Behind the Lines:
Unsung Women of the American Revolution
Sponsored by the Debra Najecki Endowment
In the grand narratives of the American Revolution, the spotlight has long focused on founding fathers, generals, and politicians. But history is finally making room for the women who shaped the Revolution behind the lines.
Behind the Lines: Unsung Women of the American Revolution is a three-day conference, running March 13–15, 2026, that will explore the indispensable yet often overlooked contributions of women during America’s fight for independence. The conference will be held at the historic, 300 year old Portsmouth Friends Church, in Portsmouth, Rhode Island and well also be available virtually. Friday evening will have light appetizers and lunch will be provided on both Saturday and Sunday.
Sponsored by the Debra Najecki Endowment, the event will shine a light on women whose courage, intelligence, and resilience influenced the Revolution in ways both subtle and profound. From writers and political thinkers to spies, nurses, and family stewards, these women upheld homes and communities while pushing the boundaries of what it meant to be a patriot. Their voices—sometimes whispered through letters or boldly expressed in publications—helped shape the ideals and outcomes of the revolutionary era.
The Debra Najecki Endowment
The Debra Najecki Endowment was established by her husband in loving memory of Debra Najecki, who was a dedicated member of the Brigade of the American Revolution from 1987 until her passing in 2017. Debra was deeply passionate about the Brigade and its mission, and she championed the role of women in the organization. An avid lover of horses and a fierce advocate for historical preservation, Debra's spirit of determination and passion for the American Revolution continues through this endowment. The funds will be used to honor her legacy and further her work in promoting the ideals she held so dear.
Presenters
This presentation list may be subject to change -
Dr. Carol Berkin -
Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence
Historian Carol Berkin’s talk highlights the critical role women of all backgrounds played during the American Revolution, including boycotting, spying, and even fighting. She explores how both white and African American women, along with Native Americans, interpreted the revolutionary ideals and chose their loyalties, with many African Americans and Native Americans siding with the British for their promises of liberty. Berkin also examines the harsh experiences of Loyalist women and the struggles they faced during the war. Using primary sources like diaries, letters, and songs, Berkin’s presentation underscores the often-overlooked impact of women on America's fight for independence.
Carol Berkin is an American historian and author specializing in women's role in American colonial history. Carol Berkin is Presidential Professor of History, Emerita, of Baruch College & The Graduate Center, CUNY. She received her B.A. from Barnard College and her PhD from Columbia University where her dissertation received the Bancroft Award in 1972. She has worked as a historical commentator for several television documentaries, most notably PBS's Dolley Madison: America’s First Lady.
Nancy Rubin Stuart
The Muse of the Revolution: The Secret Pen of Mercy Otis Warren and the Founding of a Nation
Nancy Rubin Stuart is an award-winning author and journalist specializing in biographies of notable women throughout history. Her works, such as American Empress: The Life and Times of Marjorie Merriweather Post and Defiant Brides, have been praised for their depth and engaging narratives. Stuart's dedication to uncovering the stories of influential women has established her as a leading voice in historical biography.
In this presentation, Stuart will discuss her book, The Muse of the Revolution: The Secret Pen of Mercy Otis Warren and the Founding of a Nation. She will illuminate the life of Mercy Otis Warren, America's first female playwright and historian of the American Revolution. Stuart will explore how Warren's writings, including satirical plays and the influential History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution, challenged the societal norms of the 18th century and provided a unique perspective on the nation's founding. Through this discussion, Stuart aims to shed light on Warren's significant yet often overlooked contributions to American history.
Jennifer Voigtschild -
The Life of Margaret Corbin
A hero of the American Revolution, Margaret Cochran Corbin was the first woman to receive a military pension from the United States. At the Battle of Fort Washington in 1776, Corbin followed her husband into combat, helping load and fire his cannon. When he was killed, she took his place and continued fighting until she was gravely wounded by British grapeshot, leaving her permanently disabled. This presentation explores Corbin’s extraordinary bravery, her long struggle as a wounded veteran, and her place in the broader story of women’s military service.
Presented by LTC (R) Jennifer Voigtschild, Command Historian of the United States Military Academy at West Point, the talk brings together battlefield history, women’s history, and the enduring legacy of one of the Revolution’s most remarkable figures. She graduated from USMA in 1993 as an American history major with academic honors. She commissioned into the Adjutant General’s Corps and was stationed in Germany; Fort Jackson, South Carolina; Fort Meade, Maryland; USMA; Fort Hood, Texas; and the Pentagon throughout her 20-year Army career, commanding a station of the Defense Courier Service and the Army Element of the Defense Intelligence Agency and Defense Attaché System. Ms. Voigtschild also attended graduate school at Rutgers University for two years, earning a master’s degree in American history with a follow-on assignment teaching American history to cadets at USMA. She deployed to Bosnia twice in the 1990s and Iraq in 2010 before retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 2013.
