Origins and Results
The beginning of first-wave feminism is typically traced back to the Woman's Rights Convention of 1848 in Seneca Falls, NY, but the origins of first-wave feminism run much deeper than this. In the West in the last few decades of the 19th century, a shift from Victorian to modern culture took place, which would "propel women's influence in the spheres of visual and public influence" (McGuirk 475). This can be seen in the results of the convention of 1848, which took place over two days and included both women and men. In a written report from the convention, women demand to be considered equal to men, socially and politically. This was a highly radical idea for the time, and it came out of years of women's frustration over their place in society. As seen in the image to the left, the Seneca Falls Convention was called to discuss "the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman." Although the typical narrative you might hear about first-wave feminism propagates the myth that its only goal was suffrage, this image reflects that its origins were not specifically about gaining the right to vote, but about gaining the right to participate in society in general.
While not the only goal or focus of first-wave feminism, women's suffrage was stil a large part of the movement. It is on the topic of suffrage that many women spoke up and spoke out in public settings, challenging gender spheres and the notion that women should act lady-like and not participate in the political realm. During the fight for suffrage, women spoke in large public settings, delivered empowered speeches, and were even thrown in jail for protesting ("Feminism: The First Wave"). All of these things went directly and outwardly against the cult of domesticity and challenged societal norms. Even so, this first wave did not completely challenge gender prescriptions, seeing as they were deeply engrained in society at the time. We see this in the image to the right, in which women are leading a suffrage procession, yet still wearing long dresses as they make this political statement.
First-wave feminism's beginnings are often associated with the abolitionist movement seeing that many suffragists were originally active members of the anti-slavery movement. For example, before feminism or the suffrage movement were ongoing, women like Sarah Grimke were heavily involved in movements such as the abolition and temperance movements. These women ended up drawin strategic and tactical insight from strategies employed in the abolitionist and temperance movements, and the movement gave them an outlet to express their grievances about their own place in society (Kotef). Despite its origin being largely intertwined with the abolition movement, white first-wave feminists were not often inclusive of black women. Scholars of African American women have detailed "the racist, nativist, and elitist tendencies of many white women suffragists," and it must be understood that first-wave feminism did not necessarily mean societal advances for all women (Hewitt 16). In the image to the left, we see Nannie Burroughs with nine other African-American women. Borroughs led "labor and voting initiatives to challenge the white women-centered chronology of first wave feminism and expand its narrative to indicate Black women's labor organizing," and is often known for her speech at the National Baptist Convention in 1900 (Popp 58). Through women like Nannie Boroughs, we see that the first-wave feminism movement was often separate from movements such as Burroughs as black women not only had to fight for their rights as women, but as black women.
