Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Sentiments of Freedom
How Women Have Defined the American Creed throughout the 20th century
Taylor Smith
Hist 531
University of Kansas
Fall 2016
Running Head: Sentiments of Freedom 2
If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and
will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or representation.Abigail
Adams
In July of 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, while leading the Womens Rights Convention
at Seneca Falls, read the Declaration of the Sentiments. Alluding to the liberal ideas of the
Declaration of independence written nearly 72 years prior, Stanton declares the rights of women,
as being equal to man, are inalienable, and thus governed by natural law. Within the
Sentiments, Stanton offers a vision of the American creed, freedom, but critiques the conditions
and structures that have usurped the power of women. Despite the fact that Stanton offers a
conception of freedom that, given the context of the time, serves white, middle class women,
thus limiting the reach of the message, it is the principle of freedom that is consistently
embedded into the struggles and triumphs of experiences throughout the history of the United
States. Whether being idealistic or critical of American progress, the movers and shakers of our
history consistently link their goals and struggles to their perception of freedom that lights the
glistening path from sea to shining sea. Although curricular standardslike those designed by
the state of Kansaspush students towards navigating particular groups and ideas through U.S
history, they speak little of the differences between how groups and individuals experience and
define freedom within the context of their time and social position (Kansas State Department of
Education, 2013).
The purpose of teaching early American history through the conceptual lens of freedom is
not one that focuses on the exceptional social and political values of the nation; rather, this
particular approach allows students to critically analyze and evaluate the debate over one of
America's most valued ideals through the eyes of those whom they study. The trouble with
Running Head: Sentiments of Freedom 3
freedom, however, is that its meaning is multifaceted, shifting within contextual parameters,
limiting a consistency that presents a significant difficulty for secondary students to grasp, due to
the fallibility of the biases presented by curriculum specialists, teachers, and the student's
themselves. Furthermore, there is often resistance toward curriculum that is seemingly negative
Knowledge, and School History Education (2008), some lawmakers legislate protection of the
marginalizing the diversity of experiences of races, socioeconomic classes, and genders. Thus,
the nation-building narrative essentially assimilates minority groups into the mainstream,
negating the history of many, making the subject static and irrelevant for most students. With
this, many state curriculums marginalize the history of women into the United States, while
treating the experiences of women as a monolith. Due to the lack of voice given to American
women, secondary students develop a mainstream narrative of American history because the
curricular standards and textbooks lack diversity, accounts from women, or a variety of
primary sources from a variety of women, or historical arguments that bring light to different
American creedfreedom. This essay examines how specific groups of women have defined the
principle of freedom into their experiences and understandings, constructing a narrative that
includes a variety of perspectives for the purpose of analyzing the meaning of Americas most
prized ideal.
As expressed through various works, Historian Eric Foner places freedom at the base of
many national failures, triumphs, struggles, and sagas in a way that displays this national ideal as
a transformative process that has deeply influenced the United States' national identity. Within
his book The Story of American Freedom (1999), Foner contends that there is no idea more
While using the terms freedom and liberty interchangeably, Foner argues that Americans have
utilized this creed for expanding social justice, formulation of identity, or obtaining rights to full
citizenship. Ultimately, the fires of freedom that persist to trump oppression and secure the
beacon of liberty, ignite the passion surrounding American history, while varieties of Americans
offer different conceptions and implementations of freedom. This complex story includes an
ambiguous plot where the definition of our rights provided by freedom is transformed by the
demands of excluded groups, those who believe their power is usurped for the benefit of those in
For example, during the Progressive Era, the conception of freedom was expanded into
the meaning of citizenship for the purpose of ensuring representation and employment with a
decent wage. However, what must be understood is that the expansions of jobs the symbol of
female emancipation within the labor force was dominated by white, middle class, native born
women (Foner, 1999, p. 145). This intersection of the expansion of freedom is further present in
the women that were able to fully strike and utilize their position to influence public policy. With
in the essay, Florence Kelley and Womens Activism (2001), Kathryn Kish Sklar notes how
