Sisters: Catholic Nuns and the Making of America

Nuns were the first feminists. They became the nation's first cadre of independent, professional women. Some nursed, some taught, and many created and managed new charitable organizations, including large hospitals and colleges. In the 1800s, nuns moved west with the frontier, often starting the first hospitals and schools in immigrant com-munities. They provided aid and service during the Chicago fire, cared for orphans and prostitutes during the California Gold Rush, and brought professiona... (show more)

Nuns were the first feminists. They became the nation's first cadre of independent, professional women. Some nursed, some taught, and many created and managed new charitable organizations, including large hospitals and colleges. In the 1800s, nuns moved west with the frontier, often starting the first hospitals and schools in immigrant com-munities. They provided aid and service during the Chicago fire, cared for orphans and prostitutes during the California Gold Rush, and brought professional nursing skills to field hospitals run by both armies during the Civil War. Their work was often done in the face of intimidation from such groups as the Ku Klux Klan and others. In the 1900s, nuns built the nation's largest private school and hospital systems, and brought the Catholic Church into the Civil Rights movement. As their numbers began to de-cline in the 1970s, many sisters were forced to take professional jobs as lawyers, probation workers, managers, and hospital executives because their salaries were needed to support older nuns, many of whom lacked a pension system. Cur-rently there are 75,129 sisters in America, down from 204,000 in 1968. Their median age is sixty-nine. Sweeping in its scope and insight, Sisters reveals the treasure of spiritual capital that religious women have invested in America. (show less)