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Women’s History Month Comes To A Close

By Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy on March 31, 2010 at 12:00 PM in Afghanistan, Foreign Affairs, Gender Bias, Human Rights, Iran, Misogyny, Sexism, Taliban, Women

But before it does, I have another video for you celebrating women from around the world:

Now, I admit, there were some women in there about whom I knew absolutely nothing. Some other names were familiar, but I could not remember why. So, I did a little digging, and wanted to share with you what I learned.

The first woman I looked up was:

Asma Khader, lawyer and human rights activist, is general coordinator of the Sisterhood Is Global Institute/Jordan (SIGI/J) and secretary-general of the Jordanian National Commission for Women. Asma has spent her career campaigning to combat violence against women and raise their awareness of their legal rights.

Asma was elected to the Permanent Arab Court as counsel on violence against women in 1996, and has served on judicial bodies and human rights fact-finding missions. Inspired by a client whose pregnant 15-year-old daughter was raped and killed by her father to preserve family honor, she says: “I realized I couldn’t be an effective lawyer if I did not do my best to change laws that cover up and even sanction crimes against women. This woman challenged me to address a problem that I could not ignore – crimes of honor.” Khader has subsequently become a leading campaigner to end honor crimes.

What an amazing, brave woman she is! But she is not the only one. Next is Malalai Kakar, the first woman police officer in Afghanistan, continuing the family tradition to serve. Her career was ended by the Taliban:

Taleban gunmen shot dead Afghanistan’s most high-profile policewoman yesterday as her teenage son prepared to drive her to work.

Malalai Kakar, the head of the city of Kandahar’s department for crimes against women, had been the subject of numerous media reports and was famous for her bravery throughout Afghanistan. She had survived several assassination attempts.

A spokesman for the Taleban said that the assassination was carried out by its gunmen. “We killed Malalai Kakar,” said Yousuf Ahmadi. “She was our target, and we successfully eliminated our target.”

Her death came as reports emerged of a Saudi-brokered initiative to negotiate between the Afghan Government and the Taleban.

How tragic that her life was cut short as a result of who she was, and the work she did. What a threat this one woman was to the misogynistic Taliban, the same one with whom Obama is thinking of playing nice. Words fail.

The next woman whose name was familiar, but whose story was forgotten to me is Jeanette Rankin:

a Representative from Montana; born near Missoula, Missoula County, Mont., June 11, 1880; attended the public schools, and was graduated from the University of Montana at Missoula in 1902; student at the School of Philanthropy, New York City in 1908 and 1909; social worker in Seattle, Wash., in 1909; engaged in promoting the cause of woman suffrage in the State of Washington in 1910, in California in 1911, and in Montana 1912-1914; visited New Zealand in 1915 and worked as a seamstress in order to gain personal knowledge of social conditions; elected as a Republican to the Sixty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1917-March 3, 1919); was the first woman to be elected to the United States House of Representatives; did not seek renomination in 1918, but was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for Senator; was also an unsuccessful candidate on an independent ticket for election to the United States Senate; engaged in social work; elected to the Seventy-seventh Congress (January 3, 1941-January 3, 1943); was not a candidate for renomination in 1942 to the Seventy-eighth Congress; resumed lecturing and ranching; member, National Consumers League; field worker, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom; member, National Council for Prevention of War; remained leader and lobbyist for peace and women’s rights until her death in Carmel, Calif., May 18, 1973; cremated; ashes scattered on ocean, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif.

What a wonderful forerunner for women in Congress. Her work on behalf of women’s rights is sorely needed in today’s Congress, too.

In the field of education, we have Martha Carey Thomas:

Thomas is perhaps best known for having facilitated the admission of women to the John Hopkins Medical School. With the help of four of her friends, a total of $500,000 was raised to aid the Medical School in its financial struggle. The funds raised were used as a leverage to get the University to accept women. Thus, thanks largely to the efforts of these five women, women were to be admitted on precisely the same basis as men. There were three women among the first class to enter the John Hopkins Medical School in 1893.

Thomas became president of Bryn Mawr College in 1894, serving until 1922.

What incredible tenacity and drive Ms. Thomas had, not to mention intelligence. She is definitely a woman to whom women in the medical field are indebted.

