"For four centuries, Virginia women have made history that is both important and inspiring. As entrepreneurs and laborers, wives and mothers, educators and reformers, women--both famous and lesser-known--have influenced the course of history in the Old Dominion. Changing History: Virginia Women through Four Centuries begins with the region's Native American peoples before Jamestown and ends with a twenty-first century profoundly changed by second-wave feminism. Generously illustrated, Changing History is based on recent scholarly work as well as research in original records. The engaging narrative reveals a history of Virginia women whose rights and choices have increased over time: enslaved women became free; wives became property-owners; women of all races attained greater access to education, suffrage, and other basic civil rights. Progress has not always been steady and improvements have varied by class, race, and region. Virginia's women have created an evocative legacy. Changing History tells their stories."--Jacket.