| |
The Woman's Land Army was established during the First World War to train women to farm so they could maintain the nation's food supply while men were fighting overseas. Modeled after the Woman's Land Army in Britain, it showed the ability of American women to organize large projects even before they had the right to vote. The Illinois WLA, led by influential Chicago women including Jane Addams, established a Training Farm for Women in Libertyville in 1918. The "farmerettes" generated the support of the press, the state's governor, and skeptical farmers. After the war the farm's equipment was donated to a state agricultural college in exchange for the admission of women to agricultural training. |
|
| |
|
The Woman's Land Army |
|
A Series of Walks, Talks and Tastings |
|
FROM THE NEAR WEST SIDE OF CHICAGO TO LIBERTYVILLE, ILLINOIS |
|
OCTOBER 5-7, 2010 |
|
| |
|
|
|
Woman's Land Army, World War I |
|
|
|
| |
|
OVERVIEW
The Jane Addams Hull House Museum on the campus of UIC (home and HQ of the first woman to win the Nobel Prize), The Chicago Botanic Garden (one of the largest and most admired botanic gardens in the nation), Prairie Crossing (a green community in Grayslake built around a 100 acre organic farm), The Department of Gender Studies at University of Chicago, Slow Food Chicago and The Adlai Stevenson Center on Democracy in Libertyville have joined forces to co-sponsor a visit by Elaine Weiss - author of "FRUITS OF VICTORY - The Woman's Land Army of America in the Great War". Elaine F. Weiss is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, Boston Globe, the Philadelphia Inquirer and on National Public Radio. She is a frequent correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor. Weiss holds a masters degree from Medill.
Weiss' three day swing through Greater Chicagoland is designed to reacquaint people with the remarkable achievements of Land Army organizers and participants. It is meant to inspire us to insist on changes in food policies that support sustainable farms, farmers and processing. Attendees will learn about:
- landmark contributions by Progressive era women to insure food security in World War I
- the future of regional food production and food access as laid out in the Go to 2040 Plan of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency (CMAP) with an address by CMAP Director, Randy Blankenhorn.
- opportunities in The Child Nutrition Act, the 2012 federal Farm Bill if women demand changes in the way American food is produced and accessed. Read more
|
|
| How it Works |
| Get Smart |
| Read About Elaine Weiss |
| Web Links |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
