Throughout the years, women have influenced and changed American culture through various expressive disciplines, such as poetry, music, and journalism; Anne Bradstreet, Ma Rainey, and Betty Friedan are only three of many women who changed the course of women’s role in American history. Anne Bradstreet helped to create an American style of poetry in the early years after America’s colonization, not a small feat for a woman of this era. Her poetry pushed the boundaries of woman’s place in society and gave voice to those women who wished to stretch their role beyond that of silent housewife. As an educated white woman in the early colonies, Bradstreet had a stronger influence than many other classes of women. However, despite this social standing, she initially needed approval and assurance from the men in her life that her writing had no negative impact on her familial duties before she was permitted to publish her works. Even after she began…show more content… The blues especially covered themes common in African American culture, including the newly realized sexual freedom of the former slave race. These themes of sexuality and freedom pushed the boundaries of American culture into new arenas previously unexplored; fashion changed rapidly, uninhibited social freedom ensued, people dared to (covertly) explore an alternative sexuality, and women began fighting for their rights outside of the home. Ma Rainey not only sing about women’s sexual freedom, she even explored themes of bisexuality in her music as she discovered her love for women, as evidenced in her song Prove It On Me with the lyrics, “They must’ve been women, ‘cause I don’t like no men.” Ma Rainey and the other women of the blues celebrated women’s sexuality for the first time in American culture and allowed future generations to begin exploring this aspect of
