| Summary: | This article is based on a selection of images of girls and young ladies – the future women of America – that figure predominantly in visual representations in the 19th century, in painting and, in the second part of the century, in photography. As an icon of America’s future, white middle-class American girls became a major subject matter and were represented in a variety of media and situations in comparison to Native American and Black girls, whose depiction is extremely rare but symbolically very telling if we consider their role in society from a white perspective. A common thread is the lack of agency in American girls throughout the century in comparison to the representations of boys; they are commonly objectified, supposedly pure and innocent, belonging to the separate sphere of domesticity. But they do not always comply with this vision inherited from the Cult of Motherhood. A form of empowerment can be found in subject matters related to education, more than in tomboy depictions. Access to education is truly paramount in the process of agency while, at this time, working at a young age in difficult conditions was far from being key to any form of independence.
|
|---|
