Higher Education for Women and the Formation of Gender, Class and Race Identity in the US, 1840-1875

Margaret Nash

This project explores the role of education in the historical formation of gender, class, and race identity. I examine the types of education available to women, and which women pursued higher learning and why. I will analyze catalogues and reports from a wide range of educational institutions, as well as essays, diaries and letters in order to understand how formal schooling contributed to the creation of identities.This project builds on my recent book, in which I argue that education became a marker of class and race as the white middle-class set out to forge and consolidate its identity. My new project asks in what ways the cultural meanings of education changed in the tumultuous decades surrounding the Civil War.My goal is to trace the patterns of shifting alliances of gender, race, and class identities, and the role played by education in these shifts. I want to understand the ways and for whom acquiring an education marked class affiliation regardless of gender and race; the manner in which access to particular types of education marked gender or race, regardless of class; and the extent to which institutional leaders promoted education as a means to mark students’ status.

About Margaret Nash

Margaret Nash received her PhD in educational policy studies with a focus on history of education, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her interests are in the social contexts of the history of education, and in particular, the role of education in the cultural constructions of gender, race, and class. She is an assistant professor at the University of California, Riverside, where she teaches classes in history of education; history of curriculum; history of church, state, and schooling; and gender and education. Her current project builds on her book, Women’s Education in the United States, 1780-1840 (Palgrave, 2005).