Martha Swain Lecture: Reclaiming Women’s Power in the American Revolution

Join the Women’s Center for Research & Public Policy and the Ina E. Gordy Honors College for the 2026 Martha Swain Lecture.  Dr. Jacqueline Beatty, Associate Professor of History at York College of Pennsylvania, will present “Reclaiming Women’s Power in the American Revolution,” based on research for her book, In Dependence, which explores women’s petitions for reprieve, economic support, divorce, and manumission over 70 years stretching before and after the Revolution. In cases from Boston, Charleston, and Philadelphia, she argues that women increasingly asserted rights claims, though they did so largely within the framework of an apolitical and dependent femininity.
The Martha Swain Speaker Series brings a distinguished person to campus each March to address issues important to women’s interests, lives, and experiences. This year’s lecture is also part of the America 250 calendar of events celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The series is funded with a gift made in honor of Dr. Martha Swain, a scholar of Southern women’s history.