Throughout history, women’s roles have increased slowly. Not until the second Great Awakening did black women begin to gain roles in Christianity and in society. Between the 19th and 20th century black women used multiple methods to gain authority. Some women preached and gave speeches while other women used nonverbal approaches like writing articles. During this time period everyone wasn’t welcoming to the idea of a woman being consider a leader of any major movement. Black women didn’t always have authority in religious settings, but as time progress women became influenced by Christianity which ultimately pushed them to become leaders even though they knew everyone wouldn’t accept them. Prior to the second Great Awakening women didn’t have much of a role. Women participated in church but never was a key figure in the church. Pastors had the connection to a masculine job since being a pastor wasn’t only spiritual but they were looked as political leaders as well. Women weren’t considered ministers but exhorters which created a strong distinction between men, with authority, and women, with less superior role. Women were always a participate in Christianity. They attended sermons while even …show more content…
During the second Great Awakening women helped the churches thrive because they were the ones that kept the pews filled during sermons. Jarnea Lee was a woman who went back into the church and became a part of the congregation which sparked an interest in her wanting to be a pastor. Lee felt it was her calling to be a pastor. Even though she wanted to be a pastor she was denied the opportunity because during the early 19th century women weren’t allowed to be pastors. She didn’t let that stop her. She still preached to different people as a circuit rider. She had a wide range of audience that listen to her. With her powerful messages she became a major figure in the Holiness
The life style of a woman’s role in society was to take care of the house while the husband went off to work and to make the life of the husband easier whenever the husband was home. Although during the Nineteenth Century we start to see a movement towards women’s rights. During the Second Great Awakening women were given a more important role in activities such as religion. Women could be sent out regularly on mission trips, or even to preach in churches. This being said was one thing in particular Matthias was trying to prevent. Matthias went so far to prevent women preaching in the church that he was kicked out of one of the churches that ...
The Enlightenment is known as the revolution that brought to question the traditional political and social structures. This included the question of the woman’s traditional roles in society. As the public sphere relied more and more ?? and the advances in scientific and educated thinking, women sought to join in with the ranks of their male counterparts. Women held gatherings known as salons where they organized intellectual conversations with their distinguished male guests. Seeking to further their status, enlightened women published pamphlets and other works advocating for educational rights and political recognition. Even with this evolution of woman in society, many still clung to the belief that the role of the woman was solely domestic. The females that spoke up were usually deemed unnatural. However these women used the time period of reason and science that allowed them the opportunity to break away from their domestic roles and alter the view of women in society.
Both the Market Revolution and Second Great Awakening led Pierson and Matthews to new religious ideas and enabled them to experience events that changed their lives. The division between social classes and gender depicted during the 1820s and 1830s is still seen today. The roles of women have transformed from housekeepers and servants to helpmates, teachers, and much more. There is no longer a rule of the patriarch. There are now women running for President, such an occurrence that was not seen in the early nineteenth century.
Beginning in the 1830s, white and black women in the North became active in trying to end slavery. These Women were inspired in many cases by the religious revivals sweeping the nation. While women in the movement at first focused their efforts upon emancipation, the intense criticsm that greeted their activities gradually pushed some of them toward an advocacy of women's rights as well. They discovered that they first had to defend their right to speak at all in a society in which women were expected to restrict their activities to a purely domestic sphere. Angelina and Sarah Grimke , left South Carolina because they were swept up in the religious current called the "Second Great Awakening" and felt that Philadelphia Quakers offered a surer form of saving their souls than the Protestant ministers of Charleston. During their influential speaking tour in 1837, about the anti-slavery movement, everyone wanted to hear them, so they broke the prohibitions against women speaking in public and, when clergymen opposed such public speaking by women, they launched the women's rights movement.
Up until and during the mid -1800’s, women were stereotyped and not given the same rights that men had. Women were not allowed to vote, speak publically, stand for office and had no influence in public affairs. They received poorer education than men did and there was not one church, except for the Quakers, that allowed women to have a say in church affairs. Women also did not have any legal rights and were not permitted to own property. Overall, people believed that a woman only belonged in the home and that the only rule she may ever obtain was over her children. However, during the pre- Civil war era, woman began to stand up for what they believed in and to change the way that people viewed society (Lerner, 1971). Two of the most famous pioneers in the women’s rights movement, as well as abolition, were two sisters from South Carolina: Sarah and Angelina Grimké.
In the book Women in the Civil War, by Mary Massey, the author tells about how American women had an impact on the Civil War. She mentioned quite a few famous and well-known women such as, Dorothea Dix and Clara Barton, who were nurses, and Pauline Cushman and Belle Boyd, who were spies. She also mentioned black abolitionists, Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, feminist Susan B. Anthony, and many more women. Massey talks about how the concept of women changed as a result of the war. She informed the readers about the many accomplishments made by those women. Because of the war, women were able to achieve things, which caused for them to be viewed differently in the end as a result.
In the early 1700's spiritual revivalism spread rapidly through the colonies. This led to colonists changing their beliefs on religion. The great awakening was the level to which the revivalism spread through the colonists. Even with this, there was still religious revivalism in the colonies. One major reason for the Great Awakening was that it was not too long before the revolution. The great awakening is reason to believe that William G Mcloughlin's opinion and this shows that there was a cause to the American Revolution.
