MOOC WHAW1.1x | 2.7.1 Rebellious Women | God, King, and Power in Colonial America

Summary

The transcript explores the various ways women rebelled against societal, legal, and spiritual constraints in the 17th and 18th centuries. It highlights notable figures like Anne Hutchinson, who defied religious norms, and women accused of witchcraft like Tituba. Other examples include Mary Rowlandson, who documented her captivity by Native Americans, and Hannah Duston, celebrated for her violent escape. Sacagawea's role in the Lewis and Clark expedition and the rise of women-run businesses are also discussed, illustrating how women defied expectations in both visible and subtle ways.

Takeaways

• 📜 The combination of legal, spiritual, and economic constraints led to several women's rebellions in the 17th and 18th centuries.
• 👩‍🦳 Anne Hutchinson, a 17th-century settler, challenged religious norms by preaching her belief in a direct relationship with God, leading to her banishment.
• 🔥 The Antinomianism heresy, which supported unmediated communication with God, was central to Anne Hutchinson's challenge to religious authority.
• 👩‍🔬 Witch trials in late-17th century Massachusetts targeted vulnerable women who violated societal norms, including accusations of witchcraft against widows and outspoken women.
• 🧙‍♀️ Tituba, an enslaved woman from the West Indies, was accused of witchcraft due to her medicinal practices and refusal to stop, leading to her execution.
• ✍️ Mary Rowlandson, captured during King Philip's War, wrote about her captivity as a form of rebellion against the traditional roles expected of women.
• 🗡️ Hannah Duston, after being captured in King William's War, killed her captors and escaped, but received mixed reactions for her violent actions.
• 🗽 Sacagawea, an 18-year-old Native American woman, became a heroine by guiding the Lewis and Clark expedition, challenging gender expectations of her time.
• 👗 Many women rebelled in less visible ways by starting small businesses, managing finances, and living apart from abusive husbands.
• 📚 Women found ways to assert independence through reading, writing under pseudonyms, and engaging in entrepreneurship, suggesting a degree of equality not seen again until the 20th century.

Q & A

What were the main types of constraints faced by women in the 17th and 18th centuries?

Women faced legal, spiritual, and economic constraints, which limited their rights, roles, and autonomy in society.

Who was Anne Hutchinson and why is she significant in the context of women's rebellion?

Anne Hutchinson was an early 17th-century settler who challenged religious and community authorities by preaching that she could communicate directly with God. Her defiance of male authority led to her banishment from the colony.

What was Antinomianism, and why was it considered heretical?

Antinomianism was the belief that individuals could have a direct, unmediated relationship with God, bypassing traditional religious authorities. This idea was considered heretical because it undermined the authority of church leaders.

Why were women like Anne Hutchinson seen as threats to community leaders?

Women like Anne Hutchinson, who claimed spiritual authority, challenged the patriarchal order and undermined the religious and social control exerted by male leaders, like John Winthrop.

How did accusations of witchcraft reflect the vulnerability of certain women in the late-17th century?

Many women accused of witchcraft were vulnerable members of society, such as widows or women who lacked traditional feminine traits like deference. These women often offended their neighbors by speaking out or engaging in unapproved economic activities.

Who was Tituba, and why was she accused of witchcraft?

Tituba was an enslaved woman from the West Indies with medicinal powers. She was accused of witchcraft after her practices failed, leading to suspicion in the community. She was one of the few non-merchant widows executed during the Salem witch trials.

What was significant about Mary Rowlandson's captivity and her writing?

Mary Rowlandson, captured by Native Americans during King Philip's War, wrote about her traumatic experience in captivity. Her account, seen as a rebellious act, shed light on the hardships faced by captives and challenged traditional gender roles.

Why did Hannah Duston become a controversial figure after escaping captivity?

Hannah Duston killed five Native Americans during her escape from captivity and returned with their scalps. While some celebrated her bravery, others, like Cotton Mather, condemned her for killing presumably innocent people.

