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Virtual Speaker Series: Patriotic Fervor: Women’s Activism During the Civil War with Kathryn Angelica

Vermont Historical Society Virtual Speaker Series

In the transformative age of the Civil War, Northern women honed political and patriotic identities through volunteer efforts on the Union home front. Their work in sewing circles, in soldier’s aid societies, in freedmen’s aid societies, and for organizations like the United States Sanitary Commission allowed them to reframe notions of womanhood and citizenship. The Civil War also provided a platform for seasoned reformers to enact political citizenship claims. Both Black and white women activists used these platforms to shift the tenor of the drive for abolition, civil rights, and gender equality in ways that placed women at the forefront of political and social debates.

In her talk, Kathryn Angelica will explore the exciting, contentious, and often exclusionary spaces of Northern women’s activism in the Civil War Era.

Dr. Kathryn Angelica is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor in United States History at Purdue University Fort Wayne. She received her PhD from the University of Connecticut and holds graduate certificates in Feminist Studies, College Instruction, and Race, Ethnicity, & Politics. Her book manuscript in progress, “Their Mighty Influence: Nineteenth-Century Black and White Women’s Activist Networks” explores the ways social movements intersected and intervened to reveal the impact, tensions, and complexity of generational change. In this presentation, she'll speak specifically about women's activism during the Civil War.

Register to attend here. 

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