Ladies of Legend : Mythologization and Truth of Female Narratives from America’s Revolutionary Era
department or school: Arts and Social Sciences, Irving K. Barber Faculty of (Okanagan)
department or school: History and Sociology, Department of (Okanagan)
data provider: DSpace
creator: Chapman, Sam J.
issued: 2024-04-29T13:13:36Z
issued: 2024
description: This thesis explores the evolving narratives of three non-elite women—Deborah Sampson, Elizabeth Freeman, and Nancy Ward—who lived during and participated in the American Revolution, illustrating the impact of mythologization on historical memory and national identity. By comparing and contrasting the historical narratives of each woman using only the limited archival material available with authoritative secondary source accounts spanning the first two centuries after the Revolution, this study reveals how historians have altered, omitted, or exaggerated aspects of these women’s stories. These alterations can reveal much about what kind of female narratives were considered historically significant or socially useful at the time any particular account was written. The research examines the contrasting treatment of these three women’s stories by historians. Sampson, Freeman, and Ward emerge as exemplary figures of United States national identity in different ways, at different times, and for different reasons.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/88039
note: Ladies of Legend: Mythologization and Truth of Female Narratives from America’s Revolutionary Era By Sam J. Chapman Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Honours Program in History University of British Columbia, Okanagan (2024) Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Julien Vernet, Department of History Contents Acknowledgments II-III Abstract IV Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 Primary Source Analysis 12 Chapter 3 Secondary Source Analysis 25 Conclusion 41 Bibliography 51 I Acknowledgements This honours thesis would not have been possible to complete without the help of a number of individuals to whom I would like to express my utmost gratitude. First, I could not have undertaken this journey without my supervisor, Dr. Julien Vernet, whose guidance, support, and expertise has encouraged and enabled me to pursue and complete this project. Dr. Vernet’s influence was instrumental in my decision to pursue a higher level of education in the field of history, and for that I am extremely thankful. This work would also not be possible without the History Honours Committee and History Honours Program Coordinator Dr. Tim Paulson. Dr. Paulson’s guidance and organization of honours student workshops has been extremely helpful both in the making of this project and in fostering a sense of community among the honours students. Words cannot express my gratitude to the anonymous donor who funded the Department of History and Sociology Undergraduate Research Awards, which aided this project by allowing me to purchase books, copies of archival materials, and to travel to present my research findings and receive valuable feedback at the Philosophy, History, and Politics Conference at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC. I am also thankful to Dr. Todd Campbell for taking the time to proofread my thesis and providing insightful and encouraging feedback. In addition, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the many scholarly professionals that aided my research by se…
has type: Graduating Project
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0441992
language: eng
peer review status: Unreviewed
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Undergraduate
is part of: University of British Columbia. HIST 499
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/88039