"I knew it could be done, it had to be done, and I did it."1 American Women Explorers and Adventurers from 1800 to 1950 An “explorer” is defined as a person who explores or investigates unknown regions. An “adventurer” is a person who seeks adventures, or who seeks success by taking great risks. But another way to define exploration and adventure is to seek the expansion of knowledge and experience beyond what is already known. In October, we celebrate a national holiday in recognition of explorer Christopher Columbus, the Italian adventurer whose four voyages west across the Atlantic Ocean led to general European awareness of the American continents. We recognize and learn about many other explorers and adventurers: Vasco de Gama; Meriwether Lewis and William Clark; Sir Edmund Hillary and Neil Armstrong. Historically, women as well as men have been explorers and adventurers but their stories are not often told. “Despite their extraordinary achievements, they have remained unknown and unsung for too long.”2 Why is this? Why do we learn mostly about the dramatic explorations and adventures of men? Some scholars suggest that it might be because historically, women explored differently than men. First, women were outside of the more formal structures which sponsored men’s exploration, such as the monarchy of Spain, which sponsored Columbus’s explorations or the Royal Geographic Society of London, which didn’t even accept women as members until 1913. Women were therefore unable to benefit financially from their expeditions and their work often went unrecorded in formal reports. For many women explorers, the journey itself was enough. Another reason certainly lies in women’s second-­‐class citizenship which pervades most of our history. Cultural and scientific norms often cast women as biologically unsuited to exploration and adventure and even education; women were supposedly frail, fearful and in need of protection rather than courageous explorers. Because many at the time thought women should focus on their homes and families, women were denied the opportunity for education, sponsorship of expeditions, and travel. This was true even for those women born to wealthy families. Some women explorers and adventurers avoided this barrier by posing and traveling as men.3 And when women did manage to explore and make important discoveries, their 1 Gertrude Ederle on her success as the first woman to swim the English Channel. 2 Christiane Amanpour in the Foreword to Women of Discovery: a Celebration of Intrepid Women who Explored the World. 3 For example, Jean Baret, recognized as the first woman to circumnavigate the world, did so while disguised as a man. She joined the expedition of Louis Antoine de Bougainville in 1766 as an assistant to the expedition's naturalist Phillipe Commerson (whom she served as housekeeper and most likely shared a marriage relationship). Baret was herself an expert botanist. Together they collected, preserved and catalogued a collection of over five thousand species of plant. http://www.npr.org/2010/12/26/132265308/a-­‐female-­‐explorer-­‐discovered-­‐on-­‐the-­‐high-­‐seas 1 contributions were often ignored, buried by historians or attributed to others. But many women managed to overcome these barriers to explore not only new places, or “blank spots on the map,”4 but to be pioneer aviators, mountaineers, journalists and scientists. The women explorers and adventurers that are described below had to “overcome profound cultural, sexual and economic prejudices to make their dreams come true, to pursue their visions. Many of them set off with little support from their families or communities, but all of them were motivated by a passion for life and the possibilities it holds.”5 These women are worth our attention and study not only for the discoveries they made and their important contributions to our understanding of our world, but because they can serve as role models for future generations to seek their own adventures. 4 Quote attributed to Freya Stark, a British explorer and travel writer who was one of the first non-­‐Arabians to travel through the southern Arabian deserts. 5 Foreword by Christiane Amanpour to Women of Discovery: a Celebration of Intrepid Women who Explored the World. 2 1. Sacagawea, a Lemhi Shoshone Indian, joined the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804. She was married to a French Canadian fur trader, who had several Native American wives, and was to go on the expedition. It was decided that Sacagawea was to go along as an interpreter and as “a living symbol” of the explorers’ peaceful intentions towards the native tribes they expected to meet and needed to trade with. She was only 16 years old at the time and had a three-­‐
month old baby with her on the expedition. While Sacagawea was intended merely to be a passive and symbolic member of the expedition, she refused to accept these limitations and demonstrated her resiliency and courage several times during the expedition. One time, she managed to save much of the papers and supplies of the expedition after a boat capsize; another time, she identified the best mountain pass to take when crossing through mountains in present day Montana. Perhaps most importantly, she also assured the cooperation of a Shoshone tribe in providing horses badly needed by the expedition when it turned out that the chief of the tribe was her brother. A drawing of Sacagawea A native American woman (not Sacagawea) with a cradle board for her infant such as Sacagawea probably used. 3 2. Nellie Bly was an investigative journalist who first gained attention in 1884 writing about the bad conditions suffered by women and girls working in textile factories. Next, at the age of 23, she had herself committed to the municipal insane asylum in New York City as a patient, to document