ABSTRACT
The history of southern women must take into account the extraordinary complexity and diversity within the gendered worlds women experienced over time. This chapter develops a history that breaks through traditional stereotypes by detailing a range of southern women's lived experiences, including divergent ethnic histories, religious beliefs, domestic and civic realities, as well as a multitude of cultural expressions. In many of the southeastern tribes, a gendered and somewhat balanced division of labor prevailed, although women's work was often misinterpreted as less important by outsiders who encountered the people. Southern women throughout the New South and Contemporary South periods engaged in social, political, and humanitarian reform efforts. Southern women worked to usher in a newer, more contemporary South with more rights for women who faced obstacles based on traditional ideas about gender and race. World War II created opportunity for southern women to help with a war effort and in many ways defined their future.
