Hellen Nellie Mcclung: A Canadian Feminist
...in a log cabin
on Garafraxa Road, two kilometers from Chatsworth, Ontario. She and her family
moved to Manitoba when she was six years old.
One of Nellie's best influences was her mother. Her family's influence
was no doubt the reason she became an activist. Her mother thought that every
child had the right to an education, and her whole family encouraged her to
learn all she could. (9, Wright) Nellie at age ten, went to school at
Northfield School. This is where her education started.
Nellie's dream was to be a teacher like her sister Hannah. Teaching was
one of the few jobs open to women. She started her 'voyage' at age fifteen by
passing the Second Class Teachers' Examination. She went on to earn a higher
teaching certificate at Winnipeg Collegiate in 1893. She went on to teach at
Hazel Public School near Manitou, Manitoba.
We study Nellie McClung because she was an internationally celebrated
feminist and social activist. Her success as a platform speaker was legendary.
Her earliest success was achieved as a writer, and during her lengthy career she
authored four novels, two novellas, three collections of short stories, a two-
volume autobiography and various collections of speeches, articles and wartime
writing, to a total of sixteen volumes. Two of her most famous books are:
Clearing In The West and The Stream Runs Fast. All this served as a "pulpit"
from which McClung could preach her gospel of feminist activism and social
transformation. She was convinced that God's intention for creation was a "Fair
Deal" for everyone; and that Canada, particularly the prairie West, was a
perfect place to begin to bring that about. Women's suffrage, temperance and
the ordination of women were keystones in the battle - engaged. In contrast to
contemporary stereotypes, with a wit and compelling humor that won over enemies
as it delighted her allies.
Nellie...
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