Katharine Bushnell: Doctor, Author, and Activist

By Michelle Shocklee

I love reading about strong, courageous women. Back in December, I blogged about Josephine Butler, a 20th century English woman who took up the fight for women who found themselves forced into prostitution. Not only did she help hundreds of women throughout her lifetime, she was instrumental in changing laws regarding the age of consent, police brutality against the women, and other social justice issues in her day. One of the characters in my upcoming 2022 release, tentatively titled Hold on to This Moment, is inspired by Josephine. 

Katharine Bushnell

Katharine Bushnell was Josephine's American contemporary. 

Born in Illinois in 1855, Katharine was a bright student with a hunger for learning. She attended Women's Northwestern College, studying under Frances Willard, the Dean of Women who would become the long-time president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. Willard took an interest in Katharine, seeing in her a likeminded woman of faith and determination to help women live to their fullest God-given potential. 

After receiving a degree from WNC, Katharine went on to study medicine at Chicago Women's Medical Collage. A determined and driven student, she finished three years ahead of her peers. Upon her graduation, her church persuaded her to take a position in China as a medical missionary. For the next three years, Katharine and a colleague, Dr. Ella Gilchrist, would treat hundreds of patients. While there, she began a lifelong study into Bible translation, especially passages pertaining to the role of women. She felt that "a meticulous examination" of the English translations revealed "male bias" that had corrupted the text. This would set her on a path that would eventually lead her to write numerous books and papers on the subject, including God's Word to Women, published in book form in 1921. She also became involved in investigative reporting of the opium trade and the sex slave trade of Chinese girls in Singapore and Hong Kong.

In 1882, Katharine and Ella both fell ill, most likely from China's hot, humid weather, and returned to the United States. Katharine especially saw this as a failure, yet she continued her work. Under her former mentor's tutelage, Katharine accepted the position as head of a new department within Willard's Women's Christian Temperance Union. As the National Evangelist of the Department of Social Purity, Katharine focused her energies on issues regarding family, women, and the campaign to outlaw the sale of alcohol, believed by the WCTU to be the root of evil. 

Katharine went on to lead a crusade against forced prostitution in Wisconsin lumber camps, despite local authorities denial that the problem existed. In 1888 she testified before the Wisconsin legislature that women and girls had been forced to work as prostitutes in the camps, calling the situation a kind of "white slavery." The attention that came from her involvement was not all good, with slanderous things said about her. She wrote to Josephine Butler for guidance, who by this time had become internationally known as a reformer. Butler encouraged Katharine to go to India where the problem of forced prostitution existed within British military camps in colonial India. Accompanied by her friend Elizabeth Andrew, the two women set out to investigate the issue, culminating in their published work titled The Queen’s Daughters in India, a comprehensive account of their travels throughout India, in 1899. The inspiration for the title came from the missionaries' belief that “the Queen herself must not approve of the measures, for she has daughters of her own; and she cares for her daughters in India also."

Katharine passed away at the age of 91, but her work and writings continues to inspire women today. 

Is there a strong woman in your life who inspires you? Tell me about her.  

PS. Thank you to my friend Author Tracie Bateman for bringing Katharine to my attention!

Michelle Shocklee is the author of several historical novels. Her work has been included in numerous Chicken Soup for the Soul books, magazines, and blogs. Married to her college sweetheart and the mother of two grown sons, she makes her home in Tennessee, not far from the historical sites she writes about. Visit her online at michelleshocklee.com.

UNDER THE TULIP TREE

*2021 Selah Awards Finalist*

Sixteen-year-old Lorena Leland’s dreams of a rich and fulfilling life as a writer are dashed when the stock market crashes in 1929. Seven years into the Great Depression, Rena’s banker father has retreated into the bottle, her sister is married to a lazy charlatan and gambler, and Rena is an unemployed newspaper reporter. Eager for any writing job, Rena accepts a position interviewing former slaves for the Federal Writers’ Project. There, she meets Frankie Washington, a 101-year-old woman whose honest yet tragic past captivates Rena.

As Frankie recounts her life as a slave, Rena is horrified to learn of all the older woman has endured—especially because Rena’s ancestors owned slaves. While Frankie’s story challenges Rena’s preconceptions about slavery, it also connects the two women whose lives are otherwise separated by age, race, and circumstances. But will this bond of respect, admiration, and friendship be broken by a revelation neither woman sees coming?

https://www.amazon.com/Michelle-Shocklee/e/B01MYD4TRE/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1486004955&sr=8-1

Oberlin was a College Ahead of It's Time

by Tamera Lynn Kraft

Oberlin College, founded in 1833 in Northern Ohio, was a college ahead of its time in many ways. In 1835, it became the first college in the United States to regularly admit African Americans. It’s also the oldest co-educational college in the US. In 1837, it admitted four women, three of whom graduated and earned a college degree. Mary Jane Patterson, another Obeberlin graduate, became the first African American woman in 1862 to earn a Bachelor of Arts college degree.

One of Oberlin’s founders once bragged that “Oberlin is peculiar in that which is good”. Oberlin was peculiar in many ways in advancing the causes of the time. Charles Finney, the second president of the college, helped it earn it's controversial reputation. He was the founder of the Second Great Awakening, a Christian revivalist movement in the early and mid 1800s.

Oberlin College was the hotbed of abolitionist activity and a stop for the Underground Railroad before the Civil War. It was once called “the town that started the Civil War” because of its participation in the Oberlin Wellington Rescue in 1858. Slave catchers came to Oberlin to capture an escaped slave and return him to Kentucky. Most of the town came to the slave’s aid and rescued him. For their trouble, over twenty were arrested and put on trial for violating the Fugitive Slave Act. During the raid on Harper’s Ferry by John Brown, three men from Oberlin participated.

Oberlin College was also well known for the women who graduated from the college and participated in the suffrage and prohibition movements. My new novel Red Sky over America is about a college student there who is involved in the abolitionist movement. Lucy Stone, considered a pioneer for the women’s movement, graduated from Oberlin College in 1847.

Oberlin was also very well known in the missionary movement of the late 1800s. Between 1860 and 1900, 90% of missionaries sent overseas by the American Missionary Society were graduates of Oberlin College. Between 1899 and 1901, thirteen missionaries from Oberlin were martyred during the Boxer Rebellion of China. An arch in Tappan Square at the center of Oberlin pays honor to their sacrifices.

Tamera Lynn Kraft has always loved adventures. She loves to write historical fiction set in the United States because there are so many stories in American history. There are strong elements of faith, romance, suspense and adventure in her stories. She has received 2^nd place in the NOCW contest, 3^rd place TARA writer’s contest, and is a finalist in the Frasier Writing Contest. Her published works include Resurrection of Hope, Alice's Notions, and Red Sky over America.  You can find out more about her on her website at http://tameralynnkraft.net.

Red Sky over America

To be released February 11th

In 1857, America, the daughter of a slave owner, is an abolitionist and a student at Oberlin College, a school known for its radical ideas. America goes home to Kentucky during school break to confront her father about freeing his slaves.

America's classmate, William, goes to Kentucky to preach abolition to churches that condone slavery. America and William find themselves in the center of the approaching storm sweeping the nation and may not make it home to Ohio or live through the struggle.