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Esteemed Contributor
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Re: Women's History Month!!!

IDA B. WELLS, 1862-1931

Ida B. Wells, born in Mississippi in 1862, is perhaps best known for her work as a crusading journalist and anti-lynching activist. While working as a schoolteacher in Memphis, Wells wrote for the city’s black newspaper, The Free Speech. Her writings exposed and condemned the inequalities and injustices that were so common in the Jim Crow South: disfranchisement, segregation, lack of educational and economic opportunity for African-Americans, and especially the arbitrary violence that white racists used to intimidate and control their black neighbors.

 

Wells’s insistence on publicizing the evils of lynching, in particular, won her many enemies in the South, and in 1892 she left Memphis for good when an angry mob wrecked the offices of The Free Speech and warned that they would kill her if she ever came back. Wells moved north but kept writing about racist violence in the former Confederacy, campaigning for federal anti-lynching laws (which were never passed) and organizing on behalf of many civil rights causes, including woman suffrage.

 

In March 1913, as Wells prepared to join the suffrage parade through President Woodrow Wilson’s inaugural celebration, organizers asked her to stay out of the procession: Some of the white suffragists, it seemed, refused to march alongside blacks. (Early suffrage activists had generally supported racial equality–in fact, most had been abolitionists before they were feminists–but by the beginning of the 20th century, that was rarely the case. In fact, many middle-class white people embraced the suffragists’ cause because they believed that the enfranchisement of “their” women would guarantee white supremacy by neutralizing the black vote.) Wells joined the march anyway, but her experience showed that to many white suffragists, “equality” did not apply to everyone.

 

Wells continued to fight for civil rights for all until she died in 1931.

*Call Tyrone*
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Re: Women's History Month!!!

Itiswhatitis, please continue with this thread; you've added some stellar women.  I also want to add Dolores Huerta (activist for farm workers, United Farm Workers union, and Latino rights); Wilma Mankiller, tribal leader; Louise Erditch, author; Maxine Hong Kingston (author); Janice Mirakitami (I am sure I misspelled her name-she is an author and activist in San Francisco with the Glide Church); Audre Lorde (poet and activist), Supreme Court justices Kagan, Sotomayor, and Ginsburg; Rep. Sheila Lee, former senator Carol Mosely Braun; the women in the Senate and Congress, especially Re[. Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Kobachar and Sen. Gillibrand; Charlane Hunter-Gault, journalist, Daisy Bates, Septima Clark, and others.  I am sure that I, too, will post other names.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Re: Women's History Month!!!

Tammy Baldwin-the first openly gay person elected to the US Senate and first woman Senator elected in Wisconsin

From outside the US-Malala

Mary Robinson-first female President of Ireland
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Re: Women's History Month!!!

Social activist, writer, editor, and lecturer Gloria Steinem has been an outspoken champion of women's rights since the late 1960s.

 

Synopsis

Gloria Steinem was born March 25, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio. She became a freelance writer after college and grew more and more engaged in the women's movement and feminism. She helped create both New York and Ms. magazines, helped form the National Women's Political Caucus, and is the author of many books and essays. A breast cancer survivor, Steinem celebrated her 80th birthday in 2014.

Early Life

Social activist, writer, editor, and lecturer. Born on March 25, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio. Since the late 1960s, Gloria Steinem has been an outspoken champion of women's rights. She had an unusual upbringing, spending part of the year in Michigan and the winters in Florida or California. With all this traveling, Steinem did not attend school on a regular basis until she was 11.

 

Around this time, Steinem's parents divorced and she ended up caring for her mother, Ruth, who suffered from mental illness. Steinem spent six years living with her mother in a rundown home in Toledo before leaving to go to college. At Smith College, she studied government, an non-traditional choice for a woman at that time. It was clear early on that she did not want to follow the most common life path for women in those days—marriage and motherhood. "In the 1950s, once you married you became what your husband was, so it seemed like the last choice you'd ever have…I'd already been the very small parent of a very big child—my mother. I didn't want to end up taking care of someone else," she later told People magazine.

