Assignment
on the film
“Sins of Our Mothers”
and
The CUNY “Liberty Rhetoric” website
After viewing the film and reviewing the website
(http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/americanstudies/lavender/start.html) complete this
handout, front and back, and submit for a grade on Thursday, September 25.
(10 points each)
1. Why was Emeline Gurney sent to work in the Lowell Mills?
2. How were women expected to behave at Lowell? What happened to Emeline? Why
did her community ostracize her?
3. How does the film portray the role of the Lowell Mills in women’s lives? In the
changing definition of womanhood?
4. What is Liberty Rhetoric, generally? How have women criticized men’s use of
Liberty rhetoric?
5. Explain the meaning behind Eliza Wilkinson’s phrase “freedom of thought.” Did she
mean the freedom to sit and think quietly, or did she mean freedom of speech?
6. What is the Revolutionary Rhetoric in the poem that appeared in the 1797 Newark
Centinel of Freedom.
7. How did the women at Lowell use Liberty Rhetoric? Give two examples.
(30 points)
8. What images do the film and the website present of a.) the Lowell Mills and b.)
women? Are these images similar or different? Why? Which source is more accurate?
Why?