Baylor experts talk women’s history for Women’s History Month
March is Women’s History Month, so all month long we’ve been celebrating the history of Baylor women — notable individuals such as Dr. Diana Garland, Angela Kinsey, Ann Miller and Leah Moncure, plus the long lists of Baylor women who have left their marks in fields like science and engineering, law and politics, the arts, and education.
To cap the month, two Baylor experts on women’s history — Dr. Andrea Turpin, an associate professor and director of the Baylor history graduate program, and Amy Achenbach, a doctoral candidate and Baylor history teacher — sat down to answer the big questions, like: Why study women’s history? What kinds of unique sources are used in researching women’s history? And how did higher ed change as more women enrolled?
Select answers are below, and you can view the full conversation on Baylor’s YouTube channel.
Why do we celebrate Women’s History Month? Isn’t women’s history just part of history?
Achenbach: “Yes, women’s history is part of history, and it should be included in the histories that we tell. But we also know that we’re less likely to learn about women in history courses, especially at the K-12 level in the United States. A recent study found that in state standards, men are more likely — by about three times as much — to be mentioned than women. So we do need to take some time to educate ourselves (and educate others) about the women we haven’t heard about in history, because there are just so many.
“I think women’s history also gives us different tools as historians. Traditionally, history has been focused on politics and big ideas, which has lent itself to mostly men. … But women’s history challenges us to look beyond those main names or those figures at the top of the pyramid. Who were the people who were supporting things on the ground level, or behind the scenes? I think women’s history helps us see that you can be a changemaker in the world around you without needing the official title.”
What drew you to Women’s History?
Turpin: “I got a seminary degree in theology, before I got my PhD in history. And there I was, looking for a master’s project in the history of Christianity in the United States, and one of my professors suggested researching Mount Holyoke — the first higher-ed single-sex setting for women. It’s also very interesting because it’s founded by a woman, for women. It’s higher education and it’s religion. For me, it was like, ‘I can study myself. I am all of these things.’ But I then I began reading the writings of the founder, Mary Lyon. And I just found it fascinating how she was thinking about being a woman and challenging the ways that being a woman was thought about — using her status as a woman in new ways to give women more opportunities to serve God and other people better. So that sort of got me into — oh, it’s very interesting; I can study myself, but I can also study how people have used being a woman in creative ways.”
Who is a historical woman who inspires you, and why?
Turpin: “Mary Lyon. Mount Holyoke, which Lyon founded, was originally called a ‘female seminary,’ meaning it was like an upper-level high school, lower-level college. And then it became a college, and it was the highest education available to American women at the time in a single-sex setting. She inspires me because she took all of who she was and used it to serve God and other people.
“She was a woman. She was a Christian. She was highly intelligent. She loved chemistry and Latin. And so she took all of that and she’s like, ‘I will make a school for women to have educational opportunities, to train their minds to be all that they can be for God and for others.’ I really appreciate that about her.”
Achenbach: “I think I would have to choose Fannie Lou Hamer. There are so many who made such a difference, but I think Fannie Lou Hamer especially inspires me because she just had so many things that she had to overcome. She’s a woman. She’s an African-American sharecropper. She didn’t have any economic advantages. She’s also disabled. But she still uses her voice so powerfully to work in grassroots organizations, to get people registered to vote in the south.”
Sic ’em, Dr. Turpin and Professor Achenbach!