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Assignment 01

Davis begins Chapter Three by mentioning Lucretia Mott and how she was denied the right to participate in the World Anti-Slavery Convention of 1840 as anything more than a mere spectator. The anger that Mott felt was only another catalyst to inspire her to fight for women’s rights. In comparison, Davis talks about Elizabeth Cady Stanton next to display the dissimilarities between women in the United States during the women’s suffrage movement. Stanton was a housewife, having no political experience. However, Davis states that regardless of background, women from all different circumstances were able to promote change and growth within the nation.
Davis indicates that much of the reasoning for the women of the 19th century to participate in the Seneca Falls Convention was this ironic occurrence that was happening to many young women; which was ending up as a housewife even though her studies, inspirations, and attributes displayed otherwise. Davis is further reinforcing the harsh reality of the “cult of womanhood” and how accomplishments were seen as unimportant unless the woman was married and provided a family for a man. Being a mother places her in the household to take care of the family and therefore, she must be reliant on the husband for financial stability; further reducing her importance in the eyes of others.
Davis goes on to bring about the struggle of representation of certain groups within these conventions. Davis mentions Charlotte Woodward, a working woman, and questions if the resolution of the Seneca Falls Convention, asking for equality between men and woman financially, was made by the convention leaders or was it a succeeded effort by the woman working class. Similar to the World Anti-Slavery Convention of 1840, the National Female Anti-Slavery Society exhibited a lack of women, especially black women. The Grimke sisters blamed the society for not representing the black women’s community enough and for not bringing forth their needs.
A woman well-known for being a leader that fought for black rights in addition to women’s rights that Davis discusses in “Women, Race, and Class” is Sojourner Truth. She was a moving public speaker that gave hope to all women. She connected to white women, working and non-working, and spoke of similar struggles, regardless of race. With the years to come, many more women began participating in meetings and conventions. They believed that the rights of African Americans and the rights of women go hand in hand and one cannot triumph without the other.

Davis, A. Y. (1981). Women, race, & class. New York: Random House.