Carol Berkin. First Generations: Women in Colonial America. New York: Hill and Wang, 1996. 234 pp.

 

          Carol Berkin’s book, First Generations: Women in Colonial America, is a well-written account of colonial women in British North America. Unlike certain scholars, Berkin does not deal solely with the white English women in colonial America; she deals with the African-American, Native American, and Dutch women in this fine study. Berkin covers the experience of these women during the colonial period and through the Revolution. She deals with the changes that these women faced and the customs that they lived with.

          Different nationalities had different customs that women had to deal with in colonial America according to Berkin. For instance, the length of child rearing differed greatly when comparing Native American to colonial women. The Native American women continued to nurse their children until they were six years old in some cases, while colonial women nursed their babies until they were only ten months old. The colonial women were housebound for the ten months and then would visit their families for the first time in an attempt to wean their babies.

          Berkin deals with the racial differences that affected the woman of the colonial period. African-American Women faced the possibility of their families being broken up. If their master decided to sell her or her husband, he would not necessarily sell them both. Many African-American families were broken up in this fashion.

          High birthrates were common throughout the colonies but the area that they lived influenced how many children they had. Women in the Middle Colonies often produced children every two years. This meant that by the time they died or faced menopause, these women had approximately eleven children. Women in New England, on the other hand, had by the time of death or menopause an average of seven children. The families in the south needed more farm hands than the families in the north. Women faced a high death rate of their children in the colonies. In some cases, the death rate was over forty percent for children before they reached their first birthday.

          The woman’s nationality influenced her experiences in the new world concerning property. Dutch women were able to conduct business in the Dutch colonies on an equal basis with men. Many of them proved superior to men in business; however, when England defeated the Dutch and took over New Netherlands, married women were soon reduced to the English legal standards of being unable to own property. This is despite the English promising to recognize the Dutch customs. By the 1700s, there were few women still conducting business. Instead, they had to rely on their husbands to do as they requested.

          Another difference in Dutch and English custom that women faced was the laws of inheritance. Dutch Women often were able to inherit their husband’s property upon his death. English customs, on the other hand, allowed the wife to inherit only a third of the property. This could be changed by a will. After the English took over New Netherlands, the English custom replaced the Dutch custom by the 1740s. It is not known if the Dutch were forced to change to the English custom or if they just did.

          Berkin dealt with the religious experience of colonial women. Women may have found it difficult to influence politics, but they did have influence religiously. They controlled when churches were built and ministers often tried to gain their support. Another area of religion that Berkin covered was the protests of Quakers in New England. Several of them protested the Puritan Church by walking through towns stark naked.

          According to Berkin, many women played an important role in the Revolutionary War. Some served as spies for both sides because women were often viewed as mere spectators and ignored. Others followed the armies from battle to battle and gathered food from different sources. Some women followed the army because their husbands were in the army and they wanted to be with him. Sometimes, these women would take his place if he were shot down. Other women followed because it was profitable to be a prostitute.

          According to Berkin, she chose to write the book in a chronological format to make it more useful in a classroom. However, the chapters have a topological approach to them as well.  For instance, the first chapter deals with women in seventeenth century Chesapeake while chapter five deals with African-American women and their experience. She begins each chapter with a short biography of a woman from the region that the chapter discusses. It was a well-designed system for this book.

          This book was written primarily to serve as a book for a Women’s History course. Social Historians or Colonial Historians would find the book useful as well. It is well written and easy to follow. The only problem it faces is the lack of footnotes. It is not possible to know exactly where she got her information. She does write a lengthy bibliographic essay to close the book.

          The sources that she uses for this book appear to be all secondary sources. This would usually be viewed as bad scholarship on her part. It really does not hurt this book. The book is so well written that it needs to be read even if it does not use primary sources.