Daughter, Wife, Quaker, Spy? The Women of Revolutionary Philadelphia (Virtual)

This presentation will focus on four women living in Revolutionary-era Philadelphia: Quaker poet and proud “spinster” Hannah Griffitts, Loyalist (and abandoned wife) Grace Growden Galloway, Patriot organizer Esther Reed, and Anna Rawle, the daughter of exiled Loyalists living in London. The Patriot/Loyalist line was fuzzier for women, as most of the methods by which someone would have their loyalties “outed”—taxes paid, oaths made, militia service—were required only of men. Women, however, were also responding to events as members of families, congregations, and communities. There is also often a profound sense, as in Griffitts’ poetry and in the letters of many others, of frustration with their lack of agency: they are affected by the Revolution, but unable to assert much formal power.

About the Speaker:
Shannon E. Duffy received her BA from Emory University, her MA from the University of New Orleans, and her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in Early American History at Texas State University, and writes on issues of personal and community identity formation in the Revolutionary and Early National period. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on Colonial, Revolutionary and Early National American history, as well as Early American constitutional and legal history. Her upcoming manuscript, Defiantly Neutral: The Deep Roots of Quaker Pacifism in Pennsylvania, investigates the experiences of Quakers eighteenth-century Pennsylvania.

Register here for this pay-as-you-wish event

Admission: Pay as You Wish! Your donation is greatly appreciated. All proceeds benefit the development of future programming and the preservation of the History Center and its collections. The History Center is home to over 750,000 manuscripts, 100,000 photographs, and 70,000 artifacts. Your donation helps us to preserve and share those resources.

Presentation is via Zoom, and will be recorded and available for 7 days for all registered participants. We will email out a Zoom link the day of the presentation, and email a link to the recording within 24 hours. Note: the Zoom link emailed out the day of the presentation only takes you to the live presentation; the link emailed out the day after will contain the recorded version.

This program is made possible with support from The Haverford Trust Company.