Modern Historical Heroines
History was written by men. Well, not all of it, but certainly more than their fair share. That is not a complaint, but merely a statement of fact. However, as a result, I think today's society has walked away with the mistaken understanding that heroines of eras past were meek, biddable, fragile creatures.
And perhaps that has been perpetuated in popular fiction to some extent. That it is unreasonable to think that a woman would have the gall or the gumption or the means to defy the societal limits she may have faced. Because of this, historical authors often hear that their heroines are ‘too modern’, ‘not believable’, or ‘unlikely’.
In A Duke In the Night, my heroine Clara Hayward runs a finishing school for young women, placing her charges not in dance class, but in fields traditionally reserved for men. Medicine. Law. Architecture. Politics. Too modern? Not believable? Unlikely?
Not so fast. The fictional Clara Hayward was inspired by the very real life of Harriot Kezia Hunt (1805-1875), who was a physician and a staunch women’s rights activist. Never heard of her? You're not alone. It's often tricky to find stories about the trailblazers like her.
Harriot was 22 when her father died and she and her sister opened a school to support themselves. Long story short, her sister fell ill and when 'conventional' doctors couldn't help, she took it upon herself to study medicine with the help of Dr. Richard Mott and his wife Elizabeth, also an (unrecognized) doctor. In 1835 Harriot opened her own practice without an ‘official’ degree, though she applied to Harvard Medical School— once in 1847 and again in 1849— and was rejected both times. (Fun fact: Harvard Medical School did not admit its first female student until almost a hundred years later in 1945, mainly due to fewer male applicants as a result of World War II.)
Throughout her life, Harriot was a passionate advocate for the education of women, not only in the field of medicine, but also in other professions traditionally limited only to men. She founded the ‘Ladies In Physiology Society’ in 1843 and gave lectures on physiology and hygiene, as well as championing the abolition of slavery and promoting women's rights.
In the course of my research, I ran across other real women just like her. Some who disguised themselves to achieve their dreams, others who did not and fought tooth and nail for their ambitions. They were harder to find in the history books than their male counterparts to be sure, but they are there all the same. We've come a long way since then, and we've come on the backs of these women. They were pioneers who did what no one believed they would.
Believe it now and keep believing.
If you want to read more about Harriot Kezia Hunt, I’d recommend:
‘Glances and Glimpses; or, Fifty Years' Social, Including Twenty Years' Professional Life’ - The Memoirs of Harriot Kezia Hunt (Boston: J.P. Jewett and Company, 1856).
Women Medical Doctors in the United States before the Civil War: A Biographical Dictionary by Edward Atwater (2016).
And perhaps that has been perpetuated in popular fiction to some extent. That it is unreasonable to think that a woman would have the gall or the gumption or the means to defy the societal limits she may have faced. Because of this, historical authors often hear that their heroines are ‘too modern’, ‘not believable’, or ‘unlikely’.
In A Duke In the Night, my heroine Clara Hayward runs a finishing school for young women, placing her charges not in dance class, but in fields traditionally reserved for men. Medicine. Law. Architecture. Politics. Too modern? Not believable? Unlikely?
Not so fast. The fictional Clara Hayward was inspired by the very real life of Harriot Kezia Hunt (1805-1875), who was a physician and a staunch women’s rights activist. Never heard of her? You're not alone. It's often tricky to find stories about the trailblazers like her.
Harriot was 22 when her father died and she and her sister opened a school to support themselves. Long story short, her sister fell ill and when 'conventional' doctors couldn't help, she took it upon herself to study medicine with the help of Dr. Richard Mott and his wife Elizabeth, also an (unrecognized) doctor. In 1835 Harriot opened her own practice without an ‘official’ degree, though she applied to Harvard Medical School— once in 1847 and again in 1849— and was rejected both times. (Fun fact: Harvard Medical School did not admit its first female student until almost a hundred years later in 1945, mainly due to fewer male applicants as a result of World War II.)
Throughout her life, Harriot was a passionate advocate for the education of women, not only in the field of medicine, but also in other professions traditionally limited only to men. She founded the ‘Ladies In Physiology Society’ in 1843 and gave lectures on physiology and hygiene, as well as championing the abolition of slavery and promoting women's rights.
In the course of my research, I ran across other real women just like her. Some who disguised themselves to achieve their dreams, others who did not and fought tooth and nail for their ambitions. They were harder to find in the history books than their male counterparts to be sure, but they are there all the same. We've come a long way since then, and we've come on the backs of these women. They were pioneers who did what no one believed they would.
Believe it now and keep believing.
If you want to read more about Harriot Kezia Hunt, I’d recommend:
‘Glances and Glimpses; or, Fifty Years' Social, Including Twenty Years' Professional Life’ - The Memoirs of Harriot Kezia Hunt (Boston: J.P. Jewett and Company, 1856).
Women Medical Doctors in the United States before the Civil War: A Biographical Dictionary by Edward Atwater (2016).
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I do think that the true life woman Margaret Ann Bulkley, upon whom heroine was based, did not accomplish what she did as a woman, but masquerading as a man with all of the benefits of male privilege. So I don't think it's fair to hold her up as an example. Actually, she's proof that women, as women, could not do what they wanted, but had to hide their sex in order to accomplish "great things"
But isn't it telling that we can accept that every other historical romance book is about a young and sexy duke, which is so unbelievable, but have a huge problem suspending that same righteous disbelief for a woman being successful in the man's realm. Grrrr