Another woman who fought for the rights of women was Mary Astell:

She is remembered now for her ability to debate freely with both contemporary men and women, and particularly her groundbreaking methods of negotiating the position of women in society by engaging in philosophical debate (Descartes was a particular influence) rather than basing her arguments in historical evidence as had previously been attempted. Descartes’ theory of dualism, a separate mind and body, allowed Astell to promote the idea that women as well as men were blessed with reason, and subsequently they should not be treated so poorly: “If all Men are born Free, why are all Women born Slaves?” (Emphasis mine.)

Indeed. I’d like to know the answer to that question myself since too many people still believe that to be the case.

Another modern day women’s rights activist is:

Parvin Ardalan, born 1967 in Tehran, is a leading Iranian women’s rights activist, writer and journalist.[1] She was awarded the Olof Palme Prize in 2007 for her struggle for equal rights for men and women in Iran.[2] In the 1990s Ardalan, along with e.g. Nooshin Ahmadi Khorasani, established the Women’s Cultural Centre (Markaz-e Farhangi-ye Zanan), which since then has been a center for forming opinions, analyzing and documenting the women’s issues in Iran.[3] Since 2005 the organization has published Iran’s first online magazine on women’s rights, Zanestan, with Ardalan as its editor. In its constant struggle against censorship – the magazine comes back with a new name all the time – the newspaper has dealt with marriage, prostitution, education, AIDS, and violence against women.

Ardalan is one of the founding members of the One Million Signatures Campaign[4], attempting to collect a million signatures for women’s equal rights. As a part of the campaign she has taken part in protests that have been violently silenced. In 2007 she, together with Nooshing Ahmadi, was sentenced to three years in prison for “threatening the national security” with his struggle for women’s rights. Four more women’s rights activists later received the same sentence.

Again, how threatened are these people that these women intimidate them so? We certainly saw our share of this kind of reaction during the 2008 Primaries and Election. While the actions of the intimidated were not quite so extreme as to imprison anyone, it was but a matter of degrees in the result of silencing so many women. That is to say, this sort of thing doesn’t just happen in other countries. Sadly.

Next on the list is a woman who was one of the original Americans:

Born the daughter of Chief Winnemucca of the Paiutes, a tribe in Nevada and California, Sarah Winnemucca lost family members in the Paiute War of 1860. She tried to operate as a peacemaker, using her language skills learned in convent school to work as an interpreter in an Army camp. She went with her tribe to the Malheur reservation in 1872, and when the Bannock War broke out in 1878 she offered her services to the Army. She volunteered to enter Bannock territory when she learned that her father and other tribesmen had been taken hostage by the Bannocks. She freed her father and other captives and served as an army scout in the war against the Bannocks. She spoke out, describing the plight of her people, exiled from their homelands, and the treachery of dishonest Indian agents. She drew much attention, and was able to speak with President Rutherford Hayes and Interior Secretary Carl Schurz; promises to return her tribe to the Malheur Reservation were never honored. She wrote Life Among the Piutes[sic]: Their Wrongs and Claims, published in 1883. Despite passage of Congressional legislation enabling the return of the Paiute land, the legislation was never enacted.

I wish I could say I was surprised by that outcome, or rather the lack thereof. But that does not minimize the work of Sarah Winnemuca.

Last, but most definitely not least, is:

Chien-Shiung Wu, a pioneering physicist, radically altered modern physical theory and changed our accepted view of the structure of the universe.

Wu’s experiments led physicists to discard the concept that parity was conserved. In recognition of her contributions to atomic research and the understanding of beta decay and the weak interactions, Wu became the first woman to receive the prestigious Research Corporation Award and the Comstock Prize from the National Academy of Sciences. The Comstock Prize is given only once every five years.

Wu’s distinguished career in the nation’s leading universities as a teacher and researcher in nuclear physics has been characterized by a string of firsts. She was the first woman to receive an honorary doctorate of science from Princeton University, to be elected president of the American Physical Society, and to receive the Wolf Prize from the State of Israel. She was also the first living scientist to have an asteroid named after her.

In 1972, Wu was appointed to an endowed professorship as the Pupin Professor of Physics at Columbia University.

Incredible. What an incredible history we have, past and present. How lucky we are to have such incredible role models to whom we can look. This is by far not close to exhaustive, but merely a small representation of women who have achieved greatness through sheer hard work, determination, and passion.

