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Part One: Herstory Much of history has been written as if women were not there. Women's journals and letters were thrown out because people thought their stories were not important. It seems as if only men made history. History is often taught as though wars, soldiers, explorers, and kings were all that mattered. Most of the well-known people from history were rich, powerful white men. What happened to the women? What were their lives like? Look at the first picture on page 357. It is a picture of one famous man from history with a First Nations woman at his feet. Do you know what his name is? Do you know what her name is? What are your first feelings when you look at this picture? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ The man's name is Christopher Columbus and the woman is simply called a native woman. She seems to have no name. History books tell us all about Columbus's life and how he "discovered" America. Those same books tell us almost nothing about the people who were living in America before Columbus came.
First Nations Woman: __________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ Columbus: __________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ Whether women were struggling for the right to vote, to win freedom from slavery, or to make sure there was food for their children, they - our mothers, grandmothers, and their mothers - deserve to have their stories told and their names remembered. Women are taking a new look at history and coming up with a different and more complete story of what happened. Some women are calling it "herstory" since it is no longer just "his - story." First Nations Women
First Nations women have often been left out of Canada's history. These women played an important role within their own nations. Many nations had women elders guiding the chiefs in their decisions. Women elders were important to the spiritual life of the people. But, when First Nations women have been written about in history, these roles were often left out. The stories of these women were known only if their lives happened to cross with those of the settlers or explorers. Many First Nations women were captured by the early white explorers, or were taken as wives. Sometimes these women were left to take care of their children by themselves when the men returned to Europe or took a different wife. First Nations women were also used to guide explorers to places the explorer would claim he found all by himself. Some of the first photographers took pictures of these women without recording their names. Usually the name of her tribe or nation would be noted below the photo, but that was all. The stories of these women are just coming to light now. But the stories of many brave and talented women have been lost forever. Women Settlers
When history books talk about women settlers, they often talk about English women, but women from many different backgrounds lived in Canada before the year 1900. Gudrid, a Viking woman, visited Canada in 1007, long before Columbus was even born. Gudrid helped to start a settlement in Labrador in the year 1007. The first Black person came to Canada in 1608. Settlements of Blacks began to spring up in the late 1700s. About 100 years later, Poles, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Jews, and Mennonites began to settle in Ontario and Western Canada. Workers were brought in from Italy and China in the 1880s to build the railway. Women were there too, making homes, having children, and keeping the fires burning. Canada's history is the history of women and men from many different backgrounds, cultures, religions, and language groups. Why do you think many history books only told the story of white men? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ In this chapter we will look at three famous women from Canada's past. Then we will look at women from our personal past. |
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