The assertion about ladies’s habits and their historic affect is steadily attributed to Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, a Pulitzer Prize-winning American historian. Her 1976 scholarly article, “Vertuous Ladies Discovered…,” about Puritan funeral providers, contained the phrase “well-behaved ladies seldom make historical past.” This phrase, initially concerning the shortage of documented info on abnormal ladies within the historic file, developed into a preferred, albeit usually misinterpreted, feminist slogan.
The expression’s resonance lies in its difficult of conventional societal expectations for ladies. It highlights the historic neglect of girls who didn’t conform to prescribed norms. It additionally means that impactful social and political change usually necessitates breaking with established conventions. The quote gained additional prominence by means of Ulrich’s later guide, “A Midwife’s Story,” which gained the Pulitzer Prize for Historical past in 1991. This recognition cemented the phrase’s place in well-liked tradition and scholarly discussions about ladies’s roles all through historical past.
