Florence Nightingale changes modern Nursing during the Crimean War

Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale's volunteer nurse work during the Crimean war held lasting impresstions with the medical community. She proved that sanitation in hosptials and medical residence leads to quicker recovery and less deaths overall. With Nightingale's insight and planning, she created an enviroment of homes for the nurses assisting in the Crimean war. This was a safe place for the female nurses to live while they worked admist the harsh backdrop of war. Her knowledge and patience for the soldiers saved many lives and helped future generations progess with modern medicine. 

CLondon: Tinderpress. Perry Pictures/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-USZ62-5877)

Markovits, Stefanie. “On the Crimean War and the Charge of the Light Brigade.” BRANCH: Britain, Representation and Nineteenth-Century History. Ed. Dino Franco Felluga. Extension of Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net. Web. [Here, add your last date of access to BRANCH].

Young, Arlene. “The Rise of the Victorian Working Lady: The New-Style Nurse and the Typewriter, 1840-1900.” BRANCH: Britain, Representation and Nineteenth-Century History. Ed. Dino Franco Felluga. Extension of Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net. Web. [Here, add your last date of access to BRANCH].

George Eliot Publishes Adam Bede Under Pseudonym in 1859

Mary Ann Evans, born in Warwickshire in 1819, adopted the pseudonym George Eliot for publication of her work, including her first novel, Adame Bede in 1859. During the early to mid-Victorian era, the parameters of the feminine literary tradition were narrow and restrictive, literature by women often being dismissed as sentimental, frivolous, and domestic. To establish themselves “without assuming feminine identities” (Cambridge) and the accompanying stereotypes, many female writers of the time published under pseudonyms. By doing so, they were able to widen their scope beyond the traditional “domain of feminine writing” (Cambridge) into areas such as politics, social issues, gender roles, economics, and other conventionally masculine topics. Through her journalistic persona, George Eliot experimented with narratives and negotiated relationships with her editor and audience. 

One example of such critical negotiation takes place in Adam Bede, in which Eliot challenges the Victorian confines of the female by utilizing the “fallen woman” archetype. Victorian moral conventions asserted that, per Darwinian theory, women are born “angels” and men “animals.” It was considered natural for men to explore and appease their sexual appetites, but “unnatural” for women to do the same. Typical belief of Victorian culture held that a woman’s sexuality was dangerous to herself and to society. Rosalind White explains further how a Victorian woman’s identity was linked to her sexuality: 

“During the Victorian period a woman's identity was indisputably intertwined with her sexual status; a woman was either an untainted "maiden," a wife or mother (which placed her sexuality safely in the domestic sphere), or she was vilified by labels such as "spinster" or "whore," both of which had negative connotations, the former with sexual atrophy, the latter with deviant promiscuity. Essentially, any deviance from the paragon of ideal Victorian womanhood, the "angel of the house," insinuated that a woman's fall was imminent.”  

Eliot challenged this Victorian ideal by using the “fallen woman”, a term which “refers to an irrevocable loss of innocence, a concept originating in the biblical fall in the Garden of Eden; the characterisation of Eve as temptress inextricably links her fallen state with the loss of sexual purity” (White). Hetty Sorrel, one of the main characters in Adam Bede is a perfect portrait of the Victorian "fallen woman". A lower-class maiden, Hetty is seduced by a life of jewels and satin and becomes sexually corrupted by a man who is above her station and has no intention of marrying her. 

Had George Eliot not adopted that pseudonym, her infamous work, her psychological realism, and her striking honesty about provincial life in rural England may not have been received and/or accepted in the way that it was.

SOURCES:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-companion-to-victorian-womens-writing/victorian-women-writers-careers/38E8D853C4DCD946C779429B1589C72B/core-reader

http://www.victorianweb.org/gender/fallen2.html

https://artuk.org/discover/stories/ten-women-who-used-pseudonyms-and-one-man#

Emma Paterson founds the first women's union

Dewsbury Weaver's Union whom Emma Paterson assisted in organizing a strike

While working conditions and work unions for men were a topic under frequent discussion in Victorian England, there had been no large efforts to create such organizations for women workers. in 1873, Emma Paterson, who had a background in men's union work, studied the work of American women's unions and proposed her ideas which resulted in the 1874 formation of the first women's union: the Women's Protective and Provident League. The League originally represented tailors, book weavers, straw plaiters, and earthenware workers. They worked to improve factory legislation, safety, and equal pay for women.