And while she is not in the above video, Roxana Saberi, the American journalist captured in Iran, discussed her experience this morning:

Wow. What an amazing woman.

Please feel free to share other women who inspire you, whose history has informed your own, a woman who is your hero.

jbjd

I have posted this before but it bears repeating. Teenager Claudette Colvin also refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus; and she did it 9 (nine) months BEFORE Ms. Parks. “But there was another woman, named Claudette Colvin, who refused to be treated like a substandard citizen on one of those Montgomery buses — and she did it nine months before Mrs. Parks. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made his political debut fighting her arrest. Moreover, she was the star witness in the legal case that eventually forced bus desegregation.” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/26/books/26colvin.html
ich
P.S. When I was researching my tribute to Howard Zinn, I came across an interview in which he explained, the telling of history is by its nature subjective, that is, we leave what we find less important, out. And one of the facts he cited as being left out, was that Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat before Rosa Parks. God, I loved that man!
jbjd

I have posted this before but it bears repeating. Teenager Claudette Colvin also refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus; and she did it 9 (nine) months BEFORE Ms. Parks. “But there was another woman, named Claudette Colvin, who refused to be treated like a substandard citizen on one of those Montgomery buses — and she did it nine months before Mrs. Parks. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made his political debut fighting her arrest. Moreover, she was the star witness in the legal case that eventually forced bus desegregation.” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/26/books/26colvin.html

P.S. When I was researching my tribute to Howard Zinn, I came across an interview in which he explained, the telling of history is by its nature subjective, that is, we leave what we find less important, out. And one of the facts he cited as being left out, was that Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat before Rosa Parks. Of course, he would know about her! God, I loved that man!
Kathleen Wynne

Thank you so much, Rev. Amy, for recognizing this most important subject. As we all know, women are rarely, if ever, recognized for the extraordinary work they do every day as mothers, activists, clergy, scientists, teachers, doctors, lawyers, and professionals in every other field.

We have read recently of those men who complain about certain men not being included or taken out of the history books, while they totally ignore that women have all but been totally left out of our history and that of the world. I sent it to all my close women friends in recognition of not only those women who came before us, but to those women in our own lives who are unrecognized heroes for all that they do to make the world better for us all.

There will be no real human progress in the world until women, the other half of the human race, are recognized as an integral, important, valued, greatly needed, and EQUAL participant in life and in how we choose to govern ourselves.

Women have been the missing ingredient to real progress that benefits ALL the people and it’s long past time for them to be acceped and included as equal partners to men if we ever wish to make gentle the life of this world and to stop the self-destructive actions now being taken because a few wish to own and control it for their own selfish motives.

You, Rev. Amy, are a hero!
Tricia

Thanks so much for this wonderful post. So well done! I learned about more amazing sisters.
Diana L. C.

RRRA,

I don’t want to bring down your most excellent post and all the work you’ve done this month to remind us to honor women as JUST AS IMPORTANT as men, but…..

Sadly I was reading about the suicide of the young girl in Mass. which has brought about rape charges and civil rights charges against the boys she had relations with and the girls “mean girls” who bullied her because of those relations.

It will always be that often women (girls) are women and girls’ worst enemies as we work for true equality. There are several books out on the subject of girl bullying. I’ve seen it as a teacher, and it’s NOT pleasant. We need to work very hard to raise girls who would never commit this behavior and who will stand up against it.

Now, on another note, thanks for filling us in on some of those I didn’t recognize. There were several others I didn’t know before and whose names I’ve written down and will research. I was happy to see Simone Weil and Hildegard of Bingen on the video–two of my favorites, along with Julian of Norwich (who wasn’t listed).
jbjd

DLC, my students were discussing this case yesterday. Interestingly, one of the boys began by bemoaning the fact, she was a cute girl, ‘what a waste’; and soon ridiculed her inability to ‘take it.’ He reasoned, everyone gets teased. I intervened. I explained, gently, that treating everyone the same is not treating everyone equal. For example, some students can avail themselves of their right to a public education by walking down the stairs to class. Others cannot walk and so, must be provided with other means to obtain this right. Similarly, some student can tolerate concerted campaigns of ridicule and taunts; this girl could not. He listened and really seemed to get it. Then, one of the girls – she had the newspaper, this story was on the front page – mentioned the “statutory rape.” I pointed out, by law or statute, a girl her age – she was 14 when she died but I don’t know at what age she was was said to be raped – cannot give consent to sex with these 18+-year-old men who had sex with her. Now, all of the boys, even the first boy, were on the same page.

