This book explores the intersections between nineteenth-century social reform movements in the United States. Delving into the little-known history of women who joined income-sharing communities during the 1840s, this book uses four community case studies to examine social activism within communal environments. In a period when women faced legal and social restrictions ranging from coverture to slavery, the emergence of residential communities designed by French utopian writer, Charles Fourier, introduced spaces where female leadership and social organization became possible. Communitarian women helped shape the ideological underpinnings of some of the United States’ most enduring and successful reform efforts, including the women’s rights movement, the abolition movement, and the creation of the Republican Party. Dr. Hart argues that these movements were intertwined, with activists influencing multiple organizations within unexpected settings.

Dr. Amy Hart holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She has served as a lecturer at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and is currently a public historian for California State Parks.