Homesteading: Independent Women of the Prairie | Prairie Mosaic Shorts

Learn how women used the 1862 Homestead Act as a facilitator to create their own destinies out on the prairie. Students hear a letter from homesteader Georgia Townsend, and learn the story of Tyra Schanche from one of her descendants. Historian H. Eleaine Lindgren also talks about the reasons why women took advantage of the Homestead Act, and what it meant to their lives.