In this course, we will explore the struggles and triumph "inbetween peoples" after Reconstruction and before WWII.
I found it interesting that Perkins argument, based on the notion of racial supremacy, was actually quite irrelevant to white middle class men’s views of manliness and civilization. Perkins tried to gain equality for women by creating a racial bond between white men and white women. In her argument, she essentially displaced male [...]
The turn of the century saw both assertions of manliness and developments in evolution. Bederman’s work makes clear that these two phenomena went hand in hand. Darwinisim and earlier theories of evolution were employed to reinforce racial and gender stereotypes, lending validity to the idea that people, races and cultures developed over time. Science provided [...]
“Mary was on the lookout and peered out, a long kitchen fork in her hand like a rapier” (46). Baker’s vivid description certainly plays upon stereotypes of Mary’s lower class status. Baker, accompanied by a policeman, was never really in any physical danger of being harmed by this woman. However, I can not imagine the [...]
Upon reading Typhoid Mary, I found myself shocked at the treatment Mary Mallon received as a result of her benign affliction with typhoid. She was thrown around by policymakers, scientists, lawyers, and her peers with little to no regard for personal autonomy or emotion. However, further inspection reveals that the situation was inevitable [...]