Women Public Speakers in the United States, 1800-1925

Book excerpt: From the nation's beginnings, efforts have been made to silence U.S. women. Yet they spoke. This biographical dictionary, the first of two companion volumes, gives their voices new recognition. Selecting thirty-seven key orators, Karlyn Kohrs Campbell provides entries on a diverse group of women. All were ground breakers--suffragists, the first lawyers, ministers, physicians, labor organizers, newspaper editors and publishers, historians, educators, even soldiers. The volume opens with Campbell's introduction and then provides extensive essays on each of the women included. Each entry begins with brief biographical information and then focuses on the woman's public life in discourse. Each entry includes an analysis of the subject's rhetoric. Entries conclude with information on primary sources, critical works, key rhetorical documents, and selected sources of historical and biographical information. The work is fully indexed.