Prison Writings of Early Quaker Women: "We were stronger afterward than before:"

PRISON WRITINGS OF EARLY QUAKER WOMEN "We were stronger afterward than before:" Judith Scheffler* The tradition of women's prison literature is international and hundreds of years old; the works that it encompasses are varied in style, content, and purpose. One major focus of this literature is on the writer's self-justification. Particularly in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when women prisoners were considered abnormal monsters, writers of confessional forms such as letters, diaries, and memoirs described almost solipsistically their respectable backgrounds and normal femininity.' An equally significant but very different emphasis in women's prison literature is on a particular cause, principle, or concept that the writer supports and that may have led to her imprisonment. Here the tone is self-confident and assertive and, far from being solipsistic, the writer may almost avoid or neglect personal references because ofher much greater interest in the issue at hand. Religious subjects clearly fit into this category, with a tradition that goes back at least as far as Perpetua, a young nursing mother who wrote of her visions in prison prior to her Christian martyrdom at Carthage in 203.2 It is in this second group of writings that works by seventeenth century Quaker women also belong. In these prison writings, confidence in the truth of the Friends' spiritual message enables women prisoners to go beyond selfcentered themes of individual justification before society and concentrate upon a purpose that they consider more important than their personal difficulties. Concern for the welfare of the group of suf- *Judith Scheffler is Assistant Professor of Humanities-Communications at Drexel University. 1.For a further discussion of this emphasis in women's prison literature, see Elissa Gelfand, "Imprisoned Women: Toward a Socio-Literary Feminist Analysis," Yale French Studies, No. 62 (1981), pp. 185-203, and "Women Prison Authors in France: Twice Criminal," Modern Language Studies, 11 , No. 1 (Winter 1980-81), pp. 57-63. 2.Perpetua, "The Passion of SS. Perpetua and Felicitas," in Some Authentic Acts ofthe Early Martyrs, trans. E.C.E. Owen, (Oxford, 1927), pp. 74-92. 25 26Quaker History ferers dominates Friends' prison writing as a natural reflection ofthe early Quaker group fellowship.1 Historians are well served by the orientation of these prison writings toward the world outside the writer herself. Because the Publishers ofTruth were very conscious ofthe practical, worldly life around them and how it often fell away from spiritual wholeness, they expressed outrage at injustices and violations of human rights. As early advocates of prison reform, some incarcerated Quaker writers graphically described appalling conditions in seventeenth century prisons and courtrooms. Historians are also aided, in another context, by documents written about prison experiences that support the view that early Quaker women enjoyed equality with men in Friends' ministry.4 Indeed, age was not a basis for discrimination either, for even elderly women shared in the travels and persecutions. The literary characteristics of various types of early Quaker writing have been discussed by Luella Wright in her book The Literary Life of the Early Friends. Although she does not discuss prison writings specifically, her observations on the literary principles of Friends' writing, in particular the literature of "sufferings," give us insight into prison works. She outlines the purpose and intended audience ofthese writings: The constant and methodical recording of sufferings was based on the clearly defined objective ofacquainting the public first with the sufferings ofthe group, and secondly with the body of beliefs that made the Friends willing for the sake of conscience to endure religious persecution.5 The press, she explains, was the only weapon available to early Friends who sought religious toleration while upholding their peace testimony.6 Consistent with this audience and purpose were form and style that were fairly well standardized and, after 1672, even censored 3.For a discussion of Quaker group life see William C. Braithwaite, The Beginnings of Quakerism, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, 1955), pp. 130-131. Luella M. Wright, The Literary Life of the Early Friends, 1650-1725 (NY: Columbia, 1932), pp. 62-63, discusses the emphasis on the interests of the group, even in confessional writings. 4. For a discussion of leadership in the ministry among early Quaker women...