allegations of brutality and neglect. She wrote about this experience in an expose called Ten Days in a Madhouse,6 which launched her career as a world famous journalist and helped bring reforms to the hospital. In 1887, she convinced her newspaper editor to send her on a trip around the world, an effort to actually accomplish the feat described in the fictional "Around the World in Eighty Days"7 for the first time. She left on November 14, 1889 with only the dress she was wearing, a sturdy overcoat, several changes of underwear and a small travel bag carrying her toiletry essentials. She carried most of her money (200 pounds in English bank notes and gold as well as some American currency – roughly $20,000) in a bag tied around her neck. Bly completed her 24,899-­‐mile journey in 72 days, the fastest such trip at the time. Her travels took her through England, France, the Suez Canal, Sri Lanka, Penang, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. She received much acclaim upon her arrival home.8 Nellie Bly ready for her trip Nellie Bly received a warm and enthusiastic reception upon her return. 6 Read Nellie By’s original newspaper story at http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bly/madhouse/madhouse.html 7 A novel by Jules Verne, published in 1873. 8 Read Nellie Bly’s account of her around-­‐the-­‐world travel at http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bly/world/world.html 4 3. May French Sheldon organized and led an expedition in 1891 to East Africa. She was 44 years old at the time and her specific intention was to demonstrate that women could do whatever men could do. This is how she described her motivation: Having listened unwillingly to the officious opinions volunteered by all classes and conditions of men and women, as to the utter absurdity of my project; denounced universally as a fanatic, entertaining a mad scheme, if not mad myself–principally mad because the idea was unique, . . . it never had been done, never even been suggested, hence it must be beyond the conventional pale of practicability; and above all, . . . the supercilious edict that it was outside the limitation of woman's legitimate province, I determined to accomplish the undertaking. Success resulted.9 In addition to organizing and leading a successful expedition, French Sheldon wrote a number of well-­‐regarded articles on the navigation of Lake Chala near Mt. Kilimanjaro in East Africa and made some of the first ethnographic studies of African women and children. Her work was very well received, and she was made a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of London in 1892, among the first women to receive this honor. The Palanquin, or covered couch, in which Mrs. Sheldon could be carried around by men using the poles at either end. 9 Sheldon, May French; An African Expedition, http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/eagle/congress/sheldon-­‐may.html 5 4. Annie Smith Peck was a celebrated climber, explorer and suffragist popular at the end of the 1800s. Peck climbed the Matterhorn10 in 1895 (at the age of forty-­‐five), which brought her instant fame – not because of her climb, but because of what she wore on the expedition: a pair of pants (instead of a long skirt). This was shocking at a time when some women were still being arrested for wearing pants in public. She was also the first person, man or woman, to climb what was believed to be the highest peak in the Western Hemisphere in 1905, Huascarán in Peru at 22,205 feet when she was 65. The climb was dangerous and difficult. She described it as "a horrible nightmare;" one of her Swiss guides lost a hand and half a foot to frostbite. Peck was a dedicated supporter of a woman's right to vote and she hung a "Votes for Women" banner on the summit of the 21,000 foot Mount Coropuna in 1909. A poster announcing one of Smith’s lectures. 10 The Matterhorn is one of the highest peaks in the Alps located on the border between Switzerland and Italy. It rises 14,460 feet high. 6 5. Bessie Coleman was the first African American woman to earn a pilot's license. Because flying schools in the United States denied her entry on account of her race, and perhaps her gender as well, she taught herself French and in 1922, she moved to France, earning her license from France's well-­‐known Caudron Brothers' School of Aviation in just seven months. Coleman was not born into privilege. She was born in 1892 in Atlanta, Texas, one of 13 children of sharecropper parents. In 1915, at 23 years old, Coleman moved to Chicago, where she lived with her brothers and worked as a manicurist. Not long after her move to Chicago, she began listening to and reading stories of World War I pilots, which sparked her interest in aviation. Though she wanted to start a flying school for African Americans when she returned from France, Coleman specialized in stunt flying and parachuting, and earned a living barnstorming and performing aerial tricks. Tragically, on April 30, 1926, Coleman was killed in an accident during a rehearsal for an air show. She was only 33 years old.11 11 A seven minute biography of Bessie Coleman, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPmMHuO5XSY 7 6. Gertrude Ederle was an American competition swimmer, an Olympic gold medal champion in the 1924 Paris Olympics, and former world record-­‐holder. In 1926 at age 19, she became the first woman and only the sixth person to swim across the English Channel. She accomplished the 21 mile-­‐long swim in 14 hours and 39 minutes, which was two hours faster than the previous record set by a man. While the crossing was 21 miles from point to point, tides and swirling waters caused the actual distance Ederle swam to be more like 35 miles. Her record stood for almost 25 years. After her historic swim, Ederle told the The New