Saints, Queens, Nuns, and Suffragists: Women of England, 1790-1930

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Does the history of England look different when we consider it from the viewpoint of women? Covering the years from Mary Wollstonecraft’s publication of A Vindication of the Rights of Women to the end of the U.K. suffrage movement, a period of vast social, cultural and political change, this class considers nineteenth century Britain and its larger empire through the eyes of women. Moving beyond the “great women” who appear in history surveys, this course will include the voices and perspectives of women of different racial, ethnic, economic, and religious backgrounds and consider how the concept of separate spheres and other Victorian gender norms impacted how these women navigated their everyday lives and how they operated as major social, cultural and political players. How might narratives surrounding the Industrial Revolution, reform movements including the abolition of slavery, imperial expansion, and the rise of a female head of state in Queen Victoria read differently? Let’s find out!