History was my least favorite subject growing up. Why? Well, there's no analysis that leads you to the answer during a test; you have to memorize it all. However, one thing I know for certain is that we didn't spend much time being taught about women in history, at least not as much time spent being taught about men.
So, as I was sitting in my backyard, looking for a podcast, I came across this one, titled "Deborah Sampson" by History the Shequel.
She was a woman that was affected by the legal concept of coverture. Coverture is the cumulation of marriage and property laws that were present during the 1760s that took the rights of women away upon marriage. To learn more about what this was, go here.
Around the age of 8, her mother sold her to a man, and she became a house servant. Because she was White, she gained her freedom at the age of 18 and began teaching & weaving.
This was around the beginning of the Revolutionary War, and she soon realized she wanted to join the Army.
There was one problem though: she was a woman.
She did what any of us would do (most likely not), and she dressed like a man, enrolling as Robert Shirtliffe in May of 1782.
She didn't get discovered until after the end of the Revolution, and she was honorably discharged in October of 1783.
She later became the first woman to receive a pension from the U.S. government.
Pretty badass, right?
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