Women in Antebellum Reform

"This is a soul-stirring era," remarked the Reverend William Mitchell in 1835, "and will be so recorded in the annals of time." Countless antebellum reformers agreed. The United States was awash in efforts to change itself, a 'sisterhood of reforms' emerging to characterise the efforts of hundreds of thousands of Americans. In all of this, women played an important role. This book offers a view of women and antebellum reform through two lenses: one focused on the ideas about women, religion, class, and race that shaped reform movements; and another that observes actual women as they participate in the work of social change.

Lori D. Ginzberg is Associate Professor of History and Women's Studies at Pennsylvania State University. In 1995-96 she was a Fulbright senior teaching fellow at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Lori Ginzberg lives in Philadelphia.