Disloyal Mothers and Scurrilous Citizens

Women and Subversion during World War I

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Gender Studies, Women&, History, Americas, United States
Cover of the book Disloyal Mothers and Scurrilous Citizens by Kathleen Kennedy, Indiana University Press
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Author: Kathleen Kennedy ISBN: 9780253028495
Publisher: Indiana University Press Publication: September 22, 1999
Imprint: Indiana University Press Language: English
Author: Kathleen Kennedy
ISBN: 9780253028495
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Publication: September 22, 1999
Imprint: Indiana University Press
Language: English

A concise and highly readable study of women’s influence on a crucial era in American political and cultural history.

Kathleen Kennedy’s unique study explores the arrests, trials, and defenses of women charged under the Wartime Emergency Laws passed soon after the US entered World War I. These women, often members of the political left, whose anti-war or pro-labor activity brought them to the attention of federal officials, made up ten percent of the approximately two thousand Federal Espionage cases. Their trials became important arenas in which women’s relationships and obligations to national security were contested and defined.

Anti-radical politics raised questions about the state’s role in defining motherhood and social reproduction. Kennedy shows that state authorities often defined women’s subversion as a violation of their maternal roles. Yet, with the exception of Kate Richards O’Hare, the women charged with sedition did not define their political behavior within the terms set by maternalism. Instead, they used liberal arguments of equality, justice, and democratic citizenship to argue for their right to speak frankly about American policy. Such claims, while often in opposition to strategies outlined by their defense teams, helped form the framework for modern arguments made in defense of civil liberties.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

A concise and highly readable study of women’s influence on a crucial era in American political and cultural history.

Kathleen Kennedy’s unique study explores the arrests, trials, and defenses of women charged under the Wartime Emergency Laws passed soon after the US entered World War I. These women, often members of the political left, whose anti-war or pro-labor activity brought them to the attention of federal officials, made up ten percent of the approximately two thousand Federal Espionage cases. Their trials became important arenas in which women’s relationships and obligations to national security were contested and defined.

Anti-radical politics raised questions about the state’s role in defining motherhood and social reproduction. Kennedy shows that state authorities often defined women’s subversion as a violation of their maternal roles. Yet, with the exception of Kate Richards O’Hare, the women charged with sedition did not define their political behavior within the terms set by maternalism. Instead, they used liberal arguments of equality, justice, and democratic citizenship to argue for their right to speak frankly about American policy. Such claims, while often in opposition to strategies outlined by their defense teams, helped form the framework for modern arguments made in defense of civil liberties.

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