What role did Sacagawea play in the Lewis and Clark expedition, and why was she seen as a rebel?

Sacagawea was an 18-year-old Native American woman who guided the Lewis and Clark expedition. She was seen as a rebel for helping foreign explorers and displaying qualities like curiosity and leadership, which were not typically associated with women of that era.

In what ways did women rebel in less visible forms during colonial times?

Women rebelled in less visible ways by starting businesses like millinery, selling butter and eggs, keeping earnings for themselves, leaving abusive husbands, reading fiction, and writing under pseudonyms, all of which challenged societal norms.

Outlines

00:00

🌀 Rebellions of Women in the 17th and 18th Centuries

This paragraph explores the various forms of rebellion by women in the 17th and 18th centuries against legal, spiritual, and economic constraints. It begins by highlighting Anne Hutchinson, an early settler who challenged religious authority through Antinomianism—a belief that God could speak directly to individuals without intermediaries like priests. Hutchinson’s defiance of religious leaders led to her banishment. The paragraph also touches on the Salem witch trials, where many vulnerable women, such as Tituba, were executed for allegedly practicing witchcraft. These women often violated societal norms by being outspoken or not conforming to traditional gender roles, such as deferring to men.

05:01

⚡ Captivity and Rebellion in Early America

This section focuses on women who were captured by Native Americans and how they rebelled in their circumstances. Mary Rowlandson, captured during King Philip’s War, is highlighted for writing about her captivity, defying traditional expectations of women. Hannah Duston’s story is also presented, detailing her violent escape from Native American captors after the death of her newborn child. Her actions were controversial—while spiritual leader Cotton Mather condemned her violence, others praised her for her survival. The paragraph underscores the mixed reactions to women who took drastic measures to defy their captivity.

🏞️ Sacagawea and the Legacy of Female Rebellion

The third paragraph shifts focus to Sacagawea, a young Native American woman who famously guided Lewis and Clark during their expedition in the early 1800s. Sacagawea’s actions were significant because she defied her own tribe to assist foreign explorers, demonstrating leadership, curiosity, and intelligence—qualities not commonly associated with women at the time. The paragraph also acknowledges the broader rebellion of thousands of women who defied social norms in more subtle ways, such as starting small businesses, seeking independence from abusive husbands, or pursuing intellectual endeavors by writing under pseudonyms. The paragraph concludes with the suggestion that women in colonial times may have enjoyed more equality than in later periods.

Keywords

💡Antinomianism

Antinomianism is a belief in the idea that individuals can have a direct relationship with God, bypassing the need for church authorities like priests or ministers. In the script, this concept is central to Anne Hutchinson's rebellion as she defied religious conventions by claiming to hear God's voice directly. Her refusal to adhere to church leaders' authority reflects a broader theme of challenging social and religious constraints on women.

💡Anne Hutchinson

Anne Hutchinson was a 17th-century settler who challenged religious norms by holding meetings where she preached her own interpretations of spirituality. Her defiance of male authority figures, like John Winthrop, led to her banishment. Her story exemplifies early female rebellion against the legal and spiritual constraints imposed on women in colonial society.

💡Witchcraft

Witchcraft refers to the practice of magical or supernatural powers, which, in the late 17th century, became a label used to persecute women in Massachusetts. The script mentions how vulnerable women, often widows or those who defied social norms, were accused of witchcraft and executed. The witch trials highlight the social and legal oppression women faced and the severe consequences of stepping outside accepted gender roles.

💡Tituba

Tituba was an enslaved woman from the West Indies who was accused of witchcraft in the Plymouth Colony. Her role as a healer and her subsequent suspicion by the community reflect the intersection of race, gender, and power. Tituba's story exemplifies how women of color were particularly vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft and how their resistance to social constraints, like refusing to stop practicing medicine, could lead to tragic outcomes.

💡Mary Rowlandson

Mary Rowlandson was a colonial woman who was captured by Native Americans during King Philip's War and later ransomed. Her narrative of captivity, written after her release, depicts the hardships she endured and her resistance to being forced into the labor roles typical of Native American women. Rowlandson's writing can be seen as an act of rebellion, as she sought to assert her identity in a situation where she felt it was being violated.

