Revolutionary Heart: The Life of Clarina Nichols And the Pioneering Crusade for Women's Rights

by Eickhoff, Diane

• ISBN13: 9780976443445
• ISBN10: 0976443449
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-03-16
• Publisher: Itasca Books

Summary

Driven by a deep inner need to end the mistreatment of women, Clarina Nichols (1810-1885) left the comforts of her Vermont home and moved West to the wild frontier of "Bleeding Kansas," where her sons fought alongside John Brown and she helped shaped the state's new Constitution to free slaves and give women rights they had no where else in America. Now?for the first time?the story of Clarina Nichols comes alive thanks to Diane Eickhoff, whose meticulous, six-year quest to collect and analyze Nichols's scattered writings and papers has yielded a richer understanding of this remarkable pioneer in Revolutionary Heart: The Life of Clarina Nichols and the Pioneering Crusade for Women's Rights. It is more than an engaging biography; it is a window into an unjustly overlooked period in American history about the three great 19th century reform movements?women's rights, abolition, and temperance.

Author Biography

Diane Eickhoff spent more than two decades as a freelance writer placing articles in such publications as McCall's, The Lutheran, Hartford Times and Kansas City Star. As Diane Carlson she won three awards from the Educational Press Association of America. Ms. Eickhoff has written several books of Young Adult fiction, and edited textbooks for middle and high school students. An audio book adaptation of Revolutionary Heart for Young Adults entitled Frontier Freedom Fighter will be released in March as well, and a DVD ôRecovering Clarina Nicholsö will be released Summer of 2007 by Quindaro Press. She continues to perform as Clarina Nichols at events and chautauquas.

Table of Contents

ONE Frontier Justice	3	(8)
TWO A Vermont Childhood	11	(13)
THREE New York Trials	24	(12)
FOUR In Print and in Love	36	(12)
FIVE The Road to Worcester	48	(10)
SIX 'On the Responsibilities of Woman'	58	(9)
SEVEN Bloomers and Trousers	67	(7)
EIGHT 'The World Is on the Move'	74	(9)
NINE Winning Wisconsin	83	(9)
TEN A Country Divided	92	(8)
ELEVEN Mush and Molasses	100	(8)
TWELVE Life and Death on the Prairie	108	(13)
THIRTEEN Bleeding Kansas	121	(13)
FOURTEEN Quindaro	134	(10)
FIFTEEN Woman on a Mission	144	(12)
SIXTEEN 'A Vast Army of Widows and Orphans'	156	(13)
SEVENTEEN With Liberty and Suffrage for All	169	(13)
EIGHTEEN 'Grant! Grant! Grant!'	182	(11)
NINETEEN Third Class to California	193	(8)
TWENTY 'The Heart of a Loving Woman'	201	(12)
Epilogue	213	(4)
Acknowledgments	217	(6)
Appendix A The Antebellum Women's Rights Movement	223	(6)
Appendix B Preamble and Constitution of the Moneka Women's Rights Association	229	(3)
Appendix C 'The Birds'	232	(2)
Appendix D Mrs. Nichols v. Rev. Blachly: An Imagined Debate	234	(2)
Appendix E The Family of Clarina I.H. Nichols	236	(3)
Notes	239	(30)
Index	269