White Queen: May French-Sheldon and the Imperial Origins of American Feminist Identity

by Tracey Jean Boisseau

Overview

A critical account of the sensational feminism of May French-Smith, once known as the "first woman explorer of Africa." Boisseau exposes the intertwined connections between popular notions of American feminism, American national identity, and the reorientation of Euro-American imperialism at the turn of the 19th century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253111029
Publisher:	Indiana University Press
Publication date:	04/14/2004
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	280
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Tracey Jean Boisseau is currently an assistant professor of cultural and women's history in the Department of History at the University of Akron. She has published articles on May French-Sheldon in Signs and Gender and History and recently edited a new edition of Sultan to Sultan (first published in 1892 by May French-Sheldon).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: A Tale of Imperial Feminism
Part I. First Woman Explorer of Africa: The 1891 Expedition
1. The Caravan Trek to Kilimanjaro
2. Self-Discovery
3. Forging a Feminine Colonial Method
4. Sex and the Sultans
5. Confessions of a White Queen
Part II. Agent for Empire: Interventions in Central and West Africa, 1903–1908
6. An Imperial Spy in the Congo
7. A Plantation Mistress in Liberia
Part III. Feminist for a New Generation: Mastering Femininity in 1920s America
8. Taking Feminism on the Road
9. Masquerading as the Subject of Feminism
10. The Queen, the Sheik, the Sultana, and the Female Spectator
Conclusion: The White Queen in the Mirror, or Reflections on the Construction of White Feminist Identity
Notes
Bibliography
Index