Thursday Shadow Visit Experience:
12:30pm - 1:50pm: HIST 351 - Mary Williams and Her World: Women in the Early Modern Atlantic World
The traditional “great man” historical narrative centers Roger Williams as a lone “hero” in the founding of Providence as a haven of religious freedom in the seventeenth century, but none of it would have been possible without his wife, Mary Williams. For years at a time, Mary was the head of the Williams family, and she played a central role in key matters in the colony, from providing medical knowledge to confirming a crucial land evidence. While there is only one surviving copy of Mary’s handwriting, creative reading of other sources  demonstrates that Mary Williams was a force to be reckoned with in her own right. Using the lens of microhistory in an Atlantic history framework, students will explore case studies in women’s history from early modern Europe, the Americas, Caribbean, and Africa.