Empire’s Daughters: Girls and Britain’s Colonial Past

Women’s History Wednesdays

Empire’s Daughters: Girls and Britain’s Colonial Past
presented by Elizabeth Dillenburg, Associate Professor of History at The Ohio State University at Newark
March 18, 2026 at 2 p.m. in Lenfest Learning Commons, John Stewart Memorial Library

Girls are often consigned to the shadows in histories of the British Empire, but they nevertheless played a vital role as migrants, settlers, laborers, and creators of colonial knowledge. Yet girls’ involvement in the empire was anything but straightforward. They navigated, negotiated, and resisted systems of colonial power. This presentation explores girls’ multifaceted roles in the British Empire through a study of the Girls’ Friendly Society, a British organization that grew into a global society with branches throughout the empire. Focusing specifically on the Society’s emigration and imperial education programs, this presentation explores the everyday, intimate politics that sustained colonial rule and argues that understandings of colonialism remain incomplete without serious consideration of girls and their experiences.

Sponsored by the Hankey Center for the History of Women’s Education.