Sewing With A Double Thread: The Needlewomen of New York 1825-1870

139 pagesThe needlewomen of New York in the period 1825-1870 comprised the most numerous and the most degraded class of urban working women; yet they were also the most militant. Their societies -- the first organized efforts of American women to advance their own interests -- fought for their rights as women and as workers. The New York tailoresses in 1825 began their struggle with the first strike exclusively managed by women in American history. During the forty-five years that followed, seven successive groups of sewingwomen organized to carry on that struggle outside the ranks of organized labor and organized feminism