Combahee River Collective Statement Analysis

In July of 1848, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the first women's rights movement in Seneca Falls, New York where women spoke up about how they deserved better education, employment, and to be able to have a political say. “The strongest reason why we ask for woman a voice in the government under which she lives; in the religion she asked to believe; the quality and social life... A place in the trades and professions... Is because of her birthright self-sovereignty,” were the words of Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1892 that inspired many women to join the fight. Another argument these women used was that they would create a maternal commonwealth.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were primary leaders of the American women’s movement. Together and separately Stanton and Anthony were extremely influential in the effort toward women’s rights. Both women organized and lectured at several conventions. These conventions ranged from local, state, and national. In fact, Stanton organized the first women’s rights convention in 1848.

The antislavery convention of American Women in New York City in May 1837 was one of several conventions that were held, addressing the concept of abolition. During this time period, there were several groups of men and women who were interested in getting rid of the institution of slavery, driven by different motives. Document 5, of Chapter 6, contains several of the resolutions established by the women attending the convention regarding the ideas of slavery as a moral wrong, and that people were obligated to perform their duty in helping others achieve their freedom. The women attending the convention, including Angelina Grimké, Sarah Grimké, Mary Cox, Lydia Child, Martha Storrs and many others, were allowed to participate in this convention

The Declaration Sentiment The movements of American women grew as a result of an abolitionist drive of that happened between the 1830s and 1840s. In the ancient America, gender roles were enshrined in laws in most societies. Women were to get married and take care of their families. No woman was allowed to go out of their homestead once they got married to a working husband.

I certify that this essay is entirely my own work and has not been revised or altered by anyone else. In 1848 about 300 people gathered for the Seneca Falls Convention in New York to draft a document that is a plea for the end of discrimination against women. There was little to no progress being made for women’s rights before the Seneca Falls Convention took place. After the Seneca Falls Convention there were many changes that followed what was outlined in the Declaration of Sentiments. The movement for women’s right became a more prominent issue after the Seneca Falls convention made the topic at the forefront of politics and began the conversation.

The Women’s Suffrage Movement was the seventy two year fight and movement leading up to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment that granted women the right to vote. Before the nineteenth century, women were seen as property of their father or husband, and it was not until the mid-1800’s that women began to gain rights similar to men. Women had sought to obtain additional rights held already by men. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony, and Alice Paul were among the many women that led and fought for equal rights and the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. Women in the United States had little to no rights in comparison to men until 1920 when the Nineteenth Amendment was signed, giving women their deserved rights that allowed

In the years following its acknowledgement as a nation free from England, what would come to be known as the United States of America released a collective breath. That word, freedom, brought to light the dream that for many of its people had been just that. With the drafting of the Constitution 1787, many of the nation’s freedoms as well as the guidelines that accompanied them were explicitly introduced. While this document was a profound and necessary step forward for the country, the government, and many states, did not extend these rights to all persons. Minorities, especially blacks and women, were most often left out.

The predominant ideas put forth in the piece from the Combahee River Collective were those that addressed the shortcomings of the feminist movement to include all women and to address the full range of issues that oppress individuals and groups of people in our patriarchal society. This greatly furthered my ongoing development and understanding of what intersectionality is, what its goals are, and how it can help everyone instead of the predominately white, cisgendered, heterosexual, upper middle class women that composed and continue to compose a large portion of the feminist movement. One of the biggest shortcomings that are addressed in this piece focused on the racism within the feminist movement and its limited or even minimal efforts

In the short story, “A Jury of Her Peers”, by Susan Glaspell, the author shows how we should perceive gender roles. Susan focuses on the female side of gender roles more often than the male. Only to reveal and focus on the inequality a female is treated because of her gender role. Susan depicts a whole story where the men are the predators and the women are the victims, and how when more women begin to stand up for each other the more you begin to see the destruction of gender roles.

In nearly all historical societies, sexism was prevalent. Power struggles between genders mostly ended in men being the dominant force in society, leaving women on a lower rung of the social ladder. However, this does not always mean that women have a harder existence in society. Scott Russell Sanders faces a moral dilemma in “The Men We Carry in Our Minds.” In the beginning, Sanders feels that women have a harder time in society today than men do.

What Came First, the Feminist or the Abolitionist? Among the deep and dark history of the human race, two of the most unjust and despicable truths are the inhumane treatments of both African-Americans and women. As the more privileged section of the population continued to discriminate against minorities for both their sex and the color of their skin, it should come as no surprise that these groups decided they had had enough marshaled enough support to fight for their rights. It should not even shock one that these two movements happened simultaneously and involved the support of many of the same people.