Coverture is a legal principal that dates back to the Middle Ages and comes from a French term meaning “covered.” Imported to the American colonies as part of English common law, coverture had a significant impact on women’s lives.
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Puritan leader Cotton Mather gives young women advice on appropriate dress and behavior.
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This letter demonstrates that Russian colonial efforts relied on intermarriage between Russian traders and Native women.
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Two letters of Lucy Knox illustrate the trials and tribulations of women whose husbands left to fight in the war.
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Two works by artist Henrietta Johnston, the first professional female portraitist in the English colonies, illustrate the fashions and values of the eighteenth-century colonies.
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The indenture contract of nine-year-old Elizabeth Fortune reveals the opportunities available to young free black women in colonial New York.
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This portrait of an affluent colonial family illustrates the different expectations of boys and girls in the eighteenth century.
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This sampler and chatelaine reveal the skills and responsibilities of upper-class eighteenth-century women.
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This portrait shows how free Black women in Spanish Louisiana turned an oppressive law into a celebration of individuality and culture.
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A Dutch merchant woman who traveled the world before settling in Flatbush and opening a shop to sell luxury goods.
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