One Step Over the Line : Toward a History of Women in the North American Wests

This unfamiliar territory is the borderlands of women's histories traversing the American and Canadian Wests. Specialists in women's history, settler societies, colonialism, storytelling, education, and native and borderlands studies introduced by Elizabeth Jameson and Sheila McManus pool their distinct contributions toward forging the very first comparative, transnational collection of its kind. “We cannot build bridges across unmapped divides.” Sixteen essays arising from the “Unsettled Pasts: Reconceiving the West through Women's History” conference at the University of Calgary comprise this foundational text. One Step Over the Line is not only the map; it is the bridgework to span the transnational, gendered divide—a must for readers who have been searching for a wide, inclusive perspective on our western past. Cover Page Contents Acknowledgements Introduction SECTION ONE: TALKING ACROSS BORDERS 1 CONNECTING THE WOMEN'S WESTS 2 UNSETTLED PASTS, UNSETTLING BORDERS: Women, Wests, Nations SECTION TWO: RE-IMAGINING REGION 3 MAKING CONNECTIONS: Gender, Race, and Place in Oregon Country 4 A TRANSBORDER FAMILY IN THE PACIFIC NORTH WEST: Reflecting on Race and Gender in Women's History SECTION THREE: PEOPLE, PLACE, AND STORIES 5 WRITING WOMEN INTO THE HISTORY OF THE NORTH AMERICAN WESTS, ONE WOMAN AT A TIME 6 "THAT UNDERSTANDING WITH NATURE": Region, Race, and Nation in Women's Stories from the Modern Canadian and American Grasslands West 7 THE PERILS OF RURAL WOMEN'S HISTORY: (A Note to Storytellers Who Study the West's Unsettled Past) SECTION FOUR: PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES 8 THE GREAT WHITE MOTHER: Maternalism and American Indian Child Removal in the American West, 1880–1940 9 PUSHING PHYSICAL, RACIAL, AND ETHNIC BOUNDARIES: Edith Lucas and Public Education in British Columbia, 1903–1989 SECTION FIVE: BORDER CROSSERS 10 "CROSSING THE LINE": American Prostitutes in Western Canada, 1895–1925 11 "TALENTED AND CHARMING STRANGERS FROM ACROSS THE LINE": Gendered Nationalism, Class Privilege, and the American Woman's Club of Calgary 12 EXCERPTS FROM POURIN' DOWN RAIN SECTION SIX: THE BORDERLANDS OF WOMEN'S WORK 13 "A UNION WITHOUT WOMEN IS ONLY HALF ORGANIZED": Mine Mill, Women's Auxiliaries, and Cold War Politics in the North American Wests 14 JAILED HEROES AND KITCHEN HEROINES: Class, Gender, and the Medalta Potteries Strike in Postwar Alberta SECTION SEVEN: TEACHING BEYOND BORDERS 15 GENDERED STEPS ACROSS THE BORDER: Teaching the History of Women in the American and Canadian Wests 16 LATITUDES AND LONGITUDES: Teaching the History of Women in the U.S. and Canadian Wests Contributors Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y "We are stepping into unfamiliar territory." This unfamiliar territory is the borderlands of women's histories traversing the American and Canadian Wests. Specialists in women's history, settler societies, colonialism, storytelling, education, and native and borderlands studies introduced by Elizabeth Jameson and Sheila McManus pool their distinct contributions toward forging the very first comparative, transnational collection of its kind. "We cannot build bridges across unmapped divides." Sixteen essays arising from the "Unsettled Reconceiving the West through Women's History" conference at the University of Calgary comprise this foundational text. One Step Over the Line is not only the map; it is the bridgework to span the transnational, gendered dividea must for readers who have been searching for a wide, inclusive perspective on our western past. Susan Armitage, Jean Barman, Nora Faires, Cheryl Foggo, Margaret D. Jacobs, Elizabeth Jameson, Joan M. Jensen, Cynthia Loch-Drake, Sheila McManus, Laurie Mercier, Mary Murphy, Helen Raptis, Molly P. Rozum, Char Smith, Sylvia Van Kirk, Margaret Walsh "This eclectic and carefully organized range of essays--from women's history and settler societies to colonialism and borderlands studies--is the first collection of comparative and transnational work on women in the Canadian and U.S. Wests. It explores, expands, and advances the aspects of women's history that cross national borders. Out of the talks presented at the 2002 "Unsettled Pasts: Reconceiving the West through Women's History," Elizabeth Jameson and Sheila McManus have edited a foundational text for pioneering scholars of this emergent, interdisciplinary field."--U of Alta Press "This eclectic and carefully organized range of essays--from women's history and settler societies to colonialism and borderlands studies--is the first collection of comparative and transnational work on women in the Canadian and U.S. Wests. It explores, expands, and advances the aspects of women's history that cross national borders. Out of the talks presented at the 2002 "Unsettled Pasts: Reconceiving the West through Women's History," Elizabeth Jameson and Sheila McManus have edited a foundational text with a wide, inclusive perspective on our western past."--Publisher's description

This eclectic and carefully organized range of essays-from women’s history and settler societies to colonialism and borderlands studies-is the first collection of comparative and transnational work on women in the Canadian and U.S. Wests. It explores, expands, and advances the aspects of women’s history that cross national borders. Out of the talks presented at the 2002 'Unsettled Pasts: Reconceiving the West through Women’s History,' Elizabeth Jameson and Sheila McManus have edited a foundational text for pioneering scholars of this emergent, interdisciplinary field.