This was the first women's union in Britain and led to the establishment of approximately 30 trade unions. The effect of unionization was huge, but it was much more profound than the immediate workplace results. It was an important, vital first step in workplace rights for women and women's rights in general. 

Source: https://wcml.org.uk/our-collections/activists/emma-paterson/

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/heritage_floor/emma_paterson

Rogers, Frederick. Labour, LIfe and Literature some memories of sixty years. Smith, Elder & Co, 1913, p 92-94. https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=4wEPAAAAQAAJ&rdid=book-4wEPAAAAQAAJ&rdot=1

First Open LGBTQ+ Global Leader

Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir

Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir was the world's first openly gay head of government. She was elected as prime minister of Iceland in 2009 and served until 2013. She was a founding member of Iceland's Social Democratic Alliance, and also formed her own political part called National Movement. She was also integral for legalizing same-sex marriage and was married on the day it was legalized. Sigurðardóttir also fought hard to include Iceland in the European Union though that dream has not yet been realized. Sigurðardóttir proved that LGBTQ+ members can serve in government and make their nation better. She has made the LGBTQ+ rights movement of global import as she interacted with many other heads of state. She is still alive today and continues to work hard for social justice. 

The publication of "Adam Bede" by George Eliot, A.K.A. Mary Ann Evans, left people shocked when they realized a woman had written such a popular book. She was able to bring attention to the fact that women can do everything that was considered a man's job, and do it just as well. Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir did the same thing with her work in the government of Iceland. She was a public LGBTQ+ figure who showed the world just how powerful a lesbian in office could be. Both of these women brought attention to their situations, and surprised many people with what they did with their lives. 

Sources: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johanna-Sigurdardottir

Picture: Same

First Lesbian Rights Group Founded in USA

Daughters of Bilitis Newsletter

The Daughers of Bilitis was the first lesbian rights group founded in the US. It was founded in San Francisco by a group of like-minded women and their partners in 1955. The DOB also produced and published its own newspaper titled The Ladder. This group was an important stepping stone for LGBTQ+ rights in the US because it increased awareness and acceptance for LGBTQ+ people. Their journey wasn't easy as they faced surveillance of the CIA, FBI, and local police. However, they soon became a national organization with thousands of members around the US. 

Both the DOB and the Women's Protective and Provident League were groups founded by women, for women, to protect the rights of women. The WPPL was a union meant to protect the rights of women in the workplace and ensure they had a safe job. The DOB was created to provide a safe place for lesbians to gather and discuss their rights. Both of these groups were the first of many and provided a starting point for future groups with similar ideals. 

Sources:https://guides.loc.gov/lgbtq-studies/before-stonewall/daughters-of-bilitis

Picture: http://www.wikipink.org/index.php/File:Daughters_of_Bilitis_Newsletter_(18271108860).jpg

The Mother of Pride

Rainbow Over June Pride Month Celebrations

Brenda Howard was a bisexual activist who was one of the organizers for the New York City Pride parade. She was also integral to coining the term 'Pride' to represent the LGBTQ+ movement. She was arrested many times throughout her life as an activist but kept moving forward with gusto and pride. She was most vocal about bi rights, though she did fight for LGBTQ+ rights in general, human rights, and rights for people who contracted AIDS. Howard was central for making LGBTQ+ rights heard and accepted. She fought for what she believed in, and is the reason we have Pride events today. 

The Vindication of the Rights of Women was a very influential book that laid out the foundation for equal rights between the genders. Brenda Howard did very similar things with her fight for LGBTQ+ rights, and specifically bisexual rights. Just as women's rights were covered up and buried under different issues, Howard felt bisexual rights were buried under gay and lesbian rights and so she fought to include bisexuals in the LGBTQ+ rights movement. Howard was not the originator of the rights LGBTQ+ members were fighting for, but she was the one who defended them and supported them so they could progress. 

Source: https://www.them.us/story/brenda-howard

Picture: https://www.peoplemattersglobal.com/site/interstitial?return_to=%2Fartic...