Lastly, it is important to note how Russell signs her name. She specifically chooses to identify herself as “A Woman of Coluor.”² This is crucial to the reading of the text because it ties into the introduction, where she informs the reader of her life experiences. This introduction shares parallels to a slave narrative, and empowers Russell’s identity as she is taking claim over her identity as a “poor unfortunate Female African” and making them her own words.³

The word “if” holds a lot of value because it heavily implies choice. To clarify by writing “If a young lady fancies,” Russell is asserting an opinion that women have the choice to get married or not, and to whoever they fancy.⁵ During this time period, it was often that women were married off by their families without too much say in it. Russell illustrates that women have some level of authority when it comes to their marital status.On the contrary, Russell is not advocating much for the rights of domestic servants or widows. This heavily plays into the concept of Intersectional Feminism as it appears that she is arguing for the young ladies’ and wives’ equality, but not necessarily every type of woman. Although much of the attention is on the women-to-be-wed, maids and widows are considered in her sections “What kind of a husband a widow or maid shall have” and “Whether a maid shall have him she loves.”⁶ The problem with these two sections is that they can be seen as insisting that maids and widows ought to be married since there is no version of these sections offered for men. However, one can argue the stronger case that these sections work towards a more inclusive type of feminist text by Russell, but are not entirely there yet. Based on the rest of the book, Russell is still meeting the definition of feminism offered above by nineteenth century standards.

This ties back to  Russell because these conventions and boarding houses occurred around the same time that Russell’s book was circulating around Massachusetts. While Russell was not the original feminist, she was asserting these ideas in text while other women were asserting them in-person. However, advertisements such as these are more considerate of all types of women, while Russell is mainly considering women to be wed.

“Marriage, DiVorce and Men and Women as seen through the Eyes of the Law and Society: Causes of the Many Divorce Suits Reported from Atlanta Courts Last Week and Diverse Views Given. Why Marriage does Not Succeed. Story of a Man Who Seeks to Legalize His Marriage with His Daughterin-Law–the Week in Woman’s World–Topics for Women and Society,” Oct 24 1897, The Atlanta Constitution (1881-1945).

Russell’s text is attempting to give women more of a voice, and demonstrate that women do, in fact, have free will. Russell also states on the cover of her book that she is a woman of color; it may have been that white men and women were purchasing her book, but it can be argued that Russell is speaking as a Black author to a Black audience. It is clear that Russell is attempting to empower women through discussing marriage in terms of free will to choose whichever suitor, and in trying to include maids and widows. Whether or not Russell’s text is genuinely inclusive of all types of women is up for debate, but does not impact the fact that the text satisfies the simple definition offered for what qualifies as a feminist text.