REBEL WOMEN: at MCNY: Review by Polly Guerin

Rebellious Women of the 19th Century

The Hewitt sisters, Sarah and Eleanor, granddaughters of Peter Cooper were among society's Victorian women who deferred to their father or brothers to make decisions for them.  They weren't the only women who were willing to accept the commonly known constraints on their lives. White, middle-class women were relegated to domesticity and held under the power of masculine rule. Any woman could be considered a Rebel simply by walking alone in the street, speaking in public, working outside the house, or disregarding middle-class morality or decorum.Yet, 19th Century New York City was full of rebellious women who defied those rigid expectations in both overt and subtle ways. Caption: L-R Hetty Howland Green, ca. 1897, Courtesy Library of Congress; The Real Ellen Jewett, 1836, MCNY; Portrait of Elizabeth Jennings Graham 1895, Courtesy Kansas State Historical Society, Adah Isaacs Menken in Mazeppa, 1863, MCNY.
         REBEL WOMEN: Defying Victorianism, a historic exhibition on view at the Museum of the City of New York, through January 6, 2019, explores the trailblazing women who challenged Victorian social norms in 19th Century New York City.  The exhibit is divided into three categories, political working and professional featuring photographs, garments, ephemera, and prints primarily drawn from the Museum's collections. 
       "At a time when the subject of women's rights is at the forefront of a national conversation, this exhibition and Beyond Suffrage: A Century of New York Women in Politics demonstrates the Museum's commitment to documenting and celebrating the important contributions of women in the City's History," said Whitney Donhauser, Ronay Menschel Director of the Museum of the City of New York.      

Dr. Susan Smith McKinney Steward

        Remember dear readers, even their attire was a challenge. Rebel women in the pursuit of individuality and purpose were also burdened by confinements such as constricting Victorian corsets and wearing heavy drapery or voluminous skirts that might curtail their drive and activity. The museum brings to light the compelling and often untold stories of these independent and unconventional women who had an indelible impact on New York's society, culture, and economy by the 20th century.
      This exhibition highlights pioneers for women in professional careers in medicine and journalism like
Dr. Susan Smith McKinney Steward (1847-1918), the first African-American woman to earn a medical degree and the first in New York state. McKinney-Steward's medical career focused on prenatal care and childhood diseases. She ran her own practice in Brooklyn and co founded the Brooklyn Women's Homeopathic Hospital, and in 1911 attended the Universal Race Congress in London and delivered a paper entitled, "Colored American Women."    
       Elizabeth Jennings Graham was another Black woman was ahead of he time. She refused to leave an all white streetcar in 1854.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony

The exhibition features other well known figures who entered public life with a political agenda, demanding women;s rights as social activists or a politicians, such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902), Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) and Victoria Woodhull (1838-1927). A feisty personality, in 1872 she ran for president of the United States, so ya see Hilary was not the first.
         Adah Isaaca Menken (1835-1868) was an American actress who broke the rules of decorum and became the highest earning actress of her time. She was best known for her performance in the melodrama Mazeppa, with a climax that featured her apparently nude whilst riding a horse on stage. A celebrity who created sensational performances in the United States and Europe Menken was also known as poet, painter and writer. Menken expressed a wide range of emotions and ideas about women's place in the world and her collection Infelicia was in print well into 1902. 
       Hetty Howland Robinson Green (1834-1916), a successful stock broker branded "The Witch of Wall Street," went on to become one of the richest people in the country, but stingy to the end. 
Then, too, there were women of questionable character but activists as well, like Helen Jewett (1813-1836). New York's most prominent courtesan is also represented. Before her sensational murder, she turned a shunned profession into a source of power. Ground breaking investigative reporter, Elizabeth Jane Cochrane (1864-1922) better known as "Nellie Bly," may be a household name but she was a courageous forerunner. In conjunction with one of her first assignments, for the New York World, she spent several days on Blackwell's island, posing as a mental patient for an expose. Her book "Ten Days in a Mad House (1887) led to lasting institutional reforms. 
      Ta Ta Darlings!!! One hundred years later: Ladies can we say that things have changed? No doubt some of the racial and gender inequalities still exist today. Fan mail welcome please send
your comments to pollytalknyc@gmail.com.  Polly's Blogs can be accessed on www.pollytalk.com.