Background on The Whispering Rod

On the lawn of the Massachusetts State House stand six statues memorializing important American historical figures from the Bay State. Joseph Hooker, Civil War hero, sits astride a mighty, galloping horse. Horace Mann, well-known educator, and Daniel Webster, statesman and orator, stand like sentries, guarding either side of the main entrance. John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, his characteristic stride captured life-like in bronze, is the last work to be dedicated. At opposite ends of the lawn's expanse stand the statues of two women—Anne Hutchinson, clutching the hand of her youngest daughter Susannah and defiantly looking upward toward the sky—and Mary Dyer, eyes cast submissively downward toward her hands folded neatly in her lap.

Neither of these women ever held political office, an official title or professional status. Yet both are best known for their roles in a bitter political controversy: They defied the prevailing institution of the day, the Puritan church-state, which banished them at separate times from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Anne Hutchinson eventually moved to a settlement in the wilderness of what is now Long Island, New York, where she was killed in an Indian raid along with five of her fourteen children. Eighteen years after Anne's death, Mary Dyer was hanged on Boston Common for her refusal to relinquish her Quaker beliefs.

With the demise of Puritanism, the women's reputations were resurrected in later years, and today each is a symbol of our country's commitment to religious tolerance and freedom. To most Americans living in the early 21st century, however, the names Anne Hutchinson and Mary Dyer occupy at best a small footnote in our cultural memory of an early colonial time. Yet their lives as New World settlers are remarkable. Their impact on the definition of American identity is indelible. Their personal story as friends and mutual supporters, while virtually unknown to many Americans, is powerfully compelling.

Who were these women and why are they important?
Before Susan B. Anthony and Amelia Earhart, before Harriet Tubman and Clara Barton, and even before Betsy Ross and Abigail Adams won their respective places as prominent women in American history, Anne Hutchinson and Mary Dyer participated in a dangerous and difficult experiment of creating a "New Jerusalem in the New World." Having played major roles in the country's early development, they are no less than predecessors of the American Revolution's venerable founding fathers.

Yet they lived in a time when women had far fewer legal rights than men and virtually no access to political power. That their gender had a profound effect on the formation of their beliefs, the consequences of their actions, and the ways in which they have been remembered through historical and literary accounts has only just begun to be explored and is worthy of closer examination.

In addition, their lives are full of dramatic content. Their stories are part adventure tale, part courtroom drama, part domestic narrative. From the hardships of wilderness life to childbirth and child-rearing to asserting their rights as women in the community, they faced profound challenges every day. Their stories deserve to be told not only for their historical importance, but also because they are lessons in personal courage in a world far removed from the sensibilities and conveniences of modern society.

How is the story relevant to young people?
Our beginnings as a nation tell us much about who we are today. The American character has been closely identified with Puritanism, yet the Puritan era lasted only approximately fifty years. Examining the reasons why this period continues to define us has the potential to shed light on issues such as conformity and intolerance, which are relevant to young people today.

With multiculturalism a topic of sociological debate, it is timely to consider who we are as a people in an effort to find common ground in the ideals and values which form our national identity and which have their roots in our earliest years. Have those values changed over time? Have we reinterpreted them to give meaning to our new society? Do today's readings of history tell us something different about ourselves than that which we formerly believed?

As young people struggle to define their own sense of individualism while searching for their rightful place in society, they can draw useful lessons from the past and from women such as Anne Hutchinson and Mary Dyer.