ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on women philosophers who have made inroads in political theory forces us to cover a great deal of new ground, and not all of it easily traversable. Much has been made recently of the differing styles employed by women thinkers, and of the extent to which history and the academy have often failed to recognize or do justice to the theorizing of the female writers involved. Sarah Grimk, as a white woman, was a strong abolitionist, but seems not to have attempted to address the specific problems faced by Black women, perhaps somewhat understandably. But the years after the Civil War, while providing the Black population with at least some opportunities for economic growth and change, also brought a number of other significant alterations to American society, including increased industrialization, rise of newsprint media, and so forth. Addams contributions, however, are wide-ranging, hard to categorize, and in some sense both political and generally ethical.