The Second Great Awakening was a religious revival. It influenced the entire country to do good things in society and do what was morally correct. The Second Great Awakening influenced the North more than it did the South and on a whole encouraged democratic ideas and a better standard for the common man and woman. The Second Great Awakening made people want to repent the sins they had made and find who they were. It influenced the end of slavery, abolitionism, and the ban of alcohol, temperance.
One of the most powerful inspirational women that made a difference was Angelina Grimke. Angelina Grimke was a southern abolitionist and was one of the first women in America to take a stand up against slavery yet she persuaded many people into helping the slaves get rights. She persuaded women by stating that “1st. You can read on this subject. 2d You can pray over this subject. 3d. You can speak on this subject. 4th. You can act on this subject” (MP 10-3, 285). Angelina made a great impact with the involvement of religion to inspire women to help the slaves be free. Angelina uses a persuasive tone to show that woman can make a difference by following her steps. She brings up Adam to symbolize Adam as America’s past mistakes, and then brings up Noah since she wants to make America turn into Noah by being faithful to God. With that women started make a voice for themselves, in 1815, they decided to make a movement to be educated then in the future to be educators. An African-American abolitionist and women 's rights activist, Sojourner Truth, also discusses religion by stating that “[where] did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him” (MP 10-8, 292). Sojourner knows how to argue her point for women and slaves to be treated equally. She sought political equality for all women, and
Women spent majority of their day ironing, washing clothes, baking, sewing clothes and raising their children (page 17). Religion also added to women’s lesser status (page 18). Religion was at the core life of Americans, female submission was decreed to be part of God’s order (page 18). Lucretia Mott soon pointed out that many scriptures celebrated female strength and independence (page 18). As a young girl Elizabeth Cady Stanton learned about laws that limited rights of wives and as an adult found ways to reform marriage and divorce laws (page 23). Things were looking up for women, by 1850 female wage workers made up nearly a quarter of the manufacturing labor work force (page 30). Women were still excluded from occupations such as the military, ministry, law, medicine and jobs felt inappropriate for women (page 32). During this antebellum period women were starting to rise up and realize they deserved to have the same rights and privileges men received. This gave women hope that things could change. By the second quarter of the 19th century few positive changes for women pushed Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Susan B Anthony, Lucy Stone and others to challenge injustices and reform efforts (page
The evangelical movement largely contributed to this idea that women were “suited to serve as dispensers of love, comfort, and and moral instruction to husbands and children” (U.S.: A Narrative History, 230). Previously, women were seen as very sinful, but this new womanhood ideal saw women as more religious and morally stronger than men (230). Because of this, the woman’s sphere shifted to be solely focused on domestic duties to ensure the household was as prosperous as possible. Middle class and elite women began devoting more time to these domestic duties as their homes were seen as “havens of moral virtue” while lower class women were still attempting to break into the workforce (231). Furthermore, the development of a new structure and attitude regarding home life gave way to the foundation of the modern family, with delaying marriage to ensure that a husband could financially support his wife and decreasing family size to focus on the success of each child more closely (231). The cult of domesticity, in conjunction with the rise of factories and decline of household manufacturing, changed the meaning of womanhood and further separated the workplace and the home, which created a rift between men and
They were women of God, and they were very important in the development of Gods image, and well as playing significant roles in Jesus’ life and mission. Women contributed to the movement, and the experienced belonging to his community just as much as the men. However, some may view the presence of women in the bible as a negative thing. Elizabeth Cady Scanton said that the bible can be used to exclude women from the public sphere. The Bible promotes marriage and childbirth as the most important things for a woman to do, as these things would make the woman stay home and create a better environment for her husband. The images of women in the bible, however, can help women connect to God more intimately and see themselves as an image of God. Women were included in the first followers of Jesus, and he treated them as equals.Women were seen as ministers, opened their home to the less fortunate, and even witnessed Jesus’ resurrection. Since it’s beginning, women had roles of power in Christianity. Women gave birth to the men of the Lord, but only if they were women of the
The Abolitionist Movement transformed the role of women in American History. Prior to the abolitionist movement, women were viewed as invisible icons in society. A typical woman would only be responsible for motherhood duties, cleaning, and preparing food. While many women agreed with this, others did not. The desire to be heard and treated equally was something numerous women shared. Astonishing women like, Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Grimke sisters became prominent leaders in the abolitionist movement and made a pathway in history by initiating speeches, participating in female politics and supporting their personal opinions of women’s rights through religious doctrines.
For example, Thecla, a Christian woman in the second century, was able to leave her husband to follow the words of Paul and become a missionary. Though her family did not believe in this, Thecla is still capable to do what she wishes. Mary Magdalene is another example of a powerful Christian woman. She was highly respected in the church and thought to be a leader of her Christian community. Mary Magdalene worked on allowing women to teach. Considering that just before she met Jesus she was going to be stoned to death because she was a prostitute, Christianity saved her because she was given forgiveness. Because these two women and many more were successful following the Christian faith, many more women were attracted to it considering that their lives before were terrible (couldn’t make their own decisions/ were “owned” by their fathers or husbands) and Christianity offered forgiveness for sins that could have gotten them
Throughout history women have been underestimated. Society as a whole is patriarchal, and even though women have mead great strides in gaining equality, there are still crimes and prejudice against women. Women are capable of great feats, if they are given a chance. Some women ignored all social standards and managed to accomplish incredible things that changed the course of history.