July 3, 1860
Charlotte Anna Perkins is born in Hartford, Connecticut.
Shortly thereafter, her father goes to San Francisco, abandoning his wife
and two young children. Charlotte's mother moves with her children
to Providence, Rhode Island.
1880-1884
Gilman supports herself in Providence as a governess, an art
teacher, and a greeting card designer.
May 1884
Gilman reluctantly marries Charles Stetson with concerns that
she will not be able to maintain a writing career and be a full-time wife
and mother.
April 1885
A daughter, Katharine, is born to Gilman and Stetson. After
the birth, Gilman enters a deep depression and is prescribed the popular
"rest cure" by Dr. S. Weir Mitchell.
1887
"A Protest Against Petticoats" is published in Woman's Journal.
1888
Gilman moves with Katharine to Pasadena, California, fearing
that her marriage is threatening her sanity.
1892
Gilman and Stetson divorce.
Gilman writes "The Yellow Wall-Paper" in retaliation to the "rest cure";
it is published in New England Magazine.
Gilman lectures on "The Labor Movement" at Alameda County, California
Labor Union Meetings.
1893
In This Our World, a collection of verse, is published.
1894
"The Business League for Women" is published in Impress.
1897
Gilman lectures in Boston on "Woman Suffrage League".
"When Socialism Began" is published in American Fabian.
1898
Women and Economics, called a "feminist manifesto", is published.
"Causes and Uses of the Subjection of Women" is published in
Woman's Journal.
1899
"The Yellow Wall-Paper" is published in book form.
1900
Gilman marries her first cousin, George Houghton.
Concerning Children is published.
Gilman lectures on "Scientific Training of Domestic Servants".
1902
"Should Wives Work?" is published in Success.
1903
The Home: Its Work and Influence is published.
1904
Human Work is published.
1907
Gilman lectures on "Women and Social Service" at the National
American Woman Suffrage Association.
"Social Darwinism" is published in the American Journal of Sociology.
1909
Gilman began publishing the Forerunner, a literary magazine.
Seven issues were published between 1909 and 1916.
"What Diantha Did" is published in Forerunner.
"How Home Conditions React Upon the Family" is published in the
American Journal of Sociology.
1910
"What Diantha Did" is published in book form.
Gilman lectures on "Warless World When Women's Slavery Ends"
in San Francisco.
1911
The Man-Made World; or, Our Andocentric Culture is published.
Moving the Mountain is published.
The Crux is published.
Suffrage Songs and Verses, Gilman's second collection of verse,
is published.
"Something to Vote For" is published in Forerunner.
1913
"What 'Love' Really Is" is published in Pictorial Review.
1914
Benigna Machiavelli is published.
"If I Were A Man" is published in Physical Culture.
1915
Herland, Gilman's feminist utopian novel, is published.
"A Rational Position on Suffrage: At the Request of the New York
Times, Mrs. Gilman Presents the Best arguments Possible in Behalf of Women"
is published in the New York Times Magazine.
1916
With Her in Ourland: Sequel to Herland is published.
"What is Feminism?" is published in the Boston Sunday Herald
Magazine.
1920
Gilman and others eulogize Susan B. Anthony on the hundredth
anniversary of her birth.
"A Woman's Party" is published in Suffragist.
1923
His Religion and Hers: A Study of the Faith of Our Fathers and
the Work of Our Mothers is published.
1927
"Progress Through Birth Control" is published in the North American
Review.
1928
"Divorce and Birth Control" is published in Outlook.
1930
Our Changing Morality is published.
1932
"Birth Control, Religion, and the Unfit" is published in Nation.
1934
George Houghton, Gilman's husband, dies suddenly. Gilman
moves to Pasadena to live with her daughter's family.
1935
"The Right to Die" is published in Forum.
The Living of Charlotte Perkins Gilman: An Autobiography is published.
Suffering from breast cancer, Gilman kills herself with chloroform.
Gilman was a feminist writer who believed in social change and equal rights for men and women. Her most famous work, "The Yellow Wall-Paper," was written as a protest against the "rest cure" for "women's troubles" that was so popular at the turn of the century. She was an idealist, as can be witnessed in her utopian novels Herland and With Her in Ourland, and also advocated reform in her writing, in such works as Women and Economics, Concerning Children, and The Man-Made World.