The Secret History of Wonder Woman

As part of the story of the women’s rights movement and the biography of Marston, Lepore refers to Harvard University not accepting women students. She goes a bit into the history of the “Harvard Annex,” which became Radcliffe College, but Harvard and other exclusive universities did not become fully coed for another half century or more (Yale in 1969, Harvard in 1971, and Columbia in 1983). Why? What took them so long?

Pick one figure from the first wave of feminism and situate them in the movement. What did they stand for and what methods did they adopt for obtaining their goals? How did any of this differ from others in the movement at the time? Do you agree with this person’s approach to fighting for women’s rights? Why or why not? If not, what would you have done differently?

In Woman and the New Race, Margaret Sanger stated that birth control was more important than the right to vote. Do you agree or disagree? Explain your reasoning in full, using specific examples.