(In another class I was covering, the teenage boys were being impudent; they pointed to a tampon casing on the floor and began the wisecracks. I don’t know how it got there; but I simply got a tissue, walked across the room, bent down and picked it up, and threw it away. I sat back down and resumed my work. They all saw me do this; their tone became more respectful after that.)
no-nonsense- nancy

I recently read a very good book by Senator Kay Hutchinson called American Heroines. One of my favorite women whom I had never heard of before was Jacqueline Cochran, a very early female pilot. At the beginning of WW11 she enlisted the help of Eleonor Rosevelt and requested that women pilots be allowed to fly noncombat missions so as to free up the male pilots for combat missions. Eleonor Rosevelt wrote “women pilots are a weapon waiting to be used”. Thus Women’s Auxillary Ferrying Squadron or WAFS was established. Then came the WASPs and the WACs.

Another area that women made a difference was in journalism, especially photojournalism. Some female journalists were covering WW1 before the US even got involved in the war. Mary Boyle O’Reilly was on the scene when Germany invaded Belgium in 1914. By the time of WW11 there were more than 150 women correspondents. Most weren’t allowed to report from the front lines. Some disobeyed military orders like Martha Gellhorn who reached the beaches of Normandy on D-Day by stowing away on a hospital ship. Margaret Bourke-White, a photojournalist for Life Magazine was in Russia during the invasion by Germany. She was the first female correspondent to fly on an American bombing mission. Her photo-essay gave millions of readers their first sense of what it was like to fly over an enemy target and drop a planeload of bombs. Marguerite Higgins was the first female correspondent to enter the notorious Dachau concentration camp in 1945.

And let’s never forget Sally Ride.
Sandy

Just one thing. I wonder why Hillary was’nt among the heroes.
Doc99

Rev, heard a great caller to Mark Steyn yesterday – a Hispanic, Lesbian, Tea Partier. Mark remarked that according to the MSM, she’s automatically a white, homophobic misogynist. Her point was that She was tired of being taken for granted and having the Government’s hand continually in her wallet. Suffice it to say it was a great call.
jbjd

DLC, I posted a lengthy reply to your comment but it’s gone. And this time, I am not re-posting.
candymarl

Personal heroes - my Mom, my daughter, my Big Sis, and my Aunt Barbara. Public figure heroes – Barbara Jordan, Shirley Chisholm, Hillary Clinton.

Unsung hero – a woman, whom I’m ashamed to say whose name I can’t remember, who left her five children and husband behind to go south during the Civil Rights era. She and the young black man she was with were both brutally murdered trying to fight for the rights of the disenfranchised. God rest their souls.
Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

Because I have written abt Hillary a gazillion times, how gerat I think she is, how I LOVE her, and have done so this month already. I thought I’d give some other women time today. And, I assumed others might actually mention her!
SoI

Hi Amy – great post.

This is a good add-on to your thougts:

Women’s History Month: Women pioneers in environmental & wildlife conservation

Thanks!
Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

Thanks, NNN! Great comment!!
Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

DLC, yes, the Prince girl. What a horrible, tragic story that is. And you are so right, sometimes we are our own worst enemies. We saw that all the time during the 2008 campaign, didn’t we?

Thanks for the comment.
Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

Kathleen, you are too kind. Thank you so much.

And thank you to everyone for listing your heros, and women who have impacted your lives.

jbjd, thank you for re-posting abt Claudete Colvin. I admit, this is the first I have ever heard of her. I’m going to go read the article you linked below now!
Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

Very nice, thank you!!

Doc99, that sounds like quite the interesting call! Thanks for telling us abt it!

Candymarl, lovely comment. Are you referring to Viola Fauver?
Buzzlatte

Claudette Colvin is a prime example of how history is selective. I am reminded, in a different vein, how Freedom Fighter’s knowledge of the Black Panthers is completely different from the reality history of them.

One thing my grandmother said to me was this: ”Always vote in every election because I remember when women couldn’t.” She was 30 years old before women were given the right to vote.
jbjd

Buzzlatte, wow. I cannot wait to be a grandmother; well, yes, I can…
getfitnow

Thank you for this. Needed it! I feel better now.
candymarl

That may be her name. I wept when I watched her daughter tell her story and saw the picture of her murder.
Diana L. C.

