The Rapalje Children
This portrait of an affluent colonial family illustrates the different expectations of boys and girls in the eighteenth century.
Children at Work
The indenture contract of nine-year-old Elizabeth Fortune reveals the opportunities available to young free black women in colonial New York.
Professional Portraitist
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.
Ornaments for the Daughters of Zion
Puritan leader Cotton Mather gives young women advice on appropriate dress and behavior.
Life Story: Catharine Littlefield Greene Miller
The story of a general’s wife who dealt with the repercussions of the revolution for decades after its official end.
Life Story: Nancy Morgan Hart
The story of a Revolutionary era woman who became an American legend.
Army Wife
Two letters of Lucy Knox illustrate the trials and tribulations of women whose husbands left to fight in the war.
Edenton Tea Party
In 1774, fifty women in Edenton, North Carolina, signed and published a statement declaring their intention to boycott all British goods. It was the first women’s public collective political action in American history.
Coverture
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.
Atlanta Neighborhood Union: Women Helping Women
A photograph of the Atlanta Neighborhood Union, a women-led organization in Atlanta, Georgia that provided a safe haven and social services for black women and children.
