"Providence has freed our hands"

"In "Providence Has Freed Our Hands," Karen K. Seat tells the history of women's foreign missions in Japan and reveals the considerable role they played in liberalizing American understandings of Christianity, gender, and race." "The author uses the story of Elizabeth Russell, a colorful missionary to Japan, to illustrate the key issues shaping Protestant women's missions. As a member of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the most powerful women's institutions of the late nineteenth century, Russell founded a progressive school for girls in Japan, defying conservatives not only within her own denomination but also in the government of Japan. Transformed by their experiences in Japan, missionaries like Russell became forceful advocates for racial tolerance and women's rights"--Jacket.