Women in the 19C United States of America: Women in Rural 19C America by Eastman Johnson (1824-1906)

Monday, July 6, 2020

Women in Rural 19C America by Eastman Johnson (1824-1906)

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) was an American painter who helped establish the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Best known for his genre paintings of scenes from everyday life, he also painted portraits of the famous & not so famous.

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) The Girl I Left Behind Me
Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Dinah 1866-69
Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) A Ride for Freedom The Fugitive Slaves 1862

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) A Day Dream 1877
Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906)

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Catching Up on the News

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Corn Husking

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Cranberry Pickers 1879

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Gathering Lilies 1865

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Husking Bee Nantucket 1876

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Ice Skater 1879

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) In the Hay Loft 1877

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Interior of a Farm House in Maine 1865

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Kitchen at Mount Vernon 1857

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Musical Instrument c 1860

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Ruth c 1880

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Sarah May Girl in the Barn 1877-80

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) The Card Players 1853

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) The Confab

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) The Conversation (at Cranberry Harvest) 1879

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) The Little Convalescent c 1872

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) The Young Sweep 1863

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Mother and Child

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Bo Peep

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Feeding the Turkey

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Feeding the Lamb

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Fiddling his Way

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Sunday Morning

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906)

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Lunchtime

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) New Bonnet

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Street Musicians

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) In the Fields

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Life in the South

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Sugering Off at Camp Maine

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Sunday Morn

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Old Mount Vernon 1857

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Sleigh Ride

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Woman on a Hill

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) The Counterfitters

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Young Musicians

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Union Soldiers Accepting Drink

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) The Eavesdropper

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Turning Off Camp in Maine

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Woman Reading

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Girl and Pets 1856

Eastman Johnson (American painter, 1824-1906) Hollyhocks

About this blog

In colonial America, men were considered superior to woman in all ways. In a strict patriarchal hierarchy, men controlled not only wealth & political power but also how their children were raised, religious questions, & all matters of right & wrong.

In the early part of the 19Cy, however, many Americans experienced a revolution in gender. The doctrine of “separate spheres” maintained that woman’s sphere was the world of privacy, family, & morality while man’s sphere was the public world -– economic striving, political maneuvering, & social competition. But women were interested in equality.

In 1848, New York passed the Married Woman’s Property Act. Now a woman wasn’t automatically liable for her husband’s debts; she could enter contracts on her own; she could collect rents or receive an inheritance in her own right; she could file a lawsuit on her own behalf. She became for economic purposes, an individual. By 1900, every state has passed legislation modeled after this, granting married women some control over their property and earnings.

In 1870 after the Civi War, the 15th Amendment was ratified, saying, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” African-Americans could vote, but women could not.

But it was not until 1920, that the 19th Amendment was ratified granting women the right to vote. “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”