Warrior Women in Anglo-American History and Song

Each year, when members of the Texas Boys’ Choir dress in Revolutionary costume to celebrate the Continental soldier of yore, they strike up a song about one such soldier—a woman named Deborah Sampson. “As a man she persevered / Did ev’rything but grow a beard / To join the Continental Army.” Deborah Sampson is just one example of the highmettled heroine of popular ballads who masquerades as a man and ventures to war for love and glory. Songs celebrating such women flourished as “hits” for more than 200 years, reaching their zenith in the eighteenth century. The ballads are still alive today, embedded in the
folksong traditions of America and Britain. This presentation introduces audiences to the courageous heroines of ballads and history—Hannah
Snell in eighteenth-century England, Deborah Sampson in Revolutionary
America, Sarah Rosetta Wakeman in the American Civil War—as well as the folksongs that celebrate their valor and deeds. We’ll listen to ten ballads from the 120 songs I have collected, in varied contexts and musical styles from Elizabethan to present-day cowboy songs. We also will discuss aspects of national history and politics illustrated by the songs, the cultural forms that shape heroism and women, and the popular music traditions of ordinary people.

Presenter Profile: Dianne Dugaw, Professor, English

Dianne Dugaw was raised on a small ranch in the rural Pacific Northwest and began her career as a folksinger. In the 1970s, she traveled to the Ozark Mountain region of Arkansas and Oklahoma to collect traditional songs, hymns, and tunes. After earning a B.A. in English at the University of Portland, Dianne went on to receive a master's degree in English from the University of Colorado. She then studied literature, music, drama, and folklore at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and received her Ph.D. in English. For the past 15 years, she has taught in the department of English and the Folklore Program at the University of Oregon. Dianne has published three books on topics in literary history and folklore and, in 2002, she recorded a CD entitled Dangerous Examples-Fighting and Sailing Women in Song. On the CD, she sings an array of Anglo-American ballads about women soldiers and sailors reaching from Shakespeare's time to our own era. She has written numerous articles on literature, folklore, popular culture, and women's studies, which have appeared in national and international journals. She continues to perform with fiddler Linda Danielson, country-western singer Eric Spado, the stringband, "Oldtime News" and other Lane Country musicians. Dianne has lived in Eugene with her partner since 1991.