Phenomenal Women

The month of March is International Women’s Month. For the past 6 weeks, I have been reading about some phenomenal women. I thought that I would honor the month by sharing the women I find inspiring, empowering, and whose stories need to be told.

Phenomenal Women

Mum Bet, born into slavery in the 1740s, and was owned by a judge in the state of Massachusetts. When she overheard her owner and others draft the state constitution, she heard the thought that “all men are created equal.” She consulted with a lawyer: "I heard that paper read yesterday, that says, all men are created equal, and that every man has a right to freedom. I'm not a dumb critter; won't the law give me my freedom?” In the year 1781, she sued the state of Massachusetts for her freedom. In a landmark decision, Mum Bet won her case! Her court case helped end slavery in Massachusetts. She later changed her name to Elizabeth Freeman to celebrate her newfound freedom.

https://www.elizabethfreemancenter.org/who-we-are/elizabeth-freeman/

Phillis Wheatley was born in Africa sometime in the 1750s; she was abducted into slavery and arrived in America at the age of 7 or 8 years old. Her new owners named her Phillis as that was the name of the slave ship she was brought to America on. She was taught to read English by the daughter of the man who owned her. She was then taught to write in English as well, and was encouraged to write poetry. She then began to learn Greek and Latin, and began to write poetry. In the year 1773 she became the first black female to be published in the United States. Shortly after her book of poetry was published, she was granted her freedom. A prolific writer, she corresponded with Voltaire, as well as then President Washington. She accomplished a great deal in her all too short life.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/phillis-wheatley

Sarah Breedlove began her life in poverty. She worked as a laundress. At one point in her life, she found herself losing her hair. She then sought out treatment for her hair loss. Through learning about how to help her own hair loss, she began experimenting with her own treatment and formulas. She then began to sell her treatments to clients. From there she began to travel, selling her goods to women of color across the country. She eventually began to work under a new name: Madame C.J. Walker. As her business grew, she trained other women to sell her products across the country. Business grew exponentially for the Walker company; as the company needed further room to grow, her manufacturing center was moved to Indianapolis, Indiana. Madame C.J. Walker went on to become America’s first female self-made millionaire. Her former offices and manufacturing plant in Indianapolis now house the Walker Theater.

https://www.biography.com/people/madam-cj-walker-9522174

http://www.thewalkertheatre.org/about/about-us

The late poet Maya Angelou has been of great interest to me when I began to read her work after her death. In her youth, she became mute after a sexual assault. It was then that she began to read. She read anything she could get her hands on. Maya naturally gravitated to poetry. Someone told her, “To love poetry you must speak it.” With that, she began to speak again. She continued to read voraciously, and to write. In her adolescence she became the first woman to be a cable car operator in San Francisco. She later became a singer, dancer, actress, and prolific writer. Her first novel, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, was the first of 8 autobiographies. She went on to write several poems and essays. She became fluent in 6 languages, and was given more than 50 honorary degrees. She was awarded the Medal of Freedom in 2010 by President Barack Obama. She passed away in 2014.

https://www.biography.com/people/maya-angelou-9185388

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been at the forefront of the fight for equal rights for decades. She went into higher education at a time in the United States when the hallowed halls of learning were mostly occupied by men. She progressed through school and graduated law school. After her studies she became a law professor at Rutgers and Columbia University. From there she worked at the American Civil Liberties Union (A.C.L.U.) She was then appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1993, the second woman to be appointed to the court. She has been an advocate for women’s rights and gender equality for decades. There are now 3 women that serve the court-Justice Ginsburg, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina Supreme Court justice, and Elena Kagan. The world has fallen in love with Justice Ginsburg, dubbing her the nickname: “The Notorious RBG.” There is a documentary about her in the works with the same name. In my favorite quote from Justice Ginsburg, someone had asked her when there will be enough women on the Supreme Court. Her response: “When there are nine.”

