Women's Role In The Great Plains Essay

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Women have been essential figures in the life of the societies from time immemorial, their roles and activities that they engage in shapes the happenings in the community and the lives of people around. Similar to the importance of other women in the world, women in the Great Plains equally participated actively in shaping the life of Americans in the 19th and mid-20th century. Women of the Great Plains acted as brides who helped their husbands run the activities of the home. Their involvement in agriculture and other dimensions of economic activities helped immigrants who settled in the Great Plains live a successful life as far as the American dream was concerned. However, amidst the success that they recorded, they also faced challenges …show more content…

As exhibited by the black generation, “the most promising destination for blacks" was the homesteader’s act. It aimed at giving widows economic independence so that they could feed their children and participate in the development of the plains in the 19th century. Tyra Schanke, a widow with three children, acquired land at the conception of the act, which she developed for her independence. The act also helped elderly women and immigrants to acquire land for settlement and farming. Anna Hensel, a sixty-seven-year-old immigrant from the Southern Russia, moved to the US in 1903 where she stayed for one year before declaring her interest in American citizenship and applied for a Homestead in Hettinger County. Through women’s participation in economic activities, life at the Great Plains became socially friendly as they brought friends and interacted with each other to in varied dimensions of life. This improved life between Native Americans, immigrants, and Negroes who were treated equally. Marie Ellis was instrumental in the founding of the Dunbar Club, a fellowship of women whose aim was to further education, to broaden contacts and to work in unity for the community (Riley, 1910). This enabled women to venture in professional roles to help them live a more comfortable life. Many ventured into a professional career as teaching to educate the young generation and the growing population at the Great

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