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Women's struggle for equal rights
Women's struggle for equal rights
Women's struggle for equal rights
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6. Describe the social wrongs that led to the circumstances of Norman, according to Lydia Child.
In November of 1843, Amelia Norman of New Jersey was arrested for the attempted murder of successful merchant, Henry S. Ballard. The defendant claimed to be a victim of seduction, which in the mid-nineteenth century was a felonious crime punishable by anywhere from 5-20 years in prison (Murray 5) and defined as "the act of a male person in having intercourse with a woman of chaste character under promise of marriage, or by the use of enticement or persuasion" (Humble 145-146). In February of 1844, noted columnist, feminist, and abolitionist Lydia Child published "Letter from New York [The Trial of Amelia Norman]," detailing the extraordinary fanfare that surrounded Norman's trial, including the surprisingly strong (and favorable) tide of public sympathy. Legally, Norman's case is rarely mentioned except in reference to a particular period in American jurisprudence where legislation (and its inevitable influence on social consciousness) was remarkably provincial.
In 1841, Amelia Norman was a 16-year-old girl who had been in steady employ as a servant for a wealthy New York family since the age of thirteen. That year, she was introduced to the successful (and significantly older) clothing merchant Henry Ballard, and they immediately began a relationship. Dispassionate, strictly objective accounts of the nature of the relationship are scarce, and the available details do not lend themselves to an above-board courtship. According to sources, Ballard took great pains to ensure the relationship remained largely clandestine, financing the termination of two of Norman's pregnancies he was directly responsible for (Jones 178). In 1843, Ame...
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...The belief in "just dessert" is no longer politically correct, and therefore enjoys substantially less front-page prominence in the more heavily-circulated newspapers. Although Norman's tribulations would probably still elicit sympathy from the contemporary public, Ballard would not be simply dismissed as a lech with a contemptuous reputation. Rather, sympathy for his prolonged and raging psychiatric disorder would be overwhelming, with at least one mental health professional asserting that Ballard was likely the victim of sexual misconduct himself - though he's buried any recollection of the event deep in his subconscious. Norman would still be acquitted, but only because her team of handsomely compensated attorneys launched a successful argument for self-defense against a raging lunatic. Her virtue would have little (if any) significance in the trial proceedings.
...his seemingly routine case of fornication and premarital pregnancy proved to be significant for early American legal history. The unfolding of this story and the legal changes that it brought about makes evident that by the end of the seventeenth century, The Eastern Shore had shaped a distinct legal culture. The characters involved in each case also revealed the extent the powerful players were able to shape the law to their own self-interests. The goal of the powers to be was to protect property interests, protect personal reputation and liberty, and to maintain social order.
The community, although it is very tight and strongly bound by tradition and family, is also troubled and varied. The potato crop is failing, the maps are being changed for the convenience of the English, people want to move out of Ireland, (for example when Maire tells Hugh she wants to learn English for when she moves to America). Things appear to be at peace when we are put into this environment and everything seems well at first, but as we look further into it we can see things are much more deep seeded and dark than at first glance. For example, Doalty steals a piece of equipment from some English soldiers; this cheeky mischief seems harmless until we hear about some of the English horses being lead off a cliff to their deaths. Nothing is what it seems in this play, there are many more issues that lurk beneath the rather innocent surface of this seemingly simple, rural community; feelings of hatred and betrayal course through the bodies of many of the populous. What the English are doing is not right, nor is it fair. They have no right to change the identity of a people for their own convenience.
In The Murder of Helen Jewett, Patricia Cohen uses one of the most trivial murders during the 1800’s to illustrate the sexiest society accommodations to the privileged, hypocritical tunneled views toward sexual behavior, and the exploitation of legal codes, use of tabloid journalism, and politics. Taking the fact that woman was made from taking a rib from man was more than biblical knowledge, but incorporated into the male belief that a woman’s place is determined by the man. Helen had the proper rearing a maid servant, but how did she fall so far from grace. Judge Weston properly takes credit for rearing her with the proper strictness and education. Was Helen seduced at an early age and introduced to sexual perversions that were more persuasive that the bible belt life that the Weston’s tried to live? Was Helen simply a woman who knew how to use what she had to get what she wanted? Through personal correspondence, legal documentation, census reports, paintings, and newspapers we are able to make our own determinations. Cohen provides more than enough background and history to allow any one to make their own opinion how the murder of a woman could be turned into a side show at a circus.
