Henrietta Johnston An Amazing Painter - 873 Words

17th and 18th century American colonial life was not easy for women, they were overworked and underappreciated. Women were married young and quickly took on all the household responsibilities, including bearing children. Husbands, quite literally, owned their wives and because of this women had no control of their earnings, property, inheritance, or anything else (Portland State University, 2001). Though, despite all the hardships women had to go through, some overcame the challenges and still found a way to become strong women with remarkable talents. Two women who exemplify this are Henrietta Johnston, an amazing painter whose portraits were unadorned to the eye but were created using an exceptional type of medium for her time and Anne Bradstreet whose poetry showed the love she had for her husband and the intimate feelings of a colonial women (Academy of American Poets, n.d.; Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 2016; Poetry Foundation, 2015; Sarudy, B. W., 2013). Johnston and Bradstree t both took on the typical domestic roles but still found a way to display their talents. Though, how did these roles effect the work they created? Shortly after marrying her husband, Simon Bradstreet, Anne Bradstreet and her family immigrated to America and settled in Massachusetts. They had a total of eight kids, which means her domestic responsibilities were extremely demanding however, she still made time to write poetry (Academy of American Poets., n.d.; Poetry Foundation, 2015). Anne