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Theme Four: Religion and Gender Roles in Colonial America |
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Theme Four: Religion and Gender Roles in Colonial America |
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Assigned Readings:
Flyover History Text, Chapter 10
Courtship in Early America
The Salem Witch Trials
Quakers
Internet Required: (A) (B) (C) (D) (E).
Instructor's Introduction: My goal with this theme is to introduce students to a world completely different from our own: New England of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. For these people, religion was not just something you did on Sundays. Oh, no. It was the central focus of their lives. Before entering this world, let us try to leave our own ideas about religion, science, and gender equality behind. For they simply do not apply here. Introduce yourself to the variety of religious experience of the seventeenth century. The Library of Congress site details persecutions, bibles, and religous leaders of the time. Then you should be ready for the more challenging exercises that follow. Good luck, and keep an open mind...
(A) Read Chapter 10 of the Flyover History Text, Bearing the Burden? Puritan Wives, by Martha Saxton. Answer the following questions in one, well-organized essay:
1. How did Puritans define gender roles?
2. How might Puritan beliefs have played a role in defining the role of men and women?
3. Which stories in the article helped you to understand the status of women in Puritan life?
4. What were some of the ironies faced by women in this world? In what ways did their beliefs appear to be inconsistent (at least by our modern standards)?
5. What did such men as Cotton Mather believe to be the qualities of the best women in their community?
(B) Go to Courtship in Early America
Famous American Trials: The Salem Witch Trials, 1692. This site contains good introductory information on the Salem Witch trials. Use this as the basis for these essays:
Part 1: Review the main links in brief essays. Then explore the rest of the site, and write a critical essay about it. What is good, what could be better. What questions come to mind that you feel were left out of this site? What questions about this period would you want to know more about?.
Part 2: In a short essay, answer these questions, using these sites or other websites: What do the Salem Witch Trials represent in the broader history of religion in this country? What do the trials tell us about the notions of village life and colonial values? What do they tell us about the role(s) of women in colonial New England? These are meant to be open-ended questions, so the facts, plus your opinions, are relevant in answering them.
Brief review of Carol Karlsen's The Devil in the Shape of a Woman, an historical account of the Witch Trials. (This is NOT required!)
(D) The Quakers (Society of Friends): Few religions in American history have done more to effect changes in our society than this small, fervent group of radical protestant Christians. What were the core beliefs of the Quakers? Why did they feel ministers/priests were unimportant? Who wrote the Bible, according to the Quakers, and why did they feel this way? What were (are) their beliefs about men/women, and racial differences amongst us?
(E) Read the brief story of John Newton, author of the folk hymn Amazing Grace.
Salem Witch Trials
Good site for details on one of the most controversial events in North American history
The Quakers: Accurate Information
Good site for overview of Quaker (Society of Friends)
history, beliefs, bibliography.
Online ACCD Library Catalog | Palo Alto Library | Palo Alto College