Blog 3 Post 2: searching for sources

Susan B. Anthony: The Library databases had a few sources I could use as secondary sources for this topic. Most of articles I would have to get from interlibrary loans. Many of the sources and articles had a focus on the Women's Suffrage Movement, so I would probably have to rephrase my question, or just take a whole new route with Susan B. Anthony as a topic. I was able to find a primary source on Susan B. Anthony (http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/docs/sbatrial.html). This source is some of her accounts when she was on trial at the circuit courts. I believe I would have enough information to do this topic for my paper, I would just have to take a different route than I originally planned.

KKK: There is a plethora of information on the ku klux klan. Not only are there many articles and books available about the KKK, but there are also newspaper articles that I was able to find through the library database. There is so much information that this would be an incredibly easy topic to do my paper on. The one problem (if you can call it a problem) that I came across was the difficulty of finding a primary source for the KKK. I eventually found one (http://depts.washington.edu/labpics/repository/v/KKK/documents/). There are many different documents (mainly from the 1920s) that have been provided on this site. I think there is definitely more than enough information to be able to write a paper on this topic as well as give a presentation on it too. 

Franklin D. Roosevelt: Many of the sources I was able to find for Frankling D. Roosevelt involving the New Deal also had a great deal of democracy talk in it as well. There were about 70 articles that I could find that incorporated all of my criteria for FDR. So finding secondary sources definitely would not be an issue.There is a lot of information through the database, and I'm sure there is even more information in books in the library if this is the topic that I choose to do my paper on. I was able to find a few different primary sources on FDR...one of his public addresses is one of them (http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=75174), although I'm not sure if this would be my final choice if I choose to do FDR for my topic. This would be a fairly easy topic to find information on, but it also is the least interesting to me of all my topics.

Blog 3 Post 1

1. I would be writing about the role of Susan B. Anthony and her involvement in the Women's Rights Movement in the 1800s.
What gave her her motivation to seek out women's rights?
http://www.freedomshrine.com/historic-documents/susan-b-anthony-trial.php

2. I would be writing about the role of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and it's involvement against the Civil Right's Movement in the 20th Century.
Did the KKK really believe that they could put an end to the Civil Right's Movement and destroy all progress made to defy slavery and segregation?

3. I would be writing about the role of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the New Deal in the 1930s.
What was the big idea that went into implementing the New Deal?

Post #4 Interpretation

My interpretation and the most important message from the primary source is to inform all, especially women, that the clothing and activities that women partake in, along with the expectations that societies hold for women, do not allow for women to be healthy. In fact, women are far from healthy, and with the wardrobe fashion, women's bodies are becoming deformed, and they are passing these deformities on to their children. Of course, at some point in time, Catharine Beecher's warnings were heard and change was made on the wardrobe choices of women. However, at the time women were dressing in ways that brought on sickness and disease and deformities to their bodies. Women's shoulders and hips were being affected by corsets because corsets were bound so tightly around women's abdomens that it affected the rest of their body poorly. Because of women and others such as Catharine Beecher, changes were made, and now women are not expected to wear clothes that show off inappropriate parts of the body and cause illness when weather is cold. 



My thesis both agrees with and disagrees with what my secondary source said. My secondary source is a review on a book written to talk about Catharine Beecher's ideas on sex roles and social change. On one hand, the review goes to show that Catharine Beecher wanted to help others and help to exploit all of the problems that she was seeing, but at the same time, the secondary source went on to talk about how Catharine Beecher did not practice what she preached. Sex Roles and Social change suggested that Catharine Beecher was not as much of a help because she was not a good example. In fact, the review goes on to say that Catharine Beecher leaned greatly on men in her life, and was dependent on them for her success and health when times got hard. I do not so much agree with the secondary source that Catharine Beecher was not a help. It was because of her persistence that things were changed for women. I believe she was of great help and importance.

Most of my evidence is strictly what can be seen today. Women are clearly no longer forced to wear clothes that exploit their breasts and make them ill, and along with that, women no longer have to wear corsets that bind their middles so tight that it moves their organs around and makes it so that their shoulders and hips do not work as they should. Also, Catharine Beecher talks mainly about women's health in her letters. She talks about how many women are seen as unhealthy because of the things they are expected to do and the clothes they are expected to wear, even if it is detrimental to them. It is clear in Catharine Beecher's letters that women's health is her greatest worry.

Post #3 Investigation

Upon reading my primary source (http://www1.assumption.edu/WHW/Hatch/Beecher/BeecherLettersonHealth.html), most of my questions centered around how she got credibility and trust to do some of the research that she did in order to teach people about what she was seeing. Catharine Beecher refers to surveys she did on women to show what kind of health she was in. I had questions regarding how she got women to agree to participate in these surveys and answer these questions. At that point in time, women did not really have credibility to do research and teach others what they were learning. So it interests me that she had such an impact on people and I am interested in knowing how she earned that trust. I also want to know what kinds of education she had to get in order to form her opinions. Also, why did women's health strike her interest so much that she went out to find other people's sights on things.



Before reading this article, I did not have a lot of knowledge about the issues on women's health that Catharine Beecher was concerned with. I was aware that many women were wearing corsets at that time, and that corsets were detrimental to health. They made it difficult for women to breathe, and they also moved women's organs around which affected their health. It also affected the children that they gave birth to. I was aware that women's breasts were often prominent in wardrobe choices back in those days. However, I was not aware that it was causing so much sickness among women. The letters make more sense once you realize the sickness that the sexual appeal of women was causing.



The secondary source I am using came from a Review on a Catharine Beecher book about sex roles and social change. It was published in 1974. This secondary source confirms, in the thesis, that Catharine Beecher worked to create hegemony for females, but also cultural homogeneity. Professor Sklar recognized Catharine Beecher as someone founding women's importance in the household but also in society. Sklar began to point out that Catharine Beecher played an important role in showing how culture could change for females once they began to think outside the frame of mind that is more social than theological. Sklar also wanted to make it known that Catharine Beecher, though seen as successful and important, struggled in her own ways. Even though Beecher was well educated about domestic economy, she had no home, she also had no children, and she refused to teach. However, she urged others to be educated on and practice these manners, though she did not necessarily practice them herself. These times were not easy, and everyone struggled. Catharine Beecher wanted it to be less of a struggle for women though, and did research because of it.

The secondary source I used is http://www.jstor.org/stable/2701660?seq=3&Search=yes&searchText=Beecher&searchText=Catharine&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoAdvancedSearch%3Fq0%3DCatharine%2BBeecher%26f0%3Dall%26c1%3DAND%26q1%3D%26f1%3Dall%26acc%3Don%26wc%3Don%26fc%3Doff%26Search%3DSearch%26sd%3D%26ed%3D%26la%3D%26pt%3D%26isbn%3D&prevSearch=&item=6&ttl=616&returnArticleService=showFullText&resultsServiceName=null