This scandalous case centers on a woman named Katherine Watkins. On Friday, August 18, 1681, Katherine accused a slave by the name of John Long, also known as Jack, of rape. There was some evidence of violence, but there were also outstanding questions about her character and conduct. Those who testified, however, painted a different picture about certain events preceding the crime. They were John Aust, William Harding, Mary Winter, Lambert Tye, Humphrey Smith, Jack White (Negro), Dirk (Negro), and Mingo (Negro). Whether these individuals were so inclined because Katherine Watkins was a Quaker, rather than an Anglican, we can never really know. That certainly fueled the fire, though. The day in question involved an afternoon of cider drinking. Several of the witnesses in the testimonies recounted Mrs. Watkins sexual advances to multiple of Thomas Cocke 's slaves, particularly, a mulatto named Jack. John Aust pleaded that Katherine, at one point, had lifted the shirt of one slave and announced “Dirke thou wilt have a good long thing” (Sex and Relations, 53). She allegedly had thrown another on the bed, kissed him, and, “put her hand into his codpiece” (Sex and Relations, 53). The most interesting piece of evidence that Aust brings forward is that Jack was actually avoiding Watkins at the party, an apparent attempt at avoiding any intimate entanglement with her (Sex and Relations, 52). Finally, he reported that Watkins and Jack had gone into a side room (Sex and Relations, 53). Later in the trial, Humphrey Smith seemingly referred to Aust 's testimony. His deposition suggested that he and Aust had some reservations about Jack 's guilt (Sex and Relations 54). Clearly, the character of the plaintiff was considered important evidence in the trial of a slave for rape. The reasonable extenuating circumstances of the case might have granted the magistrates leave way
Ephraim Wheeler was convicted and hanged for the rape of his thirteen year old daughter Betsy Wheeler. It occurred in the woods of rural Massachusetts on June 8, 1805. The incident was reported to Hannah Wheeler, Betsy's mother. Hannah Wheeler then reported the incident to Justice Robert Walker, who then arrested Ephraim Wheeler on that day. What was expected of a wife in 1805 Massachusetts, when confronted with such a vicious criminal act? Having such a crime inflicted upon yourself, would be hard enough to live through, but to have such an evil act forced upon your helpless thirteen year old daughter- by a husband and father is unfathomable.
When viewed from a strictly medical, psychological aspect, Andrea Yates medical history indicates that after the birth of her first child, she began to suffer from various forms of depression and suicide attempts. If one only examines the paper trail and doesn’t think beyond what the medical history does or does not indicate, then perhaps, Andrea would be innocent by reason of mental insanity as the 2006 acquittal suggest. However, when viewed form a legal aspect there are several inconstancies that challenge if this former nurse was insane or if she in fact premeditated the murder of her children as well as her acquittal.
Henrietta was born into a poor, black family. Her father was a tobacco famer and Henrietta never really knew her mother, since she was four years old when her mother died. After her mother’s death, Henrietta spent her childhood living with her grandfather in Clover, Virginia, in what they called the ‘home-house’. When Henrietta was fourteen, her first son Lawrence was born. Four years later, his sister Elsie followed. Elsie was ‘s...
There is an assumption that black women–as described in Absalom! Absalom! – are a complex combination of sexuality and raw nature. George E. Kent concurs that black women serve as a barrier between the sexual desires of the white male and the metaphysical privilege of white females. This is intended to demonstrate why Henry Supten objected to his sister having relations with Charles Bon who has a mixed blooded mistress. Psychological tenants are connected to the relationship of the white male and black women. The black female keeps the white male from obtaining a piece of the “American Dream” which is having a pure White decent blood
‘The Trials of Oz’ is a representation of Robertson’s personal argument against a cautious thinking society and Robertson’s personal battle of being “the carrier of the banner of alternative society”. ‘The Trials of Oz’ is Robertson’s perspective of the Crown Prosecution against the Oz editors as a result of the corruption of public morals. He describes the editors of Oz as good and noble men who are about to be concerned with a “miscarriage of justice” through the hands of “Judge Argyle”. Textual form is used in his description of Judge Argyle’s backward actions which is used to place Robertson against Argyle as the man in right. This is clear in Robertson’s description of Argyle’s “three year sentences to three youths who vandalised telephone boxes” as Argyle witnessed these youths as “delinquents who represented the evils of permissible society”. Robertson exposes this “miscarriage of justice” in the form of the selected jury members over the desired by the Oz editors. Robertson juxtaposes the jury of “hardhats from every site in Kent” to the editors wanted “gay actor, the level mind...
