Throughout history, women have experienced oppression. Some women were brave enough to speak out about their experiences of oppression. Since the beginning of time, women have been treated unequally and inferior to men. By including only works written by women, readers will be able to gain knowledge about these women and the different forms of oppression they experienced. By choosing a verity of work types, such as poems, letters, essays, and novels, across a hundred years, allows readers to see how women began speaking out against their oppression. These women rejected gender roles by writing and expressing their creativity in a wat that against society. Women were not allowed education and were given little rights of their own, which these women address in their works. By writing about their experiences, they allowed other women to read their work and gain the strength to reject society’s view on women. More women began being publishing and speaking out against oppression. Women should be considered equal to men, but even today, they are not, which is why the theme is women’s depiction of oppression because readers should understand how these women were affected by their oppression. They were treated poorly because society viewed them as inferior to men. The anthology is organized by author and date so that readers can see works by each author, as well as them being in chronological order. In 1770, Judith Sargent Murray wrote On the Equality of the Sexes, to address the oppression against women because men limit their ability to be creative by confiding them to gender roles. She wants women to be accepted in society as equal to men and be able to have the same opportunity. She talks about how women are intelligent and can balance home and education and should be allowed to attend proper education. In 1786, A Poetical Epistle, Addressed by a Lady of New-Jersey, to Her Niece, upon Her Marriage, in This City by Annis Boudinot Stockton included a lists the correct way to please her husband based on gender roles. She addresses letting her husband be free and never speaks out against his actions. In 1827, The Suttee by Lydia Howard Huntleinsy Sigourne addressed the oppression Hindu women face with the tradition of being burned with her husband during his cremation. She talks about the crowd standing by and praying, so they do not hear the wife’s screams. Elizabeth Oakes-Smith wrote Woman and Her Needs in 1851. It was published as a series of essays in The New York Tribune, where she addressed women’s rights for equality in opportunities. She says how women need to be free and be able to express themselves in any creative way they choose without society forcing them to confined to gender roles. In 1853, Julia Ward Howe published Passion-Flowers, a 44 poem novel. She addresses women’s oppression while taking the part of a pilgrim on a spiritual journey in Rome. She addresses her inability to conform to gender roles because of her need to be free. In 1870, Howe wrote Appeal to Womanhood Throughout the World was written to unite all women together, saying they have the power to change society at a political level. She believed women had the same ability that men had to create social change, but that society did not allow them to. In 1860 Mary Boykin Miller Chesnut wrote A Diary From Dixie, where she writes about life as a Senator’s wife in the public eye during the Civil War. She travels with her husband and witnesses the oppression of slaves and other women around her. She talks about the feeling that her diary was her only place to express her creativity. In 1861 Harriet Jacobs wrote Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written By Herself, to address her life as a woman slave. She talks about her oppression and fear as a woman in slavery. She became a mother during slavery, and she addresses the fear she has for her children’s lives. These works will define the theme of women’s oppression in a way that allows the reader to feel as though they are experienced it for themselves. As more women gain the strength to speak out against social norms, the more powerful all women became. By raising their voices and demanding to be heard by society, they open the doors for women’s rights. Without these women, women’s rights may not have never happened because their works influenced other authors to speak out too. They encouraged all women to live a fearless life that pleased them. They embody the strength of powerful women to gather more women to speak out against women’s oppression. As readers read their works, they will feel the strength and power these women had when they spoke out against their oppression. They published their works, knowing it was not a popular opinion, but they knew they needed to speak out for equal rights. Not only do these women address white women’s oppression, but they address the oppression that slaves face and women of other cultures. In every culture, women are treated unequal to men, and by addressing that, these authors are shedding light on women around the world who are experiencing oppression. Women deserve to be treated equally, and women know that and should speak out against it. By allowing their voices to be heard, it creates a path that other women can follow and advocate for women’s rights in their communities. Change starts small, but one voice can enact change, and these seven women started a change by writing about their experience for others to read and join the fight to end the oppression of women and slaves. These women do not want to be superior to men, but they want to be given the same opportunities that men have. Women all of the world longs to be treated equal to men, and by reading this anthology, they can fully understand the power and strength these authors possess in order to publish their works speaking out for what they believe in.