Catharine Beecher was a controversial historical figure. On the one hand, she was the founder of a women's college. However, she believed this college was only to create better homemakers and raise men better. In “Slavery and Abolition with Reference to the Duty of American Females," Voices of Freedom #74, Beecher strongly disagrees with women's rights advocates, the Grimké sisters, and believes that women should “win every thing by peace and love” and focus on domestic duties. Her main goal was to increase educational opportunities for women so that they could become good future teachers of American men.When Beecher was 16, her mother passed away, leaving her to manage the household. She focussed on poetry writing, and when she was 22, she became engaged to a Yale professor. The professor passed away in a shipwreck, leaving Beecher to dedicate her life to education. She founded the Hartford Female Seminary in 1823 with her sister that offered a full range of subjects. Beecher was one of the first to introduce physical education for girls. She also created the Western Female Institute.
Throughout her entire life, she opposed the women's suffrage movement. She believed that women should limit themselves to their households, and that was their fundamental role. In regards to the abolitionist movement, she thought it was dangerous for women to get involved; women should be partisan and an advocate of peace in matters of clashing interests. She felt that women could have opinions as long as they were used to advocate for peace and harmony.
Though she did hold these opinions, her college significantly increased educational opportunities for women, which unintentionally allowed her students to become future women's' rights advocates and propel the suffrage movement.
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/catharine-esther-beecher
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Catharine-Beecher
I find Catharine Beecher's background interesting because it clearly had a huge effect on her work. It makes sense that she valued a woman's role in the household if she had to manage her family's home by herself when her mother died. Her family was very wealthy and prominent so she was able to receive an education and clearly wanted other women to be able to enjoy the same opportunities she had been granted. Also her sister Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and was a very active abolitionist - I wonder if her views on women's rights varied from her sister's.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.pbs.org/onlyateacher/beecher.html
I think that although Catharine Beecher retained many misguided views about women's "rightful" role in the household, she still made an impact for future female activists and had more progressive views that other people of the time. Pretty much everyone agreed that women should stay be confined to the private sphere and only learn skills that would help them become better housewives. Beecher agreed with the former, but opposed the latter and make great advancements for female education. In my mind, this is a win. She was certainly flawed, but ultimately she aided the women's right's movement by educating others (whether she would like that or not).
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you tied this person into our curriculum, and how you took the Voices of Freedom book and elaborated on a piece of textual evidence. I felt your exploration of Beecher's opinions and actions was very well done, and it was interesting for me to read about Beecher's personal history. Seeing this, it makes sense that Beecher took the actions that she did. I feel it would be interesting if you connected the Beecher Sisters in some way, as all of them helped shape the suffrage movement in some way. I think drawing connections between each of their actions would make for an even more awesome article. Well done!
ReplyDelete