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Smith, Sidonie & Watson, Julia, eds. Before they could vote; American women's autobiographical writing, 1819-1919.


SMITH, Sidonie & WATSON Wat·son , James Dewey Born 1928.

American biologist who with Francis Crick proposed a spiral model, the double helix, for the molecular structure of DNA. He shared a 1962 Nobel Prize for advances in the study of genetics.
, Julia, eds. Before they could vote; American women's autobiographical writing, 1819-1919. Univ. of Wisconsin Press. 454p. bibliog. c2006. 0-299-22054-0. $26.95. SA *

Anyone interested in the history of women in America should have this collection on a handy shelf. Smith and Watson have chosen 24 selections within the time frame they set as starting at the end of the early republic and continuing to the passage of the amendment allowing women to vote. Their purpose is to collect "heterogeneous narratives of activism and adventuring" (p. 19) in order to awaken a reader's awareness that the history of women in the 19th century is not limited to the suffragette movement and Victorian domesticity. Some of the women whose autobiographical writings are included here are well known: Mary Jemison Mary Jemison (1743–1833) was an American frontierswoman and an adopted Seneca.

Mary Jemison was born to Thomas and Jane Jemison aboard the ship William and Mary in the fall of 1743 while en route from Northern Ireland to America.
, Fanny Kemble, Sojourner Truth Sojourner Truth: see Truth, Sojourner.  and Margaret Fuller Sarah Margaret Fuller Ossoli (May 23, 1810 - June 19, 1850) was a journalist, critic and women's rights activist.

The most important gender theorist of her time, Fuller was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
 have caught our attention before. But not Rose Butler, who was convicted of arson in 1819 and executed. How well do we know the life of the African American African American Multiculture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. See Race.  religious activist Jarena Lee, or that of early California settler Eulalia Perez? Some of the autobiographical accounts of racial prejudice are anonymous, having appeared in The Independent, a periodical. Taken as single chapters or as an entire work, this book would be an invaluable addition to any course on 19th-century America or on women's studies women's studies
pl.n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb)
An academic curriculum focusing on the roles and contributions of women in fields such as literature, history, and the social sciences.
. Patricia Moore, Chestnut Hill, MA

S--Recommend for senior high school students.

A--Recommend for advanced students and adults. This code will help librarians and teachers working in high schools where there are honors and advanced placement students. This also will help KLIATT's usefulness in public libraries.

*--The asterisk highlights exceptional books.
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Copyright 2006, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Author:Moore, Patricia
Publication:Kliatt
Date:Nov 1, 2006
Words:271
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