How have the expectations of others shaped your life? Ideas about home and gender are intimately connected. This has often meant confining women to a particular space – the home – and solely to domestic roles – a wife, a mother, a homemaker. But women have long pushed against this. Some sought to reclaim their Indigenous ideas of home. These stories of resistance conclude the exhibit precisely because they expand what counts as a home and women’s relationship to it.
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Nez Perce National Historical Park
Article 1: Elizabeth Penney Wilson nimipuutímt Recording
In the 1970s, Elizabeth Penney Wilson recorded interviews in nimipuutímt, the Nez Perce language. You can hear the profound love she has for her language. Despite being forced to attend the Carlisle Indian Boarding School over 2,000 miles, Elizabeth spent her life helping to preserve her people’s language and traditions. Her efforts helped produce a modern Nez Perce dictionary that is crucial for connecting the Nez Perce people of today to the language of their ancestors. Read more
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Muir Woods National Monument
Article 2: Elsa Gidlow's "Chains of Fire"
When Elsa Gidlow first laid eyes on the land above Muir Woods National Monument, she knew it was “the place to realize a dream.” That dream was Druid Heights, her home from the mid-1950s until her death in 1986. As a lesbian writer, poet, and philosopher she refused to conform to mainstream America’s ideas about family, love, and home. Every year she lit a Winter Solstice Fire, a ritual that connected her with women across time. Read more
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Lake Mead National Recreation Area
Article 3: Mescal Agave Knife and Malinda Powskey
During her life, Hualapai Tribal elder Malinda Powskey led preservation efforts of her language and cultural practices through a rigorous devotion to ethnobotany. For centuries the Hualapai lived off their ancestral homelands in Lake Mead NRA, using knives specially designed to remove the thorny leaves of the agave plant. By teaching youth traditional plant knowledge, Malinda reclaimed a way of life that binds her people to the land and plants of her homeland. Read more
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San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
Article 4: Mysterious Paint Can of San Francisco’s Maritime Museum
San Francisco’s Aquatic Park Bathhouse is filled with marvelous sea-themed murals, including memorable blue fish. As a grand California Works Progress Administration (WPA) project, the bathhouse art showcased the New Deal’s emphasis on public art for the community. Painted by Ann Sonia Medalie, Shirley Staschen Triestley and other women artists, they took part in a radical vision of “home” that embraced San Francisco’s bohemian culture. Read more
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John Muir National Historic Site
Article 5: Helen Muir’s Diary
John Muir's daughter was in love with trains. Suffering from illness, she was largely confined to home. where she diligently tracked the trains that passed through her family’s fruit ranch, yearning to understand how they worked. Helen proudly embraced her train obsession and understood it was not “proper” for a girl her age. In trains, she found an expansive world that broke free from both the limitations of her health and society’s gender roles. Read more
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Kalaupapa National Historical Park
Article 6: Bay View Girl’s Mele Aloha ‘Āina
He mele no Kalaupapa (A Song for Kalaupapa) by “Bay View Girl” provides a glimpse into the life and spirit of one resident of the Kalaupapa Hansen’s disease settlement on Molokai, where she was banished and left to die. Her song, sung by Park Ranger Mikiala Pescaia, shows that Kalaupapa brimmed with life. Her voice captures the beauty of the land and the strength of the Bay View Girl who endured the pain and loneliness of being forcibly removed from her family and home. Read more
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Golden Gate National Recreation Area
Article 7: Mildred Lewis’ Shopping Service Analysis
Mildred Lewis served in the U.S. Army during WWII and WWII, first as a telephone operator and then in the Women’s Overseas Shopping Service. She joined a select group of women who protected the national homeland and paved the way for expanded roles for women. The Shopping Service sent servicewomen items from home, and at their request, gifts to loved ones. This novel service eased the pain of separation during war by bringing a sense of home to those seeking its comforts. Read more
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Channel Islands National Park
Article 8: Chumash Rainbow Bridge Creation Story
For Chumash elder Julie Tumamait-Stenslie, stories matter deeply. They are teachings that preserve knowledge and connection to the natural world. The Chumash “Rainbow Bridge” creation story teaches about honoring all life, connecting past to present, land to sea. If we listen closely to the stories that come from Indigenous forebears, they will help us find our way back to living in a more reciprocal, sustainable relationship with our one home, Mother Earth. Read more