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Women and the American Revolution: A Five-Part Course with Dr. Richard Bell

Women and the American Revolution: A Five-Part Course with Dr. Richard Bell


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The revolutionary war was fought on battlefields, in forests, and on the homefront—and the contributions of American women shaped the fight at every turn. They did this in every way imaginable, and while some prospered and thrived when the war came, others faltered and fell. Many American women fought for the patriot cause while almost as many others fought to stop them. The incredible spectrum of female participation in America’s founding conflict defies easy categorization and reminds us that the legacy of the revolution for American women was not simple, single, or remotely cut and dried.
This five-part course examines the varied roles of women in the American Revolution. Lecture one explores the life of Jane Mecom, the beloved but beggared sister of Benjamin Franklin whose rollercoaster ride through the American Revolution illuminates the experiences of other women on society’s bottom ranks. Lecture two turns to the homefront and uses the wartime labors of Mary Silliman, a Connecticut homemaker and mother, to understand the ways that ordinary women kept families and farms together while the war raged around them.
Lecture three pushes deep into the war itself to reconstruct the wartime experiences of Deborah Sampson, the 21-year-old weaver who disguised herself as a man to serve 17 distinguished months in George Washington’s Continental Army. Lecture four tells the story of Molly Brant, the Native Mohawk woman who spent the war trying to hold together the fragile military alliance between the Iroquois League and the British Army. The final lecture then follows the story of the American Revolution into the Early Republic, using the life of Maine midwife Martha Ballard to understand how women’s lives changed—and stayed the same—after the patriots won the war.

Lecture 1: Jane Mecom
This first lecture reconstructs the American Revolution from the perspective of Jane Mecom, the widow of a Boston shopkeeper—and the favorite little sister of Benjamin Franklin. During the war, Jane would be menaced by soldiers and made a refugee. She would lose her home and her possessions. All this was sadly typical for many other poor women brought low by the revolutionary crisis.
Lecture 2: Mary Silliman
This second lecture explores the several dramatic and frightening wartime experiences that punctuated the life of Mary Silliman, the wife and step-mother of two kidnapped patriot militiamen in order to illuminate larger truths about the toll that the war took on the fortunes, health, and sanity of many other home front families.
Lecture 3: Deborah Sampson
This third lecture tells the extraordinary story of Deborah Sampson, the young Massachusetts woman who disguised herself as a man named Robert Shurtlieff in order to fight in the Continental Army. It poses some simple questions: Who was she? Why did she do it? How did she get away with it? And how did her wartime adventures in George Washington’s Army change her life?
Lecture 4: Molly Brant
This fourth lecture explores the American Revolution in Indian Country by focusing upon a Native Mohawk known to us as Molly Brant, the widow of a powerful British diplomat. Straddling two worlds – British and Iroquois – Molly spent the war trying to fill the political vacuum created by her husband’s death and quickly emerged as the most important military and cultural broker in Native America.
Lecture 5: Martha Ballard
This last lecture tells the story of a Maine midwife named Martha Ballard, a quiet, dutiful wife, a busy mother, and a kind neighbor whose life was lived entirely in some very small towns. For that reason, perhaps, although she lived through many exciting changes in urban women’s sexual and political circumstances, her life seems – on the surface at least – to have been almost untouched by the 18th-century gender revolution.

Dr. Richard Bell is Professor of History at the University of Maryland. He holds a PhD from Harvard University and has won more than a dozen teaching awards, including the University System of Maryland Board of Regents Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has held major research fellowships at Yale, Cambridge, the Library of Congress and is the recipient of the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship and the National Endowment of the Humanities Public Scholar Award. Professor Bell is author of the new book "Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and their Astonishing Odyssey Home," which was shortlisted for the George Washington Prize and the Harriet Tubman Prize.

 How does it work?
This is a five-part series held weekly and hosted on Zoom. Please check the schedule for the specific dates and times for each lecture.
Is there a reading list in advance?
Though the course is open to participants with no background in American history, there are suggested readings for further investigation. You will receive this soon after course registration.
How long are the lectures?
Each lecture is 90 minutes long with time for Q&A.
How much is the course?
The course is $175 for five lectures.
Is a recording available?
In general, our courses are not recorded. However, if you need to miss a lecture please let us know in advance and we can arrange for a recording for that session on an individual basis.

This conversation is suitable for all ages.

90 minutes, including a 30 minute Q&A.

Customer Reviews

Based on 16 reviews
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(16)
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K
Kris Shapar (Fellbach, DE)
Great course

Very interesting take about an aspect of the Revolution I knew hardly anything about. Inventive and fascinating.

Reviewer avatar
Beth Ann from Michigan (Plymouth, US)
Always time well spent

Studying history is so easy with Richard Bell's delivery which is that of a great storyteller. It is really the best way to sit back and enjoy this informationo about our great country and how "imperfectly" yet humanly, it has evolved. Whenever I sign up for one of Richard's lectures I come away feeling that it was time very well spent. Thank you Dr. Bell!

T
T (Phoenix, US)

Outstanding course which gave me an entirely new perspective from a female lens on the Revolutionary War. Dr Bell always makes us think and consider topics from multiple angles. He also prompts thoughtful discussions in the group from which I learn even more.

T
T (Tempe, US)

The story of Molly Brant gave me a new perspective on the role of Native Americans in the Revolutionary War.

T
T (Tempe, US)

Another engaging seminar that made me think in a new way about the position of women in the Revolutionary War.

Customer Reviews

Based on 16 reviews
100%
(16)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
K
Kris Shapar (Fellbach, DE)
Great course

Very interesting take about an aspect of the Revolution I knew hardly anything about. Inventive and fascinating.

Reviewer avatar
Beth Ann from Michigan (Plymouth, US)
Always time well spent

Studying history is so easy with Richard Bell's delivery which is that of a great storyteller. It is really the best way to sit back and enjoy this informationo about our great country and how "imperfectly" yet humanly, it has evolved. Whenever I sign up for one of Richard's lectures I come away feeling that it was time very well spent. Thank you Dr. Bell!

T
T (Phoenix, US)

Outstanding course which gave me an entirely new perspective from a female lens on the Revolutionary War. Dr Bell always makes us think and consider topics from multiple angles. He also prompts thoughtful discussions in the group from which I learn even more.

T
T (Tempe, US)

The story of Molly Brant gave me a new perspective on the role of Native Americans in the Revolutionary War.

T
T (Tempe, US)

Another engaging seminar that made me think in a new way about the position of women in the Revolutionary War.