Spotlight on Women's History
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New Hampshire women who challenged the social norms of their day are highlighted in our new Humanities to Go programs, “Jennie Powers: The Woman Who Dares” and “Mary Baker Eddy: New Hampshire’s Most Important Religious Thinker.” Jennie Powers was a humane society agent and deputy sheriff in Keene cited by The Boston Post in 1906 for having arrested more men than any other woman in the United States. Mary Baker Eddy, born in 1821 in Bow, founded the Church of Christ, Scientist and played an important role on the national stage as an author and religious leader.
The story of Sarah Roberts is revealed by UNH professor Kabria Baumgartner in the program “A Practical Experiment: School Desegregation on Trial in Antebellum Boston.” Roberts was a five-year old Black girl in Boston involved in a court case that ultimately resulted in Massachusetts prohibiting racial discrimination in public schools in 1855—although the story does not end there.
Changes in the law do not always bring about equality. With the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment happening in 2020, “Votes for Women: A History of the Suffrage Movement” provides important context for this centennial. Even after the long campaign for the 19th Amendment ended in 1920, many women were still prevented from exercising their right to vote for decades.
Visual representations of women and ideas about art have changed dramatically over time. In “Fierce Females: Women in Art,” Jane Oneail explores the ways that women have been both the subjects and the creators of art from the Renaissance to today. This program examines the history of women in art and then explores the lives, careers, and works of several major women artists.
- Dr. Tricia Peone, Public Programs Manager
(L-R) HTG presenters Kabria Baumgartner, Jenna Carroll, Jane Oneail, Nicole Ruane, Liz Tentarelli
• Dr. Kabria Baumgartner: A Practical Experiment: School Desegregation on Trial in Antebellum Boston
• Jenna Carroll: Jennie Powers: The Woman Who Dares
• Jane Oneail: Fierce Females: Women in Art
• Dr. Nicole Ruane: Mary Baker Eddy: New Hampshire’s Most Important Religious Thinker
• Liz Tentarelli: Votes for Women: A History of the Suffrage Movement
For information about hosting or attending one of these programs, please visit www.nhhumanities.org/humanitiestogo.