Kelley utilized her power for the pursuance of social justice before women were granted the
national right to vote. Her education at Cornell University and her ancestral objection to slavery
and the promotion of black suffrage shaped Kelleys conception of freedom in America. Kelley
Running Head: Sentiments of Freedom 5
ultimately defined freedom as social justice, where labor reform would benefit both men and
women, while protecting against the plight of human suffering. The notion of a living wage as
a liberty meant that women would begin defining their rights to organize women for the
protection of the family wage. This means that, although women were increasing their footing
in the workplace, many men viewed the womens obligation to the factory to make ends meet
However, many women, depending on their position in society, viewed the right to work
as an increase in their autonomy, thus an expansion of their freedom (Foner, 1999, 144-145). For
example, Pauline Newman, an American labor activist that was born in Eastern Europe, used her
experience working in the tenement factories of the southside of Manhattan Island, as well as her
understanding of social activism, to expand organization to other classes for the purpose of
protecting women wage laborers. According to Newman, the lack of enforcement of labor laws
upheld dehumanizing practices within factories because production was the necessity. Newman
further used her personal conception of freedom to cease her work at the Triangle Factory and
proceed with a strike in 1909. Protecting wages and working conditions, as demanded by the
strike of 1909, made the unionization of women possible so that protections could increase the
autonomy, and thus economic or recreational freedom for working women feasible (Newman,
1980, 417-419). Overall, when representing how women promoted social justicewhat many
viewed as freedom during the early 20th century, the viewpoints of Pauline Newman and
Florence Kelley provide curriculum specialists, teachers, and students with narratives that
incorporate how varieties of women defined and pursued their perspective of freedom.
During WWII, the Four Freedomsfreedom from want, freedom from fear, freedom of
worship, and freedom of speechentered the American rhetoric as war loomed in Europe and
the Pacific. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, however, the wars meaning for non-white
(Foner, 1999, 240-243). Valerie Matsumotos exploration into the life in Japanese internment
camps in her essay, Japanese American Women during World War II (1984) demonstrates how
the war shaped the identity of Japanese Americans during WWII. Matsumoto supports her
contention through stories of Nisei Women that demonstrate that the lack of privacy in the camps
altered modesty, and how the possession of the face of the enemy caused an increase anxiety
and bitterness about their place in American society. However, as evidenced by the stories of
resettlement, young Japanese women that became college students paved the pathways for for
the dual transition into college and life outside of the internment camps (Matsumoto, 1984,
pp. 540-542).
This transition meant that these young Japanese women would take it upon themselves to
navigate networksservice organizations and religious groupsand work within the contours of
a hostile America. Thus Matsumoto brings light to a narrative of Japanese internment during
World War II by analyzing the changes in social structures and how young Nisei women
reconstructed their lives after interment (Matsumoto, 1984, pp. 540-542). With this historical
analysis, the experiences of Nisei women constructs a narrative that considers the agency of
these young women, while understanding the conditions of the internment camp and the mixed
emotions that were developed because of the destruction of their individual and community
security that shaped their conception of American freedom (Matsumoto, 1984, p. 537).
Running Head: Sentiments of Freedom 7
Likewise, the the memoir, Farewell to Manzanar, further brings voice to the experience
of Japanese-American women during WWII that defined their inclusion within the American
creed. While discussing conditions of the camp and the change in family dynamic, Jeanne
Wakatsuka Houston and James D. Houston memorialize the experiences of the Japanese during
internment through the Wakastuka Houstons journey. As Wakatsuka Houston writes about the
common master plan, she describes the assembly-line nature of the camps and the medicine
and food that made them continuously sick. Furthermore, a description of the latrines paint
nauseating image of the camps as she explains that the floors were covered with excrement,
and that the toilets were erupting like a row of tiny volcanoes (Houston and Houston, 2000, p.
27).
This imagery supports how the unprecedented hatred and demonization of the Japanese-
were American citizens. Thus, the internment of Japanese-Americans, and its support from
advocates of civil liberties, one being Justice Hugo Black, presents an intolerable justification of
the protection of American freedom for some Americans. The story of Japanese internment
presents students with a critical disparity between the American creed presented in the
Declaration, as well as the promises in the Constitution, and the limits of freedom for some to
protect the few from fear, want, and loss of speech or worship (Foner, 1999, pp. 240-243).
