Gerda Lernner (1920-2013) was a former historian and feminist scholar, whose work changed the history of women on his foundation. As a pedagogue, she not only recalled the deletion of the stories of women in the course of history, but also created the history of women as a new scientific discipline. Their work offered us a basis for the analysis of the structural suppression of women and the formation of the patriarchy over time.
Gerda Lerner’s early life and influences
Gerda Lerner was born on April 30, 1920 in Vienna, Austria, in an assimilated Jewish family. Her father was a pharmacist named Robert Kronstein and her mother was an artist named Ilona Kronstein. The fighting that her mother’s failed attempt to have an independent artistic career on the young Gerda had long -lasting effects and shaped her beliefs about the roles and obstacles of women who met in patriarchal culture.
The political crisis in Europe in the 1930s influenced the intellectual and political development of learners strongly. Due to the fascism and the German annexation of Austria in 1938, Germany’s Gestapo learner and her mother arrested to force her property to sell his property. After being arrested for a month, she and her mother were released and fled to Liechtenstein. This early experience of political repression and violence by the state provided it a basis for the activism, which it was later to carry out for the support of social justice and for historical studies.
Immigration to the United States and the early activists
Learner came to the United States in 1939, where she first had problems earning her livelihood. She took over a number of jobs. In 1941 she married Carl Lerner, a film editor with intensive left -wing political activism. The two were socially active in social justice and actively took part in communist and work movements. At that time, Gerda Lernner was also involved in basic activism and fought for the rights of workers, racial equality and gender equality.
Source: Gerdalerner.com
Their earlier activism was demonstrated by organizing demonstrations, the writing of political tracts and working on joint projects. She has co -authorized a script, Black like me (1964), with her husband, who is based on the true history of a white journalist who runs out a black man to experience the racial regulation first -hand. This early introduction to the problem of oppression led to her later academic work when investigating the history of the struggles of women.
Academic life and the development of women’s history
Lerner’s formal academic life later began in life. In 1963 she acquired her Bachelor of Arts at the new school for social research and then a Ph.D. In history at Columbia University, which she deserved in 1966. Her doctoral thesis was the Grimké sisters from South Carolina: Rebels against slavery (1967) a pioneering work in the history of women. Through an investigation of the activism of Angelina and Sarah Grimké-Zwei white abolitionist sisters of the 19th century, which resigned to the rules-illuminated learning the intersections of the breed, gender and social reform movements.
Learner recognized the disgusting absence of female voices in the historical recording and devoted himself to the determination of the history of women as a study area. In 1972 she developed the first master program in women’s history at Sarah Lawrence College. She continued, the first Ph.D. Program for women’s history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1980. These programs formed an urgently needed intellectual basis for studying women and inspired a new generation of historians to critically examine relationships between gender and power and power.
Main works and intellectual contributions
Learner’s work helped to design history and feminist scholarships in a great way. She argued that the marginalization of women from history does not refer from participation in historical forces, but the way in which history was composed and structured. Some of their most important writings are as follows:
The creation of the patriarchy (1986)
In The creation of the patriarchyLearner examined the development of male dominance from old Mesopotamia through classic antiquity. She refuted that the patriarchy was a natural or biological reality, but a social creation for centuries. It pursued the origins of the institutionalized male dominance and defied the assumptions that the inequality of the sexes was inherent. Her book was of central importance how history could be used as an instrument to confirm systemic oppression.
The creation of feminist consciousness (1993)
This book served as the companion of the creation of the patriarchy and examined how women developed a collective awareness of their oppression and resistance in the course of history. Learners examined the intellectual traditions of women from the Middle Ages to the 19th century and showed how they constructed feminist thinking, even though they were excluded from formal education and public discourse. This work was crucial to show that feminist movements were not modern phenomena, but had deep historical roots.
Why history is important: life and thinking (1997)
With this collection of essays, learners argued in the name of the importance of the historical investigation in relation to social and political changes. She believed that historical studies were essential for combating oppression and a better society. From the lived experience and the scientific analysis, she highlighted the application of history to the feminist movement and awareness.
Gerda Lerner’s legacy and effects
Lerner’s influence on the history of women stretched far beyond the classroom. She worked on introducing the history of women to the university’s curriculum so that the women’s degree can be an established and accepted area of historical scholarships. Their effects can be seen through the creation of women’s study programs around the world.
Source: Women in Altoclimbmmontains.com
In addition, Lerner’s work produced generations of feminist historians who were able to question traditional historical reports and challenge how gender has built up human societies. By providing a historical context for understanding the patriarchy and the resistance of women, she laid the foundation for the critical feminist historiography.
Apart from her academic letter, Lörner’s intellectual heritage and activism inspires contemporary social movements. Their demand for the importance of women’s voices in history has deeply influenced feminist theory, gender studies and historical practice.
Gerda Lernner was a pioneer of women’s history research and a powerful intellectual figure in feminist science. Her life – resistant fascism in Nazi Austria, which opened the way for the scientific work on the history of women in the United States – was defined by a wild commitment to justice, education, historical truth. Through her research, her pedagogy, her activism, new, she reorganized the terrain of the historical scholarships so that the work and struggle of women could no longer be overlooked. Their work remains of central importance for the understanding of historical constructions of the patriarchy, feminist consciousness and the power of historical research in the establishment of social changes. As a scientist and activist today with questions of gender, history and oppression, Learner is more important than ever.
References
- https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/gerda
- https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/kneseinger-library/collections/gerda
- https://journals.openedition.org/cliowgh/324
Faga Jaypal is a history student last year at the Sri Venkateswara College of the University of Delhi, which has great interest in intellectual history, gender and sexuality studies, social justice and cultural studies. Passionately for literature, books and museums, he combines his love for storytelling with academic research. He strives to become a teacher like Mr. Keating and tries to explore the story through various stories.
