Great Courses – 12 Women Who Shaped America: 1619 to 1920 (Zoom)


Event Details


About 12 Women Who Shaped America:

History all too often overlooks the invaluable contributions of women, and US history is certainly no exception to this pattern. Museums, documentaries, historical sites, and even textbooks omit essential parts of the whole picture because they leave out her story. Join historian Professor Allison K. Lange, of the Wentworth Institute of Technology, as she guides you through the fascinating lives of 12 early Americans, all of them women, and all of them crucial to a better understanding of American history. With a deft talent for bringing history to life, Allison explores the complex and often controversial lives of these American women who dedicated themselves to living beyond the constraints of their time and place.

In the eye-opening lectures of 12 Women Who Shaped America: 1619 to 1920, you will meet a dozen influential women with astonishing life stories, each of whom found a way to break away from the constrictive social and familial norms of their day. A popular adage says that “well-behaved women seldom make history,” and that is true. From the earliest days of the Republic through much of the early 20th century, American women were expected to lead private lives of modesty and obedience. Although some of the women explored in this course valued the more traditional feminine roles expected of them, none of these women allowed those expectations to limit their lives or their ambitions. If they had, not only would we not know their stories, but the history of the United States would have been quite different.

12 lectures

Lecturers: Professor Allison K. Lange, of the Wentworth Institute of Technology

Meeting Dates: Wednesdays, 3/8, 3/15, 3/22, 3/29, 4/5, 4/12, 4/19, 4/26, 5/3, 5/10, 5/17, & 5/24

Click here to register.