Eve LaPlante
American Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson,
the Woman Who Defied the Puritans
Anne Hutchinson, a forty-six- year-old midwife who was pregnant with her sixteenth child, stood before forty male judges of the Massachusetts General Court, charged with heresy and sedition. In a time when women could not vote, hold public office, or teach outside the home, the charismatic Hutchinson wielded remarkable political power. Her unconventional ideas had attracted a following of prominent citizens eager for social reform. Hutchinson defended herself brilliantly, but the judges, faced with a perceived threat to public order, banished her for behaving in a manner "not comely for her] sex."
Opening in a colonial courtroom, American Jezebel moves back in time to Hutchinson's childhood in Elizabethan England, exploring intimate details of her marriage and family life. The book narrates her dramatic expulsion from Massachusetts, after which her judges, still threatened by her challenges, promptly built Harvard College to enforce religious and social orthodoxies -- making her midwife to the nation's first college. In exile, she settled Rhode Island (which later merged with Roger Williams's Providence Plantation), becoming the only woman ever to co-found an American colony. American Jezebel illuminates the origins of our modern concepts of religious freedom, equal rights, and free speech, and showcases an extraordinary woman whose achievements are astonishing by the standards of any era.
.jpg)
David Waldsteicher -
The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley
David Waldstreicher is a distinguished historian specializing in early American history, with a focus on political culture, slavery, and antislavery movements. He serves as a Distinguished Professor of History at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His extensive body of work includes Slavery's Constitution: From Revolution to Ratification and Runaway America: Benjamin Franklin, Slavery, and the American Revolution. Waldstreicher will discuss his acclaimed biography, The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet's Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence, which offers a comprehensive account of Phillis Wheatley's life and work. Wheatley, the first African American woman to publish a book of poetry, navigated the complexities of slavery and freedom during the Revolutionary era. Waldstreicher will explore how Wheatley's poetry and personal experiences reflect the broader political and social dynamics of the time, shedding light on her role as both a literary figure and a political actor.
Dr. Friederike Baer -
Friederike Riedesel: A War Correspondent of the American Revolution
Baroness Friederike Charlotte Louise Riedesel was a German noblewoman whose remarkable letters and memoirs offer one of the few firsthand accounts of the American Revolution from a European woman’s perspective. Determined to accompany her husband, Major General Friedrich Adolph Riedesel, she crossed the Atlantic in 1777 with her three young daughters to join the Brunswick corps serving with the British army. Over the next six years, she traveled with the army, witnessed battles, endured hardships, and documented daily life and military campaigns in a series of vivid, detailed letters that would later be published and widely read as Letters and Memoirs Relating to the War of American Independence.
In this presentation, Dr. Friederike Baer will explore Friederike Riedesel’s unique role as what one historian has called a “war correspondent” of the Revolution. Drawing on Riedesel’s own writings and the broader historical context, the talk illuminates how her eyewitness accounts deepen our understanding of military life, civilian experience, and the global dimensions of the war. Riedesel’s voice—brave, reflective, and uncommonly candid—provides an essential window into a world of armies, families, and competing visions of empire and independence.
.jpeg)
Jean Zimmerman -
The Women of the House: How a Colonial She-Merchant Built a Mansion, a Fortune, and a Dynasty
In The Women of the House: How a Colonial She-Merchant Built a Mansion, a Fortune, and a Dynasty, historian Jean Zimmerman tells the extraordinary story of the Philipse women—one of the most powerful and influential families in colonial New York. At the center of the story is Margaret Hardenbroeck Philipse, a formidable 17th-century “she-merchant” who built a vast trading and real estate empire spanning New Amsterdam, the Hudson Valley, and the Atlantic world. This presentation traces the rise of the Philipse dynasty through generations of remarkable women, including the famed Mary Philipse Morris, who was courted by George Washington before the Revolution reshaped both their lives. From fur trading and shipping to land speculation and mansion building, these women operated at the highest levels of colonial business and society—long before women were supposed to wield such power. The talk also examines how the American Revolution shattered the family’s privileged world, forcing Philipse women to navigate loyalty, exile, confiscation, and political upheaval. Through their story, this session reveals how elite colonial women built wealth, shaped society, and ultimately confronted the cost of revolution.