Overview

This book explores the role of Quaker women in social reform during the period from 1790-1920, particularly among the leading female reformers of the Northeast, focusing especially on the reforms of abolition, women's rights and peace witness. Historian Nancy Hewitt's question is addressed; did the Hicksite schism lead to liberal reform among women? That is, were there positive repercussions from the Hicksite schism for women in the sense that the Hicksite schism became the platform for the women's movement, or that Hicksite Quaker women were far more involved in liberal social reforms than their Orthodox Quaker counterparts? The study concludes that Hicksite and Orthodox Quaker women were equally involved in liberal social reform and activism, but that they differed primarily in the expression of their theological beliefs and hermeneutics. As for the creation of the woman's rights movement, the study charts two theories of the creation of the women's movement-One that begins in Seneca Falls with the Women's Rights Convention of 1848 which involves predominantly Hicksite Quakers, and the second which sees the creation of the American women's rights movement evolving from the work of female abolitionists. This second theory focuses largely on Orthodox Quaker women.

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9780773400757

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Reviews

A study which brings the voices of women of valor into focus, and credits them with agency and action, is a valuable contribution. It suggests a bond of sisterhood between woman's traditional role as protector and conservative of what is best in the past, and her other role, as necessary now as it was in the time of Mary Wollstonecraft or Elizabeth Cady Stanton, as a responsible, rational citizen, capable of conviction and innovation, and willing to argue them with the intransigent world. (Professor Barbara Welter Hunter College and The Graduate Center, CUNY) Jody Cross-Hansen has made a valuable contribution to US history. Her study is among the first published works to treat seriously and with rare scholarship and sensitivity the issue of the role of religious faith and training in the ethos of the great Quaker women reformers who led America through the movements of abolition, women's rights, and peace. (Professor Blanche Wisen Cook, John Jay College)

Author Information

Dr. Jody Lynn Cross-Hansen received her Ph.D. from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York in American History. She is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Hofstra University.

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