A People's History of the United States

The next chapter returns to the 18th century. Zinn refocuses his narrative on colonial women who, he thinks, have been frequently left out of traditional histories of the revolution. Women across America were oppressed to varying degrees. Contact with Europeans unraveled many parts of Native American society, including pre-contact gender attitudes. African women also suffered in proportion to their status as both women and slaves (105). But even white women were forced to the bottom of a gender hierarchy that controlled and punished them. For colonial Americans, the view that women were inferior to men came largely from a literal reading of the Bible (108). Despite this, many resisted the roles into which they were forced. Before the revolution, many women fought for greater access to education and the freedom to interpret the Bible for themselves (109).

For Zinn, the revolution was a turning point for American women. Starting in the 1770s, organizations like the Daughters of the American Revolution worked to unite and organize American women in support of the cause. Women like Molly Pitcher took part in battles. And the wives of many leading revolutionaries like Abigail Adams worked diligently to support their husbands. Of course, the revolution did not produce true equality for women.