Class Lecture 1: Egalitarianism

This lesson specifically tied into "The Yellow Wallpaper", "White Woman of Color", and "Children of the Sea". We started the lecture with and excerpt from the Declaration of Independence. "We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." (Thomas Jefferson) We generally defined egalitarianism as a belief in human equality. This lecture was interesting because it really tied into some social issues into the world today. There are movements in today's world that are out to support equality for women and for African Americans. We tied egalitarianism into "The Yellow Wallpaper" by referring to John's silencing and entrapment of his wife. We also learned that egalitarianism can be found in four different social institutions: Government, Family, Religion, and Education. If it were not for egalitarian human beings in various aspects of culture, the world could potentially be a lot more unethical and unequal than it is today.