Could have listened to Barbara Jordan speak all night long. What an orator! And to think everyone thinks Obama can really speak well–what’s wrong with them.
Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

There were too many lost, of course (including a Unitarian minister, James Reeb). But yes, I can certainly see her story moving you to tears…
Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

Buzz, what a GREAT quote to share with us, especially today. Thank you so much.

And yes, history can be very selective indeed…
Diana L. C.

jbjd,

Yes, treating everyone the same is NOT treating everyone equal. So to be sure you treat everyone equal, you need to treat them the same–with kindness, respect, and dignity. I just hate how “mean girls” and “bad girls” seem to be glorified on t.v., etc. I really do miss the Leave it to Beaver, Father Knows Best, Donna Reed Show, etc., days of television. They may have been a bit too cute, but they did provide lesson in what constitued good behavior becaise the kids who were mean and nasty always got in trouble in the end..
karen for Clinton

Great job, as always, R3A.

SoI – they never give Edge credit. That woman is an unsung hero! She fought the environmentalists who were secretly selling out to timber and gun companies and she started the REAL environmental movement! She went up against them all and got the ear of presidents and billionaires to help her out.

Rachel Carson and the woman who gave her the data she’d need, Rosalie Edge, are two women that were nothing short of awesome. Both of them worked so hard to make the positive lasting changes they made. Both were highly intelligent strong forces for good. I recommend the book, Hawk of Mercy about Edge, and if you’ve never read it take the time for the classic Silent Spring by Carson. Edge’s statistics and her work as a suffragette and environmentalist gave Carson all she needed after she visited Hawk Mtn and saw first hand what was happening to the bald eagle, etc, juvenile count. Edge had decades of data and rang the alarm. Carson’s landmark book brought it to an end finally a decade later.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalie_Edge

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Carson

Hawk Mountain near Hamburg PA is a must see for bird watchers across the nation. Over 15,000 pass by the lookouts each year in safety thanks to Edge. What a wonderful feeling these woods have! I am a member and just love this place, it is so special. Not just the thrill of golden or bald eagles as they fly by sometimes so close you have to lower your binoculars, it is that it is a sanctuary for all life and it will be guarded fiercely as will the forests across the country she petitioned to preserve.

http://www.hawkmountain.org/
PortiaElizabeth

All of the women here are my heroes because when they told us to sit down, we stood taller. When they told us to shut up, we got louder. When they told us we were wrong, we gave them facts and figures to show we were right. When we were outnumbered by detractors, we held our heads high and persevered. When we got discouraged, we reassured each other to keep trying. Heroes are just like you and me, but they don’t give up.
karen for Clinton

Great job, as always, R3A.

SoI – they never give Edge credit. That woman is an unsung hero! She fought the environmentalists who were secretly selling out to timber and gun companies and she started the REAL environmental movement! She went up against them all and got the ear of presidents and billionaires to help her out.

Rachel Carson and the woman who gave her the data she’d need, Rosalie Edge, are two women that were nothing short of awesome. Both of them worked so hard to make the positive lasting changes they made. Both were highly intelligent strong forces for good. I recommend the book, Hawk of Mercy about Edge, and if you’ve never read it take the time for the classic Silent Spring by Carson. Edge’s statistics and her work as a suffragette and environmentalist gave Carson all she needed after she visited Hawk Mtn and saw first hand what was happening to the bald eagle, etc, juvenile count. Edge had decades of data and rang the alarm. Carson’s landmark book brought it to an end finally a decade later.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalie_Edge

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Carson

Hawk Mountain near Hamburg PA is a must see for bird watchers across the nation. Over 15,000 pass by the lookouts each year in safety thanks to Edge. What a wonderful feeling these woods have! I am a member and just love this place, it is so special. Not just the thrill of golden or bald eagles as they fly by sometimes so close you have to lower your binoculars, it is that it is a sanctuary for all life and it will be guarded fiercely as will the forests across the country she petitioned to preserve.

http://www.hawkmountain.org/
jbjd

Diana L.C., I hear you but, speaking of women… I had real objections to these shows because 1) they were all white; and 2) the women (and girls) tended to be subservient to the men