https://www.oyez.org/justices/ruth_bader_ginsburg

http://notoriousrbg.tumblr.com/

Hillary Rodham Clinton is the woman who would be President. Madame President was born in Chicago, Illinois. She met her future husband, Bill Clinton, while at Yale. She began public life as the First Lady when Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas. She was later First Lady of the United States. Her husband became President in 1993. She then became a state senator of New York. It was the first time that any First Lady had served elected office. She was then picked to be Secretary of State by President Barack Obama in 2009. She ran for the Presidency in 2016, and lost the electoral vote. However, she won the popular vote in that election, winning over 3 million more votes than the current President.

https://www.biography.com/people/hillary-clinton-9251306

Attorney Gloria Allred has been on the forefront of fighting for equal rights for decades. She has fought for freedom of speech, as well as equal rights for women, people of color, and for the LGBT community. She was a key force in same-sex marriage law passing in California, and later becoming law throughout the country. Upon watching “Seeing Allred”, a documentary about her life, now streaming on Netflix, I learned that Gloria is a survivor of sexual assault. Over the years she has represented many women who have survived sexual assault, including the accusers of Bill Cosby as well the accusers of the current President of the United States.

https://www.gloriaallred.com/About-Ms-Allred/

Carla Hayden is the Librarian of Congress. The Library of Congress is the national library of the United States of America. It was founded in the year 1800 by then President John Adams. The archives of the Library of Congress are split into 5 separate divisions, which contain publications, manuscripts, recordings, maps, newspapers and more. Carla Hayden was nominated for the post in 2016 by then President Barack Obama, which was then approved by the U.S. Senate. She is the first woman, and first woman of color, to hold the post.

https://www.loc.gov/about/

Malala Yousafzai was born in Pakistan. Being an outspoken advocate for women’s and girl’s rights to an education, it made her a target of the Taliban. In 2012, she and her classmates were ambushed in a surprise attack on their way home from school. Malala received a gunshot to the face. She was immediately flown to Birmingham Hospital in England for treatment. Having survived her injuries, the following year she wrote a book about her life, “I am Malala: the Girl who Stood up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban”, which went on to become a worldwide best seller. The next year, she went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize, at the age of 17. She has since had a documentary made about her, “He Named Me Malala”, and has been featured in numerous publications around the world. I found her quote in her speech before U.N. to be quite inspiring: “One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world.” She currently attends college at Oxford University in England.

https://www.malala.org/malalas-story?utm_expid=.rFt8T4goQvu3waedVYhuNA.0&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

Tammy Duckworth, U.S. Senator from Illinois, must also go on my list. She is a veteran of the U.S. military, who served as a helicopter pilot in Iraq. Her helicopter was shot down in 2004, resulting in the loss of both of her legs. After her recovery, she worked in the field of veteran affairs. She was appointed Assistant Secretary of Veteran Affairs by then President Barack Obama. She currently serves as a senator, and at the time of this writing, is pregnant. There are many firsts about Senator Duckworth:

-she was the first female helicopter pilot in Iraq
-she is the first double amputee to serve in Congress
-she is the first person of Thai descent to serve in Congress
-she will be the first senator to give birth while in office

Tammy Duckworth is an incredible servant of the United States, and a wonderful role model to women who are considering running for office or joining the military.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/01/24/tammy-duckworth-will-be-the-senates-first-new-mom-but-she-already-has-a-record-of-blazing-trails/?utm_term=.2077ab3c791d

https://www.duckworth.senate.gov/about-tammy/biography

Michelle Obama is the former First Lady of the United States. She grew up on the South side of Chicago and graduated from Princeton University. She received her law degree from Harvard. While her husband Barack was in office, she served and highlighted several causes in the nation, including the arts, the homeless, physical fitness and healthy eating, equal rights for the LGBT community and women around the world.

It must be said that Michelle Obama is a fashion icon. She championed new designers in the fashion industry, and wore their creations to highlight their work. A recent unveiling of her portrait left Parker Curry spellbound. Parker could not pronounce Michelle’s name; instead, she called her what she could pronounce: “Queen.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bf1tL5bgf5w/?utm_source=ig_embed

Michelle and Parker later met in person. Together they did a happy dance.

I could go on forever listing women that I admire, whose accomplishments are firsts, and whose stories deserve to be shared with the world. I leave you now with a video of Maya Angelou reciting her poem, “And Still I Rise.”

“You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt-but still, like dust, I’ll rise.”