HIS 436 GENDER/SEX IN COLONIAL AMERICA

This course uses Kathleen Brown’s work Good Wives, Nasty Women, and Anxious Patriarchs as a jumping-off point to examine how gender, race, and sex figured into the power structures of 17th- and 18th-century colonial American society. Students will analyze primary and secondary sources to understand how early Americans constructed and deconstructed prescribed gender norms, and how patriarchal beliefs were used to situate women and enslaved populations “properly” in society. The course also examines the individuals who railed against those designations and the consequences they faced.