York Times, "I knew it could be done, it had to be done, and I did it." Ederle’s feat was celebrated by a ticker-­‐tape parade in New York City with more than two million people lining the streets of New York to cheer her. 12 Gertrude Ederle Celebration parade in New York City for Gertrude Ederle after her successful Channel swim. 12 Seven minute video on the life of Gertrude Ederle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jfGy3pzKvc 8 7. Amelia Earhart was the first woman and only the second person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean solo. She did this in May 1932. She endured strong winds, icy conditions and mechanical problems during the flight and was forced to land in a pasture near Londonderry, Ireland, "Scaring most of the cows in the neighborhood.” On January 11, 1935, she became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific from Hawaii to California. While her aviation achievements are legendary, her commitment to women’s rights is also noteworthy. Throughout her remarkable career she focused on proving that women were equal to men in “jobs requiring intelligence, coordination, speed, coolness, and willpower.” She herself realized the risks of her career. In a letter to her husband, she wrote, "Please know I am quite aware of the hazards. I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others." In 1937, Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, were engaged in an attempt to fly around the world. On July 27, 1937, they set off on the next leg of their travels. It is not clear what events then occurred but the plane disappeared in the South Pacific. Despite extensive searching and investigation, no conclusive evidence of what happened to Earhart, Noonan and their plane was ever discovered. 13 Google Doodle celebrating Earhart’s 115th birthday on July 24, 2012 13 See a mini biography of Amelia Earhart at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k3CeW7v9fQ 9 8.
Zora Neale Hurston is one of the pre-­‐eminent African American authors of twentieth century literature. She was the most successful and most significant black woman writer of the first half of the 20th century having written four novels, an autobiography, numerous short stories, and several essays, articles and plays. Her two books of folklore are why she is included in this story of explorers and adventurers. As an anthropologist, she was interested in recording the experiences and stories of particular subcultures. She wrote the critically acclaimed Mules and Men in 1935, which has been called a "literary anthropology" documenting African-­‐American folklore and society in the Florida community where she grew up.14 It was the first book ever written by an African American on black folklore for a popular audience and made Hurston one of only two or three historically important collectors of black folklore. Tell My Horse15 is her first-­‐hand description of the strange, mysterious world of voodoo. It is based on Hurston’s own experiences in Haiti and Jamaica where she traveled to learn more about this practice. Her work takes readers into a vividly authentic world of strange ceremonies and customs and superstitions of great cultural interest. 14 Excerpt from Mules and Men: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma01/grand-­‐
jean/hurston/chapters/index.html 15 Excerpt from Tell My Horse: http://zoranealehurston.com/books/tell-­‐my-­‐horse#excerpt 10 Who are some other American women explorers and adventurers of this time period? 1. Delia Denning Akeley is believed to be the first Western woman to traverse Africa in the early 1920s while on expedition with her husband who was a taxidermist and inventor. Delia and Carl were in Africa to hunt and retrieve specimens for the African sections of the American Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian. 2. Osa Johnson and her husband Martin used photography and film to bring alive to American audiences the wildlife and people of faraway lands. Johnson’s autobiography was the best selling nonfiction book of 1940. She also hosted television's first wildlife series, Osa Johnson's The Big Game Hunt, which premiered in 1953.16 3. Nicole Hughes Maxwell suffered a bad machete wound to her arm while traveling in the Amazon jungle in 1948. The wound healed quickly after her Indian guide gave her the sap of a local tree to apply to the cut. Thereafter, she spent many years on dozens of expeditions to the remotest regions of the upper Amazon, befriending the local Indians and slowly learning the secrets of their knowledge of local plants and herbs 4. Margaret Mead was a cultural anthropologist who did much to popularize the insights of anthropology in modern American. Her reports about the attitudes towards sex in South Pacific and Southeast Asian traditional cultures had a significant influence on the sexual revolution. Mead was a champion of broadened sexual mores within a context of traditional western religious life. 5. Ynes Mexia was a Mexican-­‐American botanist known for her collection of novel plant specimens from Mexico and South America. She was the most accomplished female plant collector of her time, travelling farther and collecting more specimens than any other. 