Founder’s Day Speaker – Simmons College 2012 —To the College Freshmen
Professor Teresa Nelson
October 30, 2012
Good afternoon, and thank you, President Drinan.
It’s a day to remember and celebrate the past…FOUNDER’S DAY….so let’s take a quick mental walk back to 1870 Boston– the year entrepreneur John Simmons created Simmons College.
If you stepped out onto a downtown Boston street in 1870, you’d likely see people in horse drawn carriages — the Museum of Fine Arts was just opening its doors for the first time. There are no cars, or electric lights (and neither would your home likely have an indoor toilet).
There are 250 thousand people living in Boston in 1870, and the city is a transportation hub for New England. The port area would be booming with ships travelling the world, the railroads are running near and far, and the turnpikes to Worcester and Newburyport would be full – of cattle and sheep — coming for sale in the Haymarket.
If you were a lady of means you would likely be wearing a form-fitting, long-waisted dress with a bustle, reinforced with many strips of whalebone, cording, or pieces of leather. Though you might also be of the immigrant classes, living with all of your family in one room in the North End. Likely you’d be Irish, as 25% of the city population was at this point, having fled Ireland’s potato famine of 1845.
Boston at this time was an international center for progressive thought having led the abolitionist movement into and through the United States Civil War which had just ended as Simmons College was born.
In 1870, women in Boston could not:
- Vote or serve on juries;
- Enter into a legal contract or own a business;
- Control their own earnings (if they had any). The money legally belonged to their husband or father;
- Legally hold responsibility for their children – another husband domain.
….The 1870s in New England was a time of “separate spheres” for men and women and women’s role was in the home.
STILL: There were Bostonwomen who were brave and outspoken on society’s treatment of women — of their need for education and basic civil rights. Twenty-one percent of the college population was made up of women, largely training to be teachers. As 20% of the 39 million Americans were illiterate and Boston’s role in pushing for education across income lines was particularly robust.
There were also legions of women balancing the demands of the household, their primary responsibility, with “handwork”, the taking in of sewing for pay.
By the mid-19th century Boston was one of the largest manufacturing centers in the nation, noted for its garment production, leather goods, and machinery industries. Manufacturing had overtaken international trade to dominate the local economy…..and John Simmons, his fortune, and his legacy, is part of that story.
My colleague Jason Wood follows with some remarks on Simmons and his life, so here I’ll just say – he was a visionary in that he invested in a future – he saw an opportunity for women that many didn’t – he was an entrepreneur.
His idea of education for livelihoods for women was revolutionary.
Today we continue to interpret his legacy in the programs of the college that encourage you to:
- Take ownership of your future
- Embrace your rights and independence
- And build a meaningful career
In the language of my field, entrepreneurship, I encourage you to think of your future entrepreneurially.
At Simmons this means participating in a conversation about “Entrepreneurship for Everyone” – whether your major is nursing, English, business or social work, consider all your career options and pick what suits you now, and prepare for what might suit you later. Get the skills you need to have options, and to be successful.
Be part of John Simmons’ bold experiment for women’s empowerment and social change.
Thank you.
drteresanelson 