A terrific start
My new lecture on Frontier Feminists has been going well. I’ve given two presentations, with four more scheduled in south Jersey and suburban Philadelphia over the next six weeks.
One thing that makes me glad, and also surprises me, is that so far, no one in my audiences knows anything about the three women whose real lives I’m profiling in my lecture: Marie Chouteau, Molly Brant, and Elizabeth Freeman. My audiences have told me that they learned nothing of these women – and indeed, little to nothing about any women from colonial history – in their courses at high school and college.
It’s hard to imagine, and yet not so hard, that these women are not nearly as well known as the Founding Fathers, or any of the other movers and shakers in our early history. Typical and expected, I suppose. But still surprising to me, after all this time, and with all the recent emphasis on women’s place in American history.
Come see my lecture if you can. And let me know what you think of it. Maybe I’ll find more stories about women in American history for future lectures!