 

Pioneering Feminist

After finishing her degree in 1956, Steinem received a fellowship to study in India. She first worked for Independent Research Service and then established a career for herself as a freelance writer. One of her most famous articles from the time was a 1963 expose on New York City's Playboy Club for Show magazine. Steinem went undercover for the piece, working as a waitress, or a scantily clad "bunny" as they called them, at the club. In the late 1960s, she helped create New York magazine, and wrote a column on politics for the publication. Steinem became more engaged in the women's movement after reporting on an abortion hearing given by the radical feminist group known as the Redstockings. She expressed her feminist views in such essays as "After Black Power, Women's Liberation."

 

In 1971 Steinem joined other prominent feminists, such as Bella Abzug and Betty Friedan, in forming the National Women's Political Caucus, which worked on behalf of women's issues. She also took the lead in launching the pioneering, feminist Ms magazine. It began as an insert in New York magazine in December 1971; its first independent issue appeared in January 1972. Under her direction, the magazine tackled important topics, including domestic violence. Ms. became the first national publication to feature the subject on its cover in 1976.

 

As her public profile continued to rise, Gloria Steinem faced criticism from some feminists, including the Redstockings, for her association with the CIA-backed Independent Research Service. Others questioned her commitment to the feminist movement because of her glamorous image. Undeterred, Steinem continued on her own way, speaking out, lecturing widely, and organizing various women's functions. She also wrote extensively on women's issues. Her 1983 collection of essays, Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions, featured works on a broad range of topics from "The Importance of Work" to "The Politics of Food."

Impact and Criticism

In 1986, Steinem faced a very personal challenge when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was able to beat the disease with treatment. That same year, Steinem explored one of America's most iconic women in the book Marilyn: Norma Jean. She became a consulting editor at Ms magazine the following year after the publication was sold to an Australian company.

 

Steinem found herself the subject of media scrutiny with her 1992 book Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem. To some feminists, the book's focus on personal development seemed to be a retreat from social activism. Steinem was surprised by the backlash, believing that a strong self-image to be crucial to creating change. "We need to be long-distance runners to make a real social revolution. And you can't be a long-distance runner unless you have some inner strength," she explained to People magazine. She considers the work to be "most political thing I've written. I was saying that many institutions are designed to undermine our self-authority in order to get us to obey their authority," she told Interview magazine.

 

Steinem had another collection of writings, Moving Beyond Words: Age, Rage, Sex, Power, Money, Muscles: Breaking Boundaries of Gender, published in 1994. In one of the essays, "Doing Sixty," she reflected on reaching that chronological milestone. Steinem was also the subject of a biography written by another noted feminist Carolyn G. Heilbrun entitled Education of a Woman: The Life of Gloria Steinem.

Personal Life

In 2000, Steinem did something that she had insisted for years that she would not do. Despite being known for saying that a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle, Steinem decided to get married. She wed David Bale, an environmental and animal rights activist and the father of actor Christian Bale. At the age of 66, Steinem proved that she was still unpredictable and committed to charting her own path in life. Her wedding raised eyebrows in certain circles. But the union did not last long. Bale died of brain cancer in 2003. "He had the greatest heart of anyone I've known," Steinem told O magazine.

 

When Steinem turned 75 in 2009, the Ms. Foundation suggested ways for others to celebrate Steinem's birthday. It called on women to engage in outrageous acts for simple justice. Around this time, Steinem discussed some of the pressing issues of the day. "We've demonstrated that women can do what men do, but not yet that men can do what women do. That's why most women have two jobs—one inside the home and one outside it—which is impossible. The truth is that women can't be equal outside the home until men are equal in it," Steinem told the New York Daily News.

Steinem continues to work for social justice. As she recently said, "The idea of retiring is as foreign to me as the idea of hunting."

*Call Tyrone*
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Re: Women's History Month!!!

[ Edited ]

@Zernia Rose wrote:

Itiswhatitis, please continue with this thread; you've added some stellar women.  I also want to add Dolores Huerta (activist for farm workers, United Farm Workers union, and Latino rights); Wilma Mankiller, tribal leader; Louise Erditch, author; Maxine Hong Kingston (author); Janice Mirakitami (I am sure I misspelled her name-she is an author and activist in San Francisco with the Glide Church); Audre Lorde (poet and activist), Supreme Court justices Kagan, Sotomayor, and Ginsburg; Rep. Sheila Lee, former senator Carol Mosely Braun; the women in the Senate and Congress, especially Re[. Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Kobachar and Sen. Gillibrand; Charlane Hunter-Gault, journalist, Daisy Bates, Septima Clark, and others.  I am sure that I, too, will post other names.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Thank you @Zernia Rose.  Please feel free to add great women as often as you would like.

