The Grimké Sisters from South Carolina

"Yes, Gerda really is one of the most fascinating women historians and this is one of the first scholarly works that focused on women’s resistance to oppression. The Grimké sisters were two women brought up on a plantation who rejected the idea that there should be slavery and they couldn’t express these views in the south, so they left and went north. They became the first women to really speak out in public against the slave system and that sparked controversy about whether or not women should speak in public at mixed gatherings. I think the book really demonstrated how important women’s protest activities were to political activism and the historical record. Lerner’s subsequent books on the history of women in the United States, African-American women’s writing and her magisterial The Creation of Patriarchy all explained the role of women in history and helped give women back their voice. All her books helped the majority to find its past. Get the weekly Five Books newsletter And I think Lerner really is a fascinating woman. She was always very aware of oppression, having escaped the Nazis in Vienna. So I think her life served as a powerful model of activism and scholarship. Once she was in the United States she married and had a conventional life as wife and mother and then did her own education, was a mature student and really was one of the founders of the study of the history of women."