💡Hannah Duston

Hannah Duston was captured by Native Americans during King William's War and later escaped by killing her captors. Her violent escape, which involved taking scalps, made her a controversial figure. Some, like Cotton Mather, condemned her actions, while others celebrated her bravery. Duston's story is another example of how colonial women could resist captivity and oppression, but in ways that provoked mixed reactions.

💡Sacagawea

Sacagawea was a Native American woman who played a crucial role as a guide for the Lewis and Clark expedition. Her involvement in helping foreign explorers, despite the cultural and gender expectations of her tribe, marks her as a symbol of female empowerment. The video script highlights her interpretative curiosity and the energy she brought to the expedition, qualities not typically attributed to women at the time.

💡Witch Trials

The witch trials in late-17th century Massachusetts involved the persecution and execution of women accused of practicing witchcraft. The trials reflect how women who were seen as stepping outside societal norms, whether by selling goods at high prices, speaking out, or lacking deference to men, were targeted. This theme is important in the video as it demonstrates the extreme measures taken to enforce gendered expectations.

💡Rebellion

Rebellion in the context of the script refers to the various ways women in the 17th and 18th centuries defied the legal, religious, and social constraints placed upon them. Examples of rebellion include Anne Hutchinson's religious defiance, Hannah Duston's violent escape from captivity, and the less visible rebellions of women who started businesses or lived independently. These acts illustrate the broader theme of women's resistance to oppression.

💡Economic Constraints on Women

Economic constraints refer to the limitations women faced in owning property, engaging in business, or keeping their earnings. In the video, some women resisted these constraints by starting small businesses, like millinery and dressmaking, or selling butter and eggs. These entrepreneurial acts, while small, represented a form of rebellion against the traditional economic roles assigned to women, and contributed to their empowerment in a male-dominated society.

Highlights

The combination of legal, spiritual, and economic constraints on women led to several rebellions in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Anne Hutchinson challenged religious and societal norms by claiming to hear God directly, leading to her banishment from the colony.

Hutchinson’s rebellion was based on Antinomianism, a heresy that believed in direct communication with God without mediation by religious authorities.

Hutchinson's meetings attracted large numbers of women, threatening community leaders like John Winthrop.

Many women accused of witchcraft in late 17th-century Massachusetts were often vulnerable women who had offended their neighbors or violated societal norms.

Tituba, an enslaved woman with medicinal powers, was one of the few women who was not a widow of a respected merchant but was still executed for witchcraft.

Mary Rowlandson, captured during King Phillip's War, wrote about her captivity, which she saw as a violation of her womanly expectations, marking her rebellion through writing.

Hannah Duston, after being captured during King William's War, escaped by killing five Native Americans in their sleep and was later honored as a heroine, despite receiving mixed reception.

Cotton Mather condemned Duston for her violent escape, while others celebrated her for defying captivity.

Duston is believed to be the first American woman to be honored with a statue, erected in 1874 in Haverhill, Massachusetts.

Sacagawea, an 18-year-old Native American woman, guided Lewis and Clark in their expedition, symbolizing rebellion by helping foreign explorers against her tribe’s expectations.

Sacagawea was celebrated for her energy and interpretative curiosity, qualities not typically attributed to women at the time.

Many colonial women rebelled in subtle ways, such as starting their own small businesses or living apart from abusive husbands.

Women engaged in personal rebellions by reading fiction, writing under pseudonyms, and keeping the proceeds from their small enterprises to themselves.

Some historians argue that women in the colonial period may have enjoyed more equality than they would again until much later in the 20th century, due to their economic and social value in the colonies.

Transcripts

- The combination of legal, spiritual

and economic constraints on women added up

to the several rebellions of women

that emerged in the 17th and 18th century.

Rules could be challenged,

and even if most women obeyed legal

and religious injunctions out of habit or deference,

some constraints seemed too difficult to follow.

