected to stay home and tend to their families. Minority women, on the other hand, had to balance home life and their jobs outside of the home.†¦show more content†¦Likewise, several African American women went from working in agriculture to working in factories and as domestic servants and housekeepers. Concurrently, African American women had to endure the social and governmental racism, segregation, and overtly violent acts of racism, such as lynching and also sexism. This paper focuses on comparing and contrasting the education received by African American and Euro-American women used due to their differing and sometimes conflicted social standings during the Progressive Era. Attention is also given to specific strategies that were realized by organizations and groups, such as women’s conventions, schools, and settlement houses to help achieve their overall goal of equality. Attention is also given to specific strategies that were realized by organizations and groups, such as women’s conventions, schools, and settlement houses to help achieve their overall goal of equality. The paper also pinpoints key early reforms, and highlights the women who led them. In order to fully understand how and why these women did what they had to do, one must have knowledge of both the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era. The Gilded Age It is said that Mark Twain dubbed the later years of the 19th century as the Gilded Age. The period is very well described as a glittering invitation of the ‘American Dream’ to immigrants and laborers on the surface but corrupt and