Lillian Hellman was a well-known American dramatist who was born in 1905 in New Orleans ("Hellman," 1999). She later moved and attended New York public schools and went on to go to New York University and Columbia University as well. Within the confines of her youth, there had been confusion about her family background (Harmon, 1999). There has always been talk about her parents troubled marriage and other events have cropped up to make Hellman an intriguing figure. Yet, she went on to grow up and find a husband, something typical in her day. She married another playwright named Arthur Kober, but this relationship ended in divorce ("Hellman," 1999; James, 1999). Her intimate friendship with the novelist Dashiell Hammett would continue until his death in 1961 (1999). Yet, Hellman would never remarry.
A re-emphasis of the role Brooks played in this sordid affair may clarify to the Judges the guilt of Dudley and Stephens. Brooks was neither killed, nor did he take part in the killing. It is documented that he “dissented” from the murderous scheme three times before Dudley and Stephens committed the killing. Brooks is representative of a citizen of upstanding morals, a status which Dudley and Stephens in comparison fall well short of. Our opposition may argue of extenuating circumstances of delirium or crazed starvation which forced the hand of Dudley and Stephens in a situation where there wasn’t “any reasonable prospect of relief.” But Your Honors, we are fortunate enough to have testimony of a citizen, Brooks, who was in the exact same situation as Dudley and Stephens and was able to choose the moral and lawful
Turner’s father, Dan Turner had wrote a letter to the judge asking him to go easy on his son. Dan said that a long sentence would be “a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 years of life”. This one phrase made many people furious and outraged. The father had also said that Turner is having a hard time eating his favorite food, steak, because he is so distraught from the trial. A Stanford professor was shocked that this father would compare not being able to eat steak to being sexually assaulted. Before the sentence was given, the twenty three year old victim wrote a twelve page letter describing in detail how the rape affected her life. She had felt that the jury of her peers did not give justice for the horrible assault she endured. She explained how she went to fraternity party near Stanford, drank a lot, then did not know what had happened to her once she regained consciousness in the hospital. In detail, the victim explained the humiliating and traumatizing experience of a forensic sexual assault
Amelia Bloomer:Amelia Bloomer was born in Cortland County, New York, in 1818. She received an education in schools of the State and became a teacher in public schools, then as a private tutor. She married in 1840 to Dexter C. Bloomer, of Seneca Falls, New York. Dexter C. Bloomer was editor of a county newspaper, and Mrs. Bloomer began to write for the paper. She was one of the editors of the Water Bucket, a temperance paper published during Washingtonian revival. Mr. Bloomer lived in Seneca Falls in 1848, but did not participate in the Women’s Rights Convention. In 1849, Bloomer began work with a monthly temperance paper called The Lily. It was devoted to women’s rights and interests, as it became a place for women advocates to express their opinions. The paper initiated a widespread change in women’s dress. The long, heavy skirts were replaced with shorter skirts and knee-high trousers or undergarments. Bloomer’s name soon became associated with to this new dress, and the trousers became known as Bloomers. She continued to new dress and continued advocating for women’s rights in her paper. In 1854, Mrs. Bloomer began giving numerous speeches and continued to fight for equal justice for women.
Downing, Lisa. "Murder in the Feminine: Marie Lafarge and the Sexualisation of the Nineteenth-Century Criminal Woman". Journal of the History of Sexuality 18.1 (2009): 121-137. Web. 05/05/16. Downing analyses the reactions of 19th century society to Marie Lafarge, a woman Romantic writer who was imprisoned and executed for the murder of her husband. Two groups formed during the trial of Lafarge, with two different opinions. The first group, the Lafargists, believed that she was an innocent virgin, almost an angel. The second group, the Anti-Lafargists, believed she was crazy and a hysteric. This source is useful to my research because it introduces a Romantic female stereotype that I had not thought of: the
The novel generally shows that those days’ values, norms of those days are, the dilemma of the weak; equality notions in class differences, richness, and marriage among people. However, my scope is only education and family institution. First of all, I need to emphasize major conflict that are David is born fatherless, and when he is seven years old his mother marries Edward Murdstone, who is unkind and offensive to David and his mother, first event that I realized in the novel. It is a confliction between norms and values because any of societies do not accept being cruel individual behaviors. As it seen, it is unfair and unacceptable because those behaviors harm integrity of family’s values. Anyhow, David protects himself in one of his stepfather’s de...