Victorians Penn State Altoona Dashboard

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THE VICTORIANS—ENGLISH 452, SECTION 001

FALL 2018 // Penn State Altoona

From Madonna To Whore & Back Again? The Uneven Evolution of Victorian Women & Men
 

The Suffragette that Knew Jiu-Jitsu. The Arrest. (Edith Margaret Garrud) PUNCH 6 June 1910; cartoonish Arthur Wallis Mills

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Think gender and power relations are volatile in our time? You’re right; they are, but we’ll look at another time in which women’s and men’s roles were radically changing, a time when a woman ruled an empire, yet any woman could also be stopped and medically examined if a legal authority thought she might be a prostitute. We’ll examine a time—perhaps very like our own—when people resisted and persisted for change, and that time was scary and exciting (and that’s why we’re starting with Dracula!!).

Throughout this course, we’ll see what we can learn about how women and men successfully worked toward equality and shared governance, and how and why they failed. This class, subtitled “From Madonna To Whore and Back Again? The Uneven Evolution of Victorian Women and Men,”will explore those issues, examining a wide array of representations of Victorian women and men in order to understand the Victorian period from which, I assert, we can also learn today. 

In our non-fiction, novels, play, and poetry, we will read of what should be done with “redundant women,” of how bicycles or artistic talent could make women threatening, of how higher education for men and women was embroiled in religious, class, and marriage debates, and so much more. In short, we’ll learn about a transformative period for Victorian men and women and the world.

AND we'll also be using THIS EXCITING new Learning and Teaching Tool--COVE (the Central Online Victorian Educator)--to create a timeline and map that will help us understand the Victorians' Road to Female Suffrage!!

Galleries, Timelines, and Maps

Map
Posted by Laura Rotunno on Monday, July 23, 2018 - 15:40

Here you will find an INFORMATIVE map that will help us (and perhaps other students who may use COVE) flesh out the events that led to some British women gaining voting rights in 1918.

Chronology
Posted by Laura Rotunno on Monday, July 23, 2018 - 15:25

Here you will find an INFORMATIVE timeline that will help us (and perhaps other students who may use COVE) flesh out the events that led to some British women gaining voting rights in 1918.

Individual Entries

Place
Posted by Myranda Mamat on Wednesday, December 5, 2018 - 00:39

On February 28, 1912, Violet Markham had given a speech on behalf of the Women's National Anti-Suffrage League. Markham addressed the reasoning what the league though women should be doing better things with the opportunities already given from the laws they have than pushing for the parliamentary vote and well as pushed the league's views on the Forward Policy.

Place
Posted by Tessa Albert on Wednesday, December 5, 2018 - 00:19

This was one of the 60 branches that belonged to The Women's Freedom League.  It had another main branch in Middlesbrough as well.  The main headquarters for the WFL was based in London.  

Place
Posted by Tessa Albert on Wednesday, December 5, 2018 - 00:09

This was one of the 60 branches of The Women's Freedom League.  The WFL's main headquarters was based in London.

Place
Posted by Myranda Mamat on Wednesday, December 5, 2018 - 00:05

The first meeting of the Women's National Anti-Suffrage League took place at the Westminster Palace Hotel on July 21, 1908. The meeting then expanded to the league forming two branches of the Leagues were in Hawkenhurst in Kent and in South Kensington in London.

Place
Posted by Jennie Graham on Thursday, November 8, 2018 - 11:35

Paris was Annie's first stop in Europe and the Parisians immediately loved her. This was the start of her fame, as more and more newspapers picked up the story of her trip around the world. 

Chronology Entry
Posted by Jennie Graham on Tuesday, November 6, 2018 - 14:40
Place
Posted by Jennie Graham on Tuesday, November 6, 2018 - 02:12

Prince's Hall was located on Piccadilly Street, one of the most famous shopping streets in London. The hall was located behind the galleries of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, and was a large space meant for public gatherings and events. 

Place
Posted by Devin Poplin on Monday, November 5, 2018 - 16:10

St. Hilda's College, a women's college at the University of Oxford.

Place
Posted by Devin Poplin on Monday, November 5, 2018 - 16:08

St. Hugh's College, a women's college at the University of Oxford. 

Place
Posted by Devin Poplin on Monday, November 5, 2018 - 16:07

Somerville, a women's college at the University of Oxford. 

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