infanticide — Bunk History

Drawing of five women in uniform aprons and white bonnets.

Law, Medicine, Women’s Authority, and the History of Troubled Births

A new book "examines legal cases of women accused of infanticide and concealment of stillbirth."

by Lara Freidenfelds via Nursing Clio on March 22, 2023

Hands holding pregnant woman's stomach.

Black Women and the Racialization of Infanticide

Loss of control over knowledge of the female body cemented women’s status as second-class citizens.

by Rebekka Michaelsen via Black Perspectives on March 2, 2023

Enslaved African Americans hoe and plow the earth and cut piles of sweet potatoes on a South Carolina plantation, circa 1862-3.

"She Had Smothered Her Baby On Purpose"

Enslaved women's use of birth control, abortifacients, and even infanticide showed that they resisted by exerting control over their reproductive lives.

by Signe Peterson Fourmy via Age of Revolutions on July 25, 2022

Colorful abstract painting

The New Declaration of Sentiments

Four important court cases that have defined the landscape of women’s rights in the United States.

by Elizabeth L. Silver via Los Angeles Review of Books on January 23, 2024

"Mademoiselle V...in the Costume of an Espada," by Edouard Manet, a painting of a woman dressed as a matador holding sword and cloth.

A Private Matter

Abortion and "The Scarlet Letter."

by Dana Medoro via Lapham’s Quarterly on August 3, 2022

Mother's hand holding baby's hand on the cover of "Blue: A History of Postpartum Depression in America".

On Rachel Louise Moran’s "Blue: A History of Postpartum Depression in America"

A new book challenges the discursive ignorance about the condition.

by Audrey Wu Clark via Society for U.S. Intellectual History on May 25, 2025

Painting of enslaved people waiting to be sold.

Enslaved Women’s Resistance to Slavery and Gendered Violence

A new book offers a fresh perspective on the resistance of enslaved women and their interactions with the law.

by Sean Gallagher via Black Perspectives on September 5, 2024

Illustration, The Burning of the Convent in 1834.

The Banality of Conspiracy Theories

Moral panics repeat, again and again.

by Colin Dickey via The Atlantic on July 1, 2023

An illustration of Puritans in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The Witches of Springfield

Before Salem, this small town succumbed to the witch-hunting fever.

by Katrina Gulliver via Law & Liberty on December 16, 2022

Lithograph of Black wet nurse nursing a white baby.

The Double-Edged Sword of Motherhood Under American Slavery

How did enslaved mothers contend with the possibility that their children could be sold away from them?

by Emily West via Uncommon Sense on May 7, 2019

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