Following Rosa Parks refusal to give up her seat, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. became a
celebrated champion of the Civil Rights Movement of the Mid-1900s. Although great deference
is necessary for the man with the dream, presenting the mainstream narrative of the civil rights
actors from the speeches delivered at the March on Washington in August of 1963 presents a
present continuity of the story of the struggle for freedom through equal protection of the law as
these particular women are often relegated to the tribute of their contribution rather than the
voices of the movement (March on Washington Program, 1963). According to Charles Payne
(1995), these grassroots participants in the rural south showed up more frequently to mass
meetings, demonstrations, and voter registration booths. This presents the transgression from the
notion that men were more politically active than women. Thus, these African American women
in the south were taking active positions to promote and expand their conceptions of freedom.
Payne further describes the pattern of gender participation during the Civil Rights
Movement within the context of age, as the imbalance in hierarchical positions were the
strongest between the ages of 30-50. Seemingly, southern African American women were
working to expand the freedom of their race rather than their gender, as gender was not as
politicized a social category as it became a few years later (Payne,1995, p. 632). Despite the
physical reprisals experienced by southern African American women, their participation was
driven by a variety of social and historical structures that often relied on religiosity and kinship
for the validation of participation in the movement. As women were more likely to participate in
their churches, while empathetically supporting their children, they became widely involved in
the civil rights movement to expand the Lords work for the purpose of expanding their freedom.
This aligns with the creed adopted throughout the Civil Rights Movement and preached by Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. through the invocation of of biblical verses to reach the goal of
freedom. Therefore, for some African American women in the rural south, the promotion of
racial justice through their involvement in the Movement would expand their freedom through
racial equality before the law (Foner, 1999, 278-279). The perspectives as southern African
Running Head: Sentiments of Freedom 9
American women often fall silent within secondary U.S. history curriculum; the inclusion of
these perspectives widens the focal lens that students veer through while developing their
Conclusion
The sentiments of American freedom for women transgresses norms, but works within
contextual realms that mold perceptions and access to the promises of the American Constitution.
Women throughout American history have demanded freedom and utilized the ideals of the
Declaration of Independence to bridge the gap of understanding between races, social classes,
and positions in society. Women continue to get in the way to define their freedoms, whether it
be with their body, political, and economic positions, but our mainstream narrative often paints
them as a monolith that is seemingly progressive over time. Presenting the mainstream narrative
that ignores the intersectionality of women leaves many secondary students out of their own
history, suggesting that history is done to people. However, providing students with the
opportunity to critically analyze the varieties of experiences of American women, and how they
define freedom over time, ultimately creates a space where students can create their own
understandings of our national creed. If curriculum specialists and teachers continue running the
risk of marginalizing the voices of american women, the very ideal of freedom is lost through the
Works Cited
Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, Seneca Falls: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online
http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/docs/seneca.html
Foner, Eric (2013). "American Exceptionalism, American Freedom. Montreal Review.
Retrieved from http://www.ericfoner.com/articles/012013monreview.html
Foner, Eric (1998). The Story of American Freedom ( New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company,
1998).
Houston, J. W., & Houston, J. D. (2000). Farewell to Manzanar. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston.
Kansas State Department of Education.(2013). Kansas Standards for History, Government, and
Social Studies.
http://www.ksde.org/Portals/0/CSAS/Content%20Area%20(FL)/History,%20Governmen
t%20and%20Social%20Studies/2013%20Kansas%20History%20Government%20Social
%20Studies%20Standards.pdf
March on Washington (Program), 08/28/1963; Bayard Rustin Papers; John F. Kennedy Library;
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Matsumoto, V (1984). Japanese American Women during World War II Kerber, L. K., &
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VanSledright, B. (2008). Narratives of Nation-State, Historical Knowledge, and School History
Education. Review of Research in Education, 2008, 32:109. American Educational
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