Calendar of Events
Declaration Deep Dive: Dr. Leslie Lindenauer
Liberty’s Gender: Women, Popular Culture, and the American Revolution
October 9, 2025 · 7 p.m.
Garden House
Free
Join us for the third program of the Declaration Deep Dive series, a collaboration between KTM&HC and Ridgefield Library to commemorate America 250.
Dr. Leslie Lindenauer, professor of history at Western Connecticut State University, will discuss the impact the Declaration of Independence and American Revolution had on women's rights, in the 18th century and beyond.
The American Revolution promised liberty—but what did that mean for women? This lecture explores how the era’s popular culture shaped and reflected ideas about femininity, masculinity, motherhood, and women’s place in public life. From patriotic heroines to domestic ideals, we’ll see how the Revolution both challenged and reinforced gender norms. Along the way, we’ll draw connections to our own time, when modern debates about women’s roles echo the questions first asked more than two centuries ago.
This program is free for all. Registration is required.
Leslie Lindenauer is a professor in the Department of History, Philosophy, and World Perspectives. She teaches courses in early American history, public history, the American Revolution, and museum studies, local history, and gender studies. Her research interests include popular memory and witch trials, gender and the construction of motherhood in popular culture, and the role of collective identity and public memory, including popular memory and the American Revolution. She holds an AB from Brown University, and an MA and PhD from New York University. Her book I Could Not Call Her Mother: The Stepmother in American Popular Culture, 1750-1960 was published by Lexington Books. She lives in New Haven with her husband and two pups.
The Declaration Deep Dive series is funded in part by CT Humanities. Thank you!
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