Whose Birthday Is It? September 6, 2017

Catharine Beecher (1800)

Beecher was an American lecturer, author, and advocate for women’s education. The sister of abolitionist author Harriet Beecher Stowe, she popularized a conservative movement to rescue women from frivolous “feminine” pursuits—by elevating and entrenching women’s role in the domestic sphere. Her ideal woman was one who presided over an intelligent, cultured, well-managed household. In 1823, she founded the Hartford Female Seminary to train women to be teachers. What social change did she oppose? More…