American Revolution: Women on all Fronts

The primary source portfolio illustrates the often forgotten breadth of activity of the American woman during the war for independence, and moves her from the margins of the historical pages to the center. Your students will gain a new appreciation of the role women played as spies, soldiers, and even prisoners of war. Hands-on letters, plays, poems, and personal journals provide firsthand accounts to stimulate thinking. The broadsheet essays help lead to open, informed discussions of women's rights. A timeline of the important dates in the history of women of the revolutionary war period is included. This portfolio also includes a Study Guide with reproducible student activities. 4 Illustrated Broadsheet Essays: * A Woman's Life in Colonial America * Words and Actions * The Fate of Loyalist Women * Women's Lives After the Revolution 11 Primary Source Documents: * An installment of Mercy Warren's play, The Defeat, from the Boston Gazette, July 19, 1773 * "Ode to George Washington," a poem by Phillis Wheatley from the April 1776 issue of Pennsylvania Magazine * An advertisement for spinners from the Pennsylvania Packet,· August 7, 1775 * "A New Touch on the Times Well Adapted to the Distressing Situation of Every Sea-Port Town," a broadside, 1779 * "A letter from a lady in Philadelphia to her friend in this place," from the Boston Independent Chronicle, July 27, 1780 * An excerpt from the Marquis of Chastellux's Voyages, published in Paris, 1786 * General orders of George Washington regarding camp followers, August 4, 1777 * A letter from Hannah Winthrop to Mercy Warren, November 11 , 1777 * "Pension for Margaret Corbin" from the Journal of the Continental Congress, July 6, 1779. * A letter from Esther Sewall to her sister-in-law Katy Quincy, March 29, 1778 * 'A Society of Patriotic Ladies," a reproduction of a mezzotint by Philip Dawe