Realism: 1865-1910

          History:

- Civil War 1861-1865
- End of slavery, beginning of Jim Crow laws 
- Economic boost in the North and West, not South 
- During this time there was a call for criminalization of abortion, but nothing happened yet 
- Data for African families birth rates were nonexistent prior to the civil war (who knows how many "miscarriages"/abortions occurred prior)

- White families were becoming more industrial (having kids was expensive, they go to college)
- Black families were becoming more rural (needed more kids to help farm)

Abortions at the time were performed in unsanitary and unsafe environments

What does this info say about Realism?
- Tell it like it is, minorities begin publishing
- Act of resistance, minorities telling their stories (women talking about men, African Americans talking about slavery)
- In, "Yellow Wallpaper," we know she was a mother, and that, in her perspective, her husband was not treating her very well (proof of women's treatment at the time?)
- "Wife of His Youth," has themes of stereotyping, segregation, and identity (all things they have been having to deal with can now be talked about)




https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/brief-overview-american-civil-war
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_abortion