Ideas for Class Discussion
The following is taken from Georgetown University, The Heath Anthology of American Literature Syllabus Builder.
Harriet Ann Jacobs (1813-1897)
Contributing Editor: Jean Fagan Yellin
Classroom Issues and StrategiesPrimary problems that arise in teaching Jacobs include:
1. The question of authorship: Could a woman who had been held in slavery have written such a literary book?
2. The question of her expressions of conflict about her sexual experiences.
3. The question of veracity: How could she have stayed hidden all those years?
Major Themes, Historical Perspectives, and Personal Issues
Significant Form, Style, or Artistic Conventions
Session Seven ~ Charity Bryant, 1777-1851 & Sylvia Drake, 1784-1868
Silhouette of Sylvia Drake and Charity Bryant, c. 1805 - 1815.
Entwined in braided human hair.
The Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History
If I were permitted to draw aside the veil of private life, I would briefly give you the singular, and to me most interesting history of two maiden ladies who dwell in this valley. I would tell you how, in their youthful days, they took each other as companions for life, and how this union, no less sacred to them than the tie of marriage, has subsisted, in uninterrupted harmony for more than forty years. . . but I have already said more than they will forgive me.
William Cullen Bryant, Charity’s nephew, 1843
If women in general have been marginalized in our historical record, then even more so have the lives and contributions of lesbian and transgendered women, especially those who formed enduring relationships and considered themselves married. The existence and success of same sex marriages presented a potent threat to the normative values of American nineteenth century society just as they do today. Sylvia and Charity both worked diligently at gaining acceptance in their immediate families and the larger Weybridge Vermont community. In this they were largely successful as is witnessed by the headstone erected in the Weybridge cemetery in their memory.
Their struggle provides a historical lens through which to view the current ongoing struggle extending and protecting the political and societal equality
of those whose gender identification fall outside of the norms of straight society. Their story acts as a historical corrective to oft repeated arguments that
today's demands fall outside of the established traditions of our society. The Drake and Byrant families and the Town of Weybridge would beg to differ.
Some Background
The Improbable, 200-Year-Old Story of One of America’s First Same-Sex ‘Marriages’, Sarah Kaplan, The Washington Post, March 20, 2015.
www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/03/20/the-improbable-story-of-one-of-americas-first-same-sex-marriages-from-over-200-years-ago/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.e182ae89a594
Charity and Sylvia: The Remarkable Story of How Two Women Married Each Other in Early America
, BrainPickings, Maria Popova.
www.brainpickings.org/2014/08/13/charity-and-sylvia-marriage/
Charity and Sylvia: The Remarkable Story of How Two Women Married Each Other in Early America, BrainPickings, Maria Popova.
The Matthew and Matilda effects: The Phenomenon of Under-recognition in Science
by Diana Grajales Abellán. October 2016. Lund University.
Modern science is built based on cooperation, trust, competence and fairness between collaborative projects that involve a group of researchers (graduate students, PhDs, post-docs, senior researchers...). Furthermore, it is often seen that the research group extends the network to different collaborations and relationships with other colleagues. This cooperative way of building knowledge facilitates the trustworthiness of society in research (1). However, science is not completely objective, and it can be affected by psychological and social factors that determine the scientific paradigm of the moment, as Thomas Kuhn proposed in 1962 (2). Two good examples of these social factors that compromise scientific objectivity are the Matthew and Matilda effects. In short, the Matthew effect describes that contributions made by “high standing” scientists are the most visible ones, while contributions from less-known scientists are unnoticed. On the other hand, the Matilda effect explains that the work made by women scientists is sometimes seen as work of lower-quality compared to similar work made by their male peers. In this assignment, I will try to review both effects and explain some characteristics examples of both phenomenon.
Continue here. . .
Silent Sky by Lauren Gunderson
"Lauren Gunderson is an award-winning playwright living in San Francisco. She studied at Emory University and NYU’s Tisch School where she was a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. Her work has been produced and developed at companies across the US.... Based on the true story and science of early 20th century female “computers” at Harvard Observatory. Astonishing discoveries await Henrietta Leavitt as she maps distant stars in galaxies beyond our own. But this brilliant, headstrong pioneer must struggle for recognition in the man’s world of turn-of-the-century astronomy. In this exquisite blend of science, history, family ties, and fragile love, a passionate young woman must map her own passage through a society determined to keep a woman in her place. Finalist for the Jane Chambers Award 2013." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU4EFZCQEpc