Posted on 03/28/2006 5:30:59 PM PST by Pharmboy
Many people in the 1600s and 1700s never learned to read or write. Some towns didn't have schools. And there were no laws that said everyone had to attend school. More men than women were educated; women who received an education were mostly wealthy. Less-fortunate women seldom got the opportunity. Women and girls were less likely to be taught to read because they weren't expected to have careers outside the home.
But the Puritans rejected this belief. They were a group that came to the New World from Europe to find freedom of worship. They believed in educating girls and women - rich, poor, and middle-class - so they could read the Bible for themselves.
As an English Puritan, young Anne Bradstreet (who lived from 1612 until 1672) was taught to read and write. Her father was steward of a great English lord's estate, so she had access to a nobleman's grand library. That gave the intelligent young woman an opportunity to keep learning. When she married, her dashing husband, Simon Bradstreet, also encouraged her. She would one day become America's first published poet and its first female writer.
A hundred years later, Mercy Otis Warren (1728-1814) loved to to debate politics with her father and his friends. She became America's first woman playwright. She was also widely known for her skill at raising patriotic fervor for the American colonists before and during the Revolutionary War.
The historic accomplishments of both women have been undervalued. But they still have much to tell us. Each embodied the spirit of her own era - and the new spirit of freedom in early America.
During Women's History Month, let's take a closer look at these two pioneering women.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
A woman in the 20th century penned the song most sung in history (probably) -- "Happy Birthday to You". :')
Historical Hotties Club...most excellent. I guess Eve, Delilah, Helen of Troy and Cleopatra would qualify. Any other suggestions?
Dunno about Cleopatra...as I recall, her beauty was on the inside...
And heretofore I've only had men in the group, like Vincenzo Bellini, Alexander Hamilton, Stephen Crane and Voltaire.
Will be a Gunston Hall, home of George Mason this weekend commemorating the British naval landing party that sacked Gunston Hall spring of 1781. Petersburg next month, Greenspring in July and of course the biggie in October - Williamsburg under marshall law by George Washington and the march to Yorktown for the 225th Surrender on Surrender Field. If anyone can make these events, I guarrantee you will enjoy them.
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