This Is What An 18th Century Feminist Looks Like

Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft. Image via Wikimedia.

Did you know that a large collection of Mary Wollstonecraft's papers are held at the New York Public Library? The Mary Wollstonecraft Manuscript Material (1773-1797) is part of the Pforzheimer Collection housed in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. This collection, includes many papers written in Wollstoncraft's own hand, including, a review of Karl Gottlieb Cramer's gothic novel, Albert de Nordenshild  and a handwritten fragment of her most famous work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. The collection all includes first editions of all of Mary Wollstonecraft's books, which include four copies of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. The collection also includes letters as well as an 1804 portrait by John Opie, which hangs in the The Edna Barnes Salomon Room of the New York Public Library for all to view. 

Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft

Oil portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft, the English philosopher and women's rights advocate. Image ID: ps_cps_cd6_081.

"If women be educated for dependence; that is, to act according to the will of another fallible being, and submit, right or wrong, to power, where are we to stop?” A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, 1792.

Phillis Wheatley

Phillis Wheatley

Phillis Wheatley. Sold into slavery at a young age, she was the first published African-American female poet. Image ID: ps_scg_038.

“Some view our sable race with scornful eye,/‘Their colour is a diabolic die.’/Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain,/May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train.” "On Being Brought from Africa to America," 1773.

Olympe de Gouges

Olympe de Gouges

Olympe de Gouges, French activist and abolitionist. Image via Wikimedia.

“Woman, wake up: the tocsin of reason is being heard throughout the whole universe; discover your rights.” Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen, 1791.

Juana Ines de la Cruz

Juana Ines de la Cruz

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz. The illegitimate child of a Spanish captain and a Criolla woman, Juana Ines de la Cruz was a nun, poet, and advocate for female education in Mexico. Though she died in 1695, she was a crucial forerunner of feminist thought in Latin America. Image ID: psnypl_rbk_831.

“According to your opinion, no woman wins;/No wonder her reluctance to take a stand/If she doesn't allow you, she's ungrateful,/And if she does permit you, she's lewd./You always behave so foolishly/That, with a double standard,/One you blame for cruelty/And the other for her ease.” "Arguye de inconsecuentes el gusto y la censura de los hombres que en las mujeres acusan lo que causan."

Mercy Otis Warren

Mercy Otis Warren

Mercy Otis Warren was an American author and revolutionary. Image ID: 5205466.

“There is a certain supineness which generally overspreads the multitude, and disposes mankind to submit quietly to any form of government, rather than to be at the expense and hazard of resistance… Thus we have seen in all ages the many become the slaves of the few.” History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution.

Im Yunjidang

 

Hanbok in Joseon Dynasty

 

Im Yunjidang was a Korean Neo-Confucian philosopher who defended women's education at a time when scholarship amongst women was frowned upon. No depictions of her are available. This portrait by Shin Yun-bok depicts traditional Korean dress during the Joseon Dynasty, when Im Yunjidang was alive.

“Though I am a woman, there is no difference between man and woman in terms of human nature.”

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

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Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, an English socialite and letter writer. Image ID: 1700422.

“I prefer liberty to chains of diamonds.” Letter to Lady Frances Steuart, 1758.

Sources

Mary Wollstonecraft: Wikiquote.

Phillis Wheatley: Wikiquote.

Olympe de Gouges: Paul Halsall, Modern History Sourcebook. From "Olympe de Gouges, 'Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Female Citizen,"' in Darline Gav Levy, H. Applewhite, and M. Johnson, eds., Women in Revolutionary Paris, 1785­1795 (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1979), pp. 92­96.

Juana Ines de la Cruz: Translation by D.R. Kretsch, Sisters Across the Atlantic: Aphra Behn and Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz.

Mercy Otis Warren: History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution.

Im Yunjidang: Neo-Confucianism as Free-floating Resource, by Youngmin Kim; see also The Way to Become a Female Sage: Im Yunjidang's Confucian Feminism, by Sungmoon Kim.

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu: Letter to Lady Frances Steuart, September 7, 1758.

 
 
 

Comments

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The picture above is NOT Lady

The picture above is NOT Lady Mary Wortley Montagu -- it is of Elizabeth Montagu. Lady Mary's husband and Elizabeth Montagu's husband were cousins. Elizabeth Montagu was a literary hostess and writer associated with the Bluestocking Circle.

Thanks for your comment. The

Thanks for your comment. The image has been updated.