Donna Everhart has written a novel about the Civil War with a unique perspective. When the Jessamine Grows is set in North Carolina (1860s), in an area where there were subsistence farmers. They didn’t own slaves. North Carolina was drawn into the war, expecting residents to support secession. What would…
Throughout history there have been women who have made a difference. The Bible records the story of the midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, who stood up to Pharaoh in the first book of Exodus. And there is Hannah (mother of Samuel), Ruth from Moab and Queen Esther. Recently I read a…
At the beginning of the 19th century, in the city of Chicago, the health of young children was in perilous condition. The health of both women and children needed focused attention. In 1916, for example, Chicago’s death rate for children under 2 years of age was 141.4 per 1,000 live…