Class is now in session! I am Miss Catharine Beecher. Author, teacher, founder, domestic, woman. Ask Me Anything!

by MissCBeecher

Our paths may have crossed in many ways. You may have heard I lost social connections - and made new ones - because I advocated against the removal of my Indian sisters from their ancestral lands at the hands of that terrible president, Mr. Jackson. You may have read or heard one of my many speeches about the grace and meaningfulness of the domestic arts, the power of true womanhood, or women's place in the classroom. And of course, you likely heard my name in close association with the talented and single-minded, Mr. u/MHoraceMann. If, by chance, you heard of me because of the tragic death of my beloved, please, I beseech you. Do not trouble me with questions about the passage of that sweet, sweet man from this mortal coil. Him, I cannot bear to mention. My desire to convince every young woman in America to see classrooms full of pupils as her spiritual progeny? That I can talk about all day. AMA! (Also. Yes. That's how my name is spelled. No. I do not know why.)

Proof

G_Plinius_Secundus

How do the schools of your country in the North vary from those of the South? I am led to believe there is a great deal of difference in cultures between the two regions, is this replicated in the classroom as well as in the arena of politics?

anthropology_nerd

Thank you for joining us today.

Of late, the writings of Richard Henry Pratt have been weighing on my mind. What do you think of his plan to remove indigenous children from the reservations to residential schools in the east? Education, especially teaching indigenous girls our modern domestic arts, features highly in the school programming. Would you be in favor of this type of curriculum, and this way of addressing the "Indian Problem"?

aedes

Did you make your shawl yourself or buy it? If you made it, did you spin your own wool, or buy the wool spooled or something?

What’s going on with your hair exactly?

MissRebeccaGratz

Miss Beecher, it is wonderful to hear of your successes in your noble work, especially after being influenced by some of your writings myself. As a woman myself who felt called upon to provide an education to those who lacked it- in my case, to ensure that Jewish children are educated in our faith- I am particularly interested in your experiences as a teacher. I was particularly curious to discover that you had occasion to write your own textbooks. I too have had that duty, as no such textbooks yet existed in America for children, and I was obliged to create my own, even adapting a Christian catechism for Jewish purposes. What was your experience in creating your own pedagogical materials? What motivations have led you to pedagogy as your life's work?

ibWickedSmaht

Miss Beecher, I am a young girl currently in school, with the dream to become a physician. What advice would you give me with regards to this wish?

therealharrytruman

Young lady, while I am saddened you denigrate one of our greatest Presidents, I am astounded that you do not support the right to vote for my Bess and Margaret. Why, they have more common sense than any fancy striped pants 'educated' man!

Gankom

Thank you Miss Beecher for the AMA! Got any tips for someone trying to school small children from home in these trying times? Or any advice for a young women trying to break into the field?

JasJoeGo

Dear Miss Beecher, I found your “American Woman’s Home” extremely insightful upon all manner of useful domestic topics, but I am intrigued as to why you are so deeply critical of immigrants in your section on servants. Why such animosity towards newly-arrived Americans?”

DaggerJohnHughes

And what of the education of the children who follow the true faith?

Do you follow the Baal of bigotry like your sister, who has called us "insidious, all-pervading, persevering?" Or your father, who returned to Boston after our Charlestown convent was burnt and told us "the tide turned, and Catholicism forever in the Northeast must row upstream, carefully watched … and obstructed by public sentiment" and that the men of Charlestown would have been unworthy of American citizenship if they had not put the torch to our poor sisters in Christ?

Do we not deserve our own publicly funded schools where our instruction may take place in peace and away from such terror? Is there not an obligation to remove that corrupt rendering of scripture, the King James Bible, produced under the sponsorship of an apostate English monarch that our children are force fed in public education?

I pray that the Holy Spirit gives you guidance, my child.

voyeur324

Have you met Mr. LeClerc or Mr. Gallaudet? Do you have opinions on the oralism/manualism controversy?

woofiegrrl

Sorry I'm a bit late, Miss Beecher. Can you share your thoughts on Victoria Woodhull with us?