 

I want all to feel free to celebrate Women's History.

 

 

 

 

Charlotte E. Ray (January 13, 1850 – January 4, 1911) was the first African-American female lawyer in the United States. Ray graduated from Howard University School of Law in 1872.

 

*Call Tyrone*
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Re: Women's History Month!!!


@Greeneyedlady21 wrote:
Tammy Baldwin-the first openly gay person elected to the US Senate and first woman Senator elected in Wisconsin

From outside the US-Malala

Mary Robinson-first female President of Ireland

Thank you so much for adding her @Greeneyedlady21.  I knew that there is much we could learn together about our great women leaders.

 

Feel free to post as often as you wish, about the women you admire.  

 

I plan to add to this thread for the entire month of March for all who want to learn about our accomplishments as American women.

*Call Tyrone*
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Re: Women's History Month!!!

My grandmother came to the US as a young woman and got a job as a live in maid and nanny.

 

She didn't know any English. 

 

She came with her father, who stayed for a year, and then went back to Italy.  Her mother and younger sisters were in Italy.

 

The idea was that the two of them would come to the US, get jobs, and earn enough money to send to help to bring over the others.

 

My grandmother worked two more years and then her father, mother and sisters came over.

 

During that time (three years) she worked 6 1/2 days a week, with only Thursday afternoons off.

 

She did all the rough work of the house (cleaning floors, laundry, etc, and took care of the two young children of the family.) 

 

This was rather a wealthy family, so they had often had big gatherings.  My grandmother used to say that she hated Thanksgiving and any holiday at that time, because it meant a ton of work for her (clean up.)

 

She learned English little by little. The husband of the family was Italian (born here), so he was kind and spoke to her in Italian when she couldn't understand.  The wife was American and was very unkind to my grandmother, often ridiculing her. 

 

My grandmother said she was hungry a lot.  She was supposed to get meals, but the wife was "stingy" with food.  My grandmother used to eat the leftovers that the children left on their plates.  But, she had to do this secretly.  She would have gotten in trouble if the wife found out.

 

Things got a little easier when the rest of the family came.  My grandmother finally saw her mother after three years.

 

Eventually she met my grandfather (also from the same area of Italy), and they got married. 

 

They both worked hard all of their lives.  My grandmother worked just as hard as any man.  She was a beautiful woman and a strong worker.  She had the hands to prove it.

 

She never made a thing of any of it.  She never expected recognition.  She did what she had to do, and because of her (and my grandfather, mother, etc) I started out in life with many advantages.

 

Thank God for STRONG WOMEN!  Heart

 

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.--Marcus Tullius Cicero
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Re: Women's History Month!!!

Thank you @Marienkaefer2.  

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Re: Women's History Month!!!

@Marienkaefer2 Your grandmother was an awesome woman. Thanks for posting about her.

 

My mother worked outside the home long before other mothers did, she had to. She didn't have a college degree at the time, she worked cleaning houses and as a waitress. She taught herself what was word processing at the time and got a job with a very big local company. Where she worked her way up to a better job, and later left that company and had several executive secretary jobs. She took classes and eventually got an associates degree.

 

Her life wasn't easy, supporting three kids and being in an unhappy marriage with a non supportive husband. But she did it, and made me proud. She made many sacrifices for her kids. I celebrate her and all other women like her.

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Re: Women's History Month!!!

[ Edited ]

I celebrate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a woman who worked for equality and women's rights long before she arrived at the Supreme Court. When she showed up, she was only the second woman on the highest court in the land. When Sandra Day O'Connor left, Ruth was the only woman on the court for 3 years until Sonia Sotomayor joined her. The Notorious RBG can dissent with a fashion accessory as well as with a biting and well-researched written dissent. She's beaten cancer twice. She's 83 and bench presses 70 pounds when she works out with her trainer. And her best friend for many years was Antonin Scalia, a man who could not be more different from her, but with whom she vacationed and spent time because they were always able to find common ground and respect for one another.

 

If you're a fan or want to know more, I recommend reading The Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizenik. She's a remarkable woman.