Nat Alexander

The annual Society for the History of Women in the Americas (SHAW) conference took place at two venues in Leeds, UK, this year – Leeds Beckett and the University of Leeds. Despite an uncharacteristically hot day, especially for the North of England, the conference was attended by delegates from Britain, France and the USA. It addressed the way that emotions can inform research and their role in deepening our understanding of historical events.

The day began at Leeds Beckett University with a welcome from Olivia Wright, chair of the committee, before the first panel began with presentations on kinship and connection. Hélène Quanquin opened with her paper regarding childlessness as a gender nonconforming behaviour, specifically addressing the dynamic between two women’s rights activists, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, where the former remained childless and the latter did not. Simon Morgan’s paper outlined the correspondence between women amongst transatlantic abolitionism and how these kinds of sources can be used to emotionally contextualise histories, here in relation to the hero-worshiping of male abolitionists.

Panel two centred around activism in print, with papers that covered radical feminism in Atlanta by way of the underground newspaper, The Great Speckled Bird’s, Women’s Caucus (Amanda Stafford), poet Gwendolyn Bennet, a central figure in the Harlem Renaissance, and her literary column The Ebony Flute (Nicole Butler), and Carol McEldowney’s personal writings which chronicled lesbian identity and antiwar activism in the USA during the sixties (Sinead McEneaney). All of these influential figure’s contributions are either little known or overshadowed by their male peers.

At lunch, attendees relocated to the University of Leeds where an excellent lunch was provided in the History department and delegates were offered a tour of the “Animated Activism: Women Empowered” exhibition at The Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery. This was complimented by the following exhibition panel, in which the making of the exhibition and the archiving of material from the Women’s Aid Federation of England and Leeds Animation Workshop was discussed. Holly Smith gave an insight into the process and the development of trauma informed practices to support archive volunteers dealing with sensitive material. Nicole Butler and Sharon Hooper contributed discussions of their own use of this archive in their developing research and their feeling of responsibility towards the material included within it. Attendees reflected on their own experiences of interacting with archives, an often-intimidating environment, and the importance of taking care of oneself during interactions with emotional sources.

The final panel included an important example of a Black enslaved women’s original writing, a case in which an enslaved person threatened to take her master to court should she be sold and separated from her child (Laura Martin). Lauren Pearl Holmes presented Anne Bradstreet’s grandmaternal grief poetry in relation to 17th century puritanism, using interesting visuals of the poems to conceptualise the language used by Bradstreet to navigate grief and acceptance of God’s perceived will. Finally, Vivien Miller’s paper on 19th century acid attacks by women in America elicited a gasp from delegates in response to the ‘not guilty’ verdict, despite overwhelming evidence.

Throughout the conference there was a warm and welcoming atmosphere, particularly to early career researchers such as myself. It was a pleasure to have an experience in which MA and PhD students were given the chance to speak and present alongside more established academics and was an inspiring day for those of us in need of motivation to continue within academia despite its uncertain landscape. I’m very excited to attend the conference next year in Toulouse.