Most nineteenth-century U.S. women had little or no access to political leaders, nor to higher education or the wages they earned, nor were they allowed to sign contracts or own property in the United States. Despite these rigid constraints and tremendous opposition, over a span of eight decades U.S. women generated massive social and political changes, including securing woman's right to vote. How? By using one of the only tools available to them: language. Clearly, what we say, how we say it, and to whom it is said can--and does--change the worlds in which we live. How do people use language to define, reform, and even revolutionize politics and society? We'll use the early U.S. woman's rights movement as a case study in our attempts to answer that question. In this class, you'll learn about the history, ideologies, rhetorical challenges, and rhetorical strategies of one of the longest and most important civil rights movements in the U.S. Work for this course includes class participation, quizzes, two exams, and a paper. For waitlist and attendance policies, visit the course website. This course fills the English Department's New Traditions requirement.

I will not make any adjustments to the class roster (i.e., oversubscribe or drop students) until after the second class meeting. At that point, I will automatically drop any student who has not attended both of the first two classes. After the second class, if there are spaces available I will authorize students who who have been attending class to register for the course until the course has again met its maximum capacity. Please do not email me requesting exceptions to this policy.