Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Bennett, Evan

Abstract

This study argues that settler women-in the all-inclusive sense of the word rather than just white, middle-and-upper class women-were crucial in founding and stabilizing Southeastern Florida communities. Historians have focused almost exclusively on men in studying this area's development and settlement. Henry Flagler, the railroad and hotel tycoon, for example, is given much credit for his role in bringing settlers to Palm Beach and building a home there for himself. Small towns use similar narratives. The reality was that diverse populations of women were critical for Southeastern Florida's growth in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This study thus seeks to recover the diverse actions, narratives, organizations, and systems of early Southeastern Florida and the roles women played to create, stabilize, and later maintain these aspects. This study will also discuss how these women subverted-whether subtly or overtly-factors of gender, race, and class to build unique and diverse communities in Southeastern Florida.

Extent

185 p.

Comments

Includes bibliography.|Thesis (MA)--Florida Atlantic University, 2022.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Includes bibliography.

Identifier

FA00013975

Format

pdf

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