I. TIMELINE

1607 Colonization of Jamestown begins.

1608 The first English women arrive in Jamestown.
Virtual Jamestown site offers a variety of primary sources. The Laws section includes documents relating to slavery, religion, and Laws Divine, Moral and Martial - 1612.
The Colonial National Historical Park offers numerous Jamestown Historic Briefs, including The Indispensable Role of Women in Virginia and Powhatan Indian Lifeways.

1613 Pocahontas marries John Rolfe.
Pocahontas and the Powhatan Confederacy Access note: scroll to "April 13, 2006, Segment 4."
OAH/Talking History's Bryan Le Beau interviews Camilla Townsend, author of Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma (New York: Hill and Wang, 2004). Find this book in a library.
Explorations: Pocahontas & Squanto [Digital History]
Pocahontas Marries John Rolfe, 1613 [The Learning Page, Library of Congress]

1620 The Plymouth Colony begins with the landing of the Mayflower at Cape Cod.
The Historical Background section of the Plimoth Plantation site offers information about the Wampanoag, the English colonists, Plymouth Colony, Thanksgiving, recipes, and more.

1628 Slavery is introduced in Manhattan by the Dutch.
Slavery in New York [New York Historical Society] offers a gallery of images and documents, as well as an excellent collection of educational materials. Life Stories: Profiles of Black New Yorkers During Slavery and Emancipation includes an overview of the life of Dorothy Creole (p. 5-6), one of the first black women in New Amsterdam.
Leslie Harris and Patrick Rael discuss the importance of slavery to New York City's development in "Slavery in New York: Slavery Where? [Talking History, February 23, 2006; audio; 50 min.].

1638 Anne Hutchinson is excommunicated from the church and is banished from Massachusetts.
Anne Hutchinson Banished [Mass Moments, Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities]
Hutchinson's testimony is featured on the Puritan Women page of American Journeys: Columbus to Kerouac from the University of Virginia Library.

Listen to American Jezebel [ National Public Radio, 19 March 2004], an interview with Eva LaPlante, author of American Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson, the Woman Who Defeated the Puritans (Harper, 2004).

1648 Margaret Brent (1601-1671), part of the Exploring Maryland's Roots [Maryland Public Television] site.

1650 Anne Bradstreet: America's First Poet includes an interview with poet Charlotte Gordon, author of Mistress Bradstreet: The Untold Life of America's First Poet.

1651 Norton, Mary Beth. Sex, Religion, and Society in Early America; or, a 17th-Century Maryland Menage a Trois and its Consequences [lecture online]. Talking History, 14 September 2000. Available from: http://www.albany.edu/talkinghistory/arch2000july-december.html.

1654 Jewish passengers on the ship St. Cathrien arrive in New Amsterdam, marking the beginning of Jewish communal life in North America.
The Jewish Women's Archive offers an informative Fact Sheet on 1654.

1660 Mary Dyer is convicted and executed for practicing her Quaker faith.
Mary Dyer Trials: 1659 & 1660, taken from Women's Rights on Trial (Gale, 1997), offers an overview of the Dyer trials and suggestions for further reading.

1675 Jury Finds Mary Parsons Not Guilty of Witchcraft, May 13, 1675 [Mass Moments, Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities]

1675 A Puritan Maiden's Diary, 1675 [Pages from Her Story, Library of Congress]

1682 Mary Rowlandson's captivity narrative is published.
Early Canadiana Online offers the 1811 edition of The Captivity and Deliverance of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, of Lancaster, Who Was Taken by the French and Indians .

1692 Salem witch trials.
Mary Beth Norton discusses the Salem Witch Trials in a Talking History [October 2002] interview.

Elizabeth Reis discusses Women and Witchcraft in Colonial Salem, Massachusetts in a Talking History [October 29, 1998] interview.

Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive [Benjamin Ray and The University of Virginia, 2002]

II. RESEARCH SOURCES

Historical Overviews

Treckel, Paula A. To Comfort the Heart: Women in Seventeenth-Century America. New York: Twayne, 1996, 267p.

Historic Sites

Pilgrim Hall Museum

Portraits

The Pilgrim Hall Museum web site includes portraits of Elizabeth Paddy Wensley and Penelope Pelham Winslow, as well as Painted Pilgrims: A Curriculum Unit for Grades 6-12.

Primary Source Collections

Berkin, Carol, and Leslie Horowitz, eds. Women's Voices, Women's Lives: Documents in Early American History. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1998.

Woloch, Nancy, ed. Early American Women: A Documentary History, 1600-1900. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002.

Secondary Sources