6. Maria Mitchell was an American astronomer who, in 1847, using a telescope, discovered a comet, which was thereafter known as “Miss Mitchell’s Comet.” Mitchell was the first American woman to work as a professional astronomer. She became professor of astronomy at Vassar College in 1865, the first person (male or female) appointed to the faculty. After teaching there for some time, she learned that despite her reputation and experience, her salary was less than that of many younger male professors. She insisted on a salary increase, and got it. 16 You can see a short clip of the this show at www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2dVWFWSPC4; fifteen minute biography of Osa Johnson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-­‐U_5Q4CHlM 11 Amazon – Vocabulary and Important Terms The longest river in South American of about 3,900 miles flowing from the Peruvian Andes into the Atlantic Ocean in northern Brazil Astronomer -­‐ A person who is skilled in astronomy or who makes observations of celestial phenomena Aviator -­‐ the operator or pilot of an aircraft and especially an airplane Barnstorming – to give exhibitions of stunt flying, rides in airplanes and participate in airplane demonstrations in the course of touring country towns and rural areas, especially during the 1920s and ‘30s Frostbite -­‐ A condition in which part of your body (especially fingers or toes) freezes or almost freezes, a particular hazard for those mountaineering at high altitude Huascaran -­‐ The highest mountain in Peru at 22,205 feet English Channel -­‐ Strait between southern England and northern France connecting the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean Investigative journalist -­‐ A person engaged in investigative writing or editing for a news medium, especially a newspaper Mountaineer -­‐ A person who climbs mountains for sport or adventure Votes for Women -­‐ A popular slogan in the campaign for women’s suffrage in the United States 12 1.
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Classroom Presentation and Activities Divide the students into groups. Have each group pick one of the explorers, identify and discuss the physical, mental and emotional challenges and hazards faced by that explorer. Have each group present to the class. Using yarn and pushpins or tape, track the locations of the explorations of each of the explorers on a map of the world. Make a time line of the adventures and explorations of women explorers. Add other major local, national and world events to the timeline and discuss how the experiences of the women explorers and other world events influenced each other. Divide students into small groups. Have each group pick an explorer and have the other students in the group pretend to be reporters, who “interview” the explorer and then write a news story about the interview. As an assessment exercise, put the photos of each explorer in one column, her name in the second column and a very short description of her accomplishments in the third column. Have the students match them up. Have small group discussions about what adventures and explorations there are left; discuss the obstacles and barriers to such adventures and explorations; and how young people, girls and boys, can prepare themselves. Have the students discuss whether they think there are things women and girls can’t do today. Have students read some of the primary source material provided and watch YouTube videos and have them identify aspects of the source material that describe or allude to the barriers and challenges faced by the women. 13 Curriculum Framework17 Big Ideas History 1. Historical context is needed to comprehend time and space. 2. Historical interpretation involves an analysis of cause and result. 3. Perspective helps to define the attributes of historical comprehension. 4. The history of the United States continues to influence its citizens and has impacted the rest of the world. 5. Geography is used to explain the past, interpret the present and plan for the future. Essential Questions History 1. How can the story of another American, past or present, influence your life? 2. How does continuity and change within U.S. history influence your life and community today? 3. How is it possible for different people to interpret the same event differently? 4. What makes one place different from another place? Concepts Geography 1. People modify ways of life to accommodate different environmental contexts. 2. How could human modification of the physical environment significantly impact a region? Competencies 1. Students will be able to describe experiences of several American women explorers and adventurers from the early 1800s to the mid 1900s including their achievements and the challenges and barriers they faced as women. 2. Students will be able to analyze the restrictions on women explorers in the past and explain why they are so less well known than men explorers. 17 The elements of the Curriculum Framework used here are described in the Standards Aligned System Portal of the Pa Dept. of Education. http://www.pdesas.org/ 14 3. Students will be able to describe the value of learning about the exploits and accomplishments of women explorers. Standards •
Pennsylvania Standards for History o 8.1.8.A: Compare and contrast events over time and how continuity and change over time influenced those events. o 8.1.7.B: Identify and use primary and secondary sources to analyze multiple points of view for historical events. o 8.3.U.A: Compare the role groups and individuals played in the social, political, cultural, and economic development of the U.S. •
Common Core State Standards Literacy in History/Social Studies18 o 6-­‐8.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources. o 6-­‐8.2: Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions. o 6-­‐8.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies. o 6-­‐8.5: Describe how a text presents information (e.g., sequentially, comparatively, causally). o 6-­‐8.6: Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author’s point of view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts). o 6-­‐8.7: Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts. o 6-­‐8.8: Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text. o 6-­‐8.9: Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic. 18 http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-­‐Literacy/RH/6-­‐8 15