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On a cold February day in 1807, Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake met for the first time. In era where women were expected to marry men and become mothers, they would spend the next 44 years building a life together in rural Vermont until Charity's death in 1851.

As teaching opportunities for women expanded after the American Revolution, Charity and Sylvia embraced the independence those careers offered. Charity was subjected to fierce gossip because of her "mannish" appearance and intense romantic friendships with other women. When Sylvia moved in with her sister Polly in 1807, she was dodging questions about when she'd get married.

Come along as we explore queer identity, romantic poetry, and gender roles in Early America through history and astrology to celebrate Pride!

This episode contains discussion of sexual content.

Sources

Articles:

• “About Charity and Sylvia (the people)” by Vermont Humanities (https://www.vermonthumanities.org/programs/book-a-program/vermont-reads/vermont-reads-2026/about-the-people/)
• “Charity Bryant and the Queer Affordances of the Early American Acrostic” by Jennifer Putzi (https://www.jstor.org/stable/27235251)
• “New roadside marker in Weybridge commemorates 1800s same-sex couple” by Mary Williams Engisch (https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2025-06-20/roadside-marker-weybridge-commemorates-1800s-same-sex-couple)
• “Read the Revolution: Charity and Sylvia” (https://www.amrevmuseum.org/read-the-revolution/charity-and-sylvia)

Digital Media:

• Charity and Sylvia (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4nVNb0d-2Y)
• Drawing on the Archive: Tillie Walden's Charity and Sylvia (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqlfs3R2lbI)
• 013: Rachel Hope Cleves, Charity & Sylvia: Same-Sex Marriage in Early America (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D82ogbip-Ac)
• U6L3: Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6pt7fUyJWI)

Books:

• Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America by Rachel Hope Cleves

Websites:

• Charity Bryant (1777-1851) (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/112580287/charity-bryant)
• Charity and Sylvia (https://www.charityandsylvia.com/)
• “Charity and Sylvia: A Weybridge Couple” (https://www.henrysheldonmuseum.org/charity-and-sylvia)
• Sylvia Drake (1784-1868) (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/112580393/sylvia-drake)

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