First Thoughts 
One of my first thoughts on the broad topic of women in American history was how broad it really is and how many different things happened to women and what they had to go through in order to create a change and become, and be viewed as, equals. I knew that there was a period of time when women started 'going against the norm' by changing their appearances and what they did, but I never really understood what fueled this yearning for change, and what they had to go through in order to obtain equal rights, privileges, and opportunities. The name of women changing their hair style, clothe length, and activities was the New Women, because they acted and looked a lot different from previous women. Carrie Chapman Catt, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Margaret Sanger are some of the women who played a huge role in the history of American women. These women played a large part in the many social reforms and movements that occurred to try and create the change that the women wanted. Women not only wanted more rights and freedoms, but they also wanted political power, including the right to vote know as the women's suffrage movement, and more power in general. The women understood the importance of education, so educating other women, and young girls, was one of their main priorities. Abortion was one of the main focuses because women felt that they deserved to be in control of their bodies and what happened to them, so girls were being educated of their bodies, and birth control, which was what Sanger is most well known for, educating girls on their bodies, reproduction, and prevention. I think this is a very interesting topic, and by researching it, it will allow me to deepen my understanding of women, and what they had to go through in order for me to be able to live the way I am today. Just from the short amount of research that I have done already, I have gained a lot more respect for women in the past; I have also come to the realization of just how large of a movement, or movements, it was for women to be able to have the same rights, equalities, political power, job opportunities, educational opportunities, freedoms, and privileges that men have. I think that people know women wanted, in a broad term, equality, but I don't think they fully understand what had to happen in order for that to occur because I know that I don't know all of what had to been done, and the lengths they went too to allow women today to be where they are now. We, as a group, divided the topic of Women, in America, into these subtopics/categories: Conventions/Movements, Abortion (reproductive rights)-/Jane Roe/Margaret Sanger/Catherine Brown, Voting/Social Equality (how women are treated in society), New Women, Suffrage, Education, Susan B. Anthony, Jobs/Equal Pay, Military, Government.