

Eliza Jane Cate (1812-1884) | One of the Lowell Mill Girls and Writer
Eliza Jane Cate (1812-1884) began working at the Amoskeag Mill in Manchester, New Hampshire, sometime around 1830. By the 1840s, she had moved to Lowell, Massachusetts, because of higher wages. Her first piece appeared in The Lowell Offering in 1842, entitled “Leisure Hours of the Mill Girls.” Her fellow mill-mate and author, Hariet Hanson Robinson, nicknamed her “the Edgeworth of New England.” Both wrote about everyday life, social dynamics, and moral development. “The Offer
Susan Stoderl
Nov 122 min read


Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Resistance Against the Nazis as a Double-Agent
Dietrich Bonhoeffer resisted the takeover of the German Christian Church by imposing Aryan ideas. He served in the Abwehr as a double agent and died for it.
Susan Stoderl
Nov 112 min read


Harriet Hanson Robinson (1825-1911) and the Lowell Mills "Gossip Girls"
When Harriet Hanson Robinson was 11 years old, the 1836 strike in the Lowell Mills (called a “turnout”) began. She later wrote about the turnout in her autobiography, “Loom and Spindle.” Workers’ wages had been cut, and the twenty-five-cent-a-week contribution toward the women’s boarding had been stopped. These cuts would reduce the $2.00 to $4.00 pay by at least $1 per week. Harriet recalled leaving the factory. The other workers asked what she was going to do. She replied,
Susan Stoderl
Nov 52 min read


Resistance: The Red Rose Orchestra
Arvid Harnack of the Reich Ministry of Economics and his wife, Mildred, along with Harro Schulze-Boysen of the Reich Aviation Ministry, and his wife, Libertas, started what became the Red Orchestra Resistance. By 1940–41, seven distinct Berlin circles existed. Each circle included around 150 made up of students, artists, journalists, civil servants, and many women. The groups had Communists, Social Democrats, religious dissenters, and liberals. They distributed leaflets, post
Susan Stoderl
Nov 41 min read



