Class Description
By the mid-nineteenth century, “separate spheres” ideology was widely accepted. Based on the notion that men and women had “naturally” different and opposing character traits, it mandated distinctly separate domains. In this vision of society, a “True Woman” was ideally confined to the private home sphere because she was naturally pure, pious, submissive, and domestic. Some women, however, chose to step outside this mandated sphere and others were denied access to this “protected” bubble because of their race and/or class status. Whether by choice or circumstance, veering from those assumptions and restrictions held significant challenges. Laws, policies, and social norms intertwined to both support separate sphere’s ideology and punish noncompliance. Nevertheless, women persisted, and (some) things changed. With the help of some pioneering Chicago women, we’ll examine selected aspects of this challenging arc of change from the True Woman to the rising feminist ideals of the New Woman.
Tina Stewart Brakebill is a writer and a former college history instructor. Her publications include the biographies of two extraordinary "ordinary" women. Her courses focus on how race, class, and gendered assumptions shaped American history.
Materials List
Recommended
- Instructor-Distributed Materials
Suggested Reading
- Selected Primary Sources: Constructing the Boundaries of True Womanhood
- The instructor will send this document as a PDF file with her welcome note in the week before class begins.
- We will discuss some (or all) of these ideas in class (depending on time), but if you’d like to consider what they tell us about the ideal of True Womanhood, then give them a look before class.
A Brief Syllabus
- Constructing the Boundaries of True Womanhood
- A New Woman Enters the Story
- The New Woman as a Professional
- The New Woman as a Citizen
Cost and Registration
4 Sessions, $225 ($202 for Newberry members, seniors, and students). Learn about becoming a member.
We offer our classes at three different price options: Regular ($225), Community Supported ($215), and Sponsor ($235). Following the models of other institutions, we want to ensure that our classes are accessible to a wider audience while continuing to support our instructors. You may choose the price that best fits your situation when registering through Learning Stream.
To register multiple people for this class, please go through the course calendar in Learning Stream, our registration platform. When you select the course and register, you’ll be prompted to add another registrant.
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