One of the most famous examples of rebellion

is that of Anne Hutchinson.

You might remember her as an early 17th-century settler,

the wife of a prosperous merchant

who immigrated to the colonies

and who, in England, had already chosen

not to listen any longer to priests and ministers,

but to start exploring whether she too

could have a direct relationship with God.

The notion that God might speak unmediated

through an ordinary individual was a heresy

called Antinomianism.

Hutchinson, believing that she could not only hear God,

but that He had asked her to speak, started to preach

calling together her women friends on a Sunday morning.

She held meetings that became so popular

that after a while, 30, 40 and 50 women

might gather together to listen to her speak.

Her claim to authority threatened community leaders

like John Winthrop.

And so, without much ado, they asked her to keep silent.

Refusing to do so, refusing to hold her tongue,

Anne Hutchinson was banished from the colony

more usual with the women we have come

to know as witches.

In the late-17th century Massachusetts,

some-40 or so women and a handful of men

were accused of witchcraft.

Of the several women executed in the turmoil,

most, it turned out, were vulnerable women

who had offended their neighbors.

They might have sold goods at too high a price

or spoken out of turn,

or lacked some feminine trait like deference to men.

Often, the accused were widows of respected merchants

left vulnerable by a husband's death.

Among the women accused of witchcraft,

we recall Tituba, an enslaved woman

who had arrived in the Plymouth Colony from the West Indies.

Tituba apparently had well-respected medicinal powers

and yet, upon occasion, they failed her

with dire consequences.

She thus fell under suspicion,

and when she was asked to suspend the practice of medicine,

refused to do so.

Tituba was one of the few women

who was not the widow of a respected merchant

who was executed for witchcraft.

Women had other opportunities for rebellion too.

One thinks, for example, of those women

who were captured by Native Americans

when they were just going about their business.

The one who's probably the best known to us

is Mary Rowlandson who was captured

during King Phillip's War.

We know about her because after being ransomed

from several years in captivity,

she wrote about the awful circumstances

under which she'd been held.

Indians often captured white people

to replace those they had lost in battle or to disease.

Rowlandson thought of her forced engagement

in the tasks typical of the tribe

as a violation of her own womanly expectations.

Writing about them was thus a rebellious act.

Hannah Duston engaged in a different kind of rebellion.

Taken captive during King William's War

from her hometown of Haverhill, Massachusetts,

she was just recovering from childbirth.

She'd given birth only the day before

to an infant child.

Along with the child, she was imprisoned

and held for about six weeks before she saw

an opportunity to escape.

The child didn't make it,

but Hannah Duston took the scalps

of the five Indians sleeping in a tent

with her in the middle of the night and escaped.

She returned triumphantly to Haverhill, Massachusetts

where she met with a mixed reception.

Cotton Mather, then the spiritual leader

of the congregation, condemned her

for taking the lives of people

who were presumably innocent Indians.

But, others celebrated her because after all,

she, a woman, had successfully escaped from captivity.

The general consensus is that she remains a heroine.

She seems to have been the first American woman

to be honored with a statue that was built

in 1874 in Haverhill.

We see yet a third kind of rebellion in Sacagawea,

an 18-year-old Native American woman.

Sacagawea is best known for guiding Lewis and Clark

in their famous expedition in the early 1800s.

She became a heroine, not just because

she violated the injunctions of her Indian tribe

in order to help foreign explorers,

but because she did so with an energy

and interpretative curiosity then thought not

to be the qualities of women.

To these stories, we might add those

of the thousands of women who rebelled

in less visible ways, by starting

their own little businesses as milliners and dressmakers,

by selling butter and eggs and keeping

the proceeds to themselves.

By seeking to live apart from abusive husbands.

By reading fiction and writing under pseudonymous names.

Indeed, because the circumstances of colonial life,

of demography and religion and inheritance

made women so valuable, some historians believe

that women were more equal then

than they would be again until much later

in the 20th century.