“America is now wholly given over to a d---ed mob of scribbling women, and I should have no sense of success while the public taste is occupied with their trash– and should be ashamed of myself if I did succeed.”  

–Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1855

Throughout history, women writers have been ridiculed and ignored for sharing their thoughts and opinions through writing.  In the 19th and 20th centuries, female writers endured many struggles to find their voice in society.  Throughout the past couple decades, many literary historians, critics, and women themselves have worked very hard to overturn this general feeling of resentment toward women writers.

When thinking about the role of female authors in the 19th and 20th centuries ...

• What was the prevailing attitude toward women?
• What kinds of obstacles did women writers face?
• How did women choose to deal with these challenges?
• Why were these women writing in the first place?

Bell Hooks  (born 1952)	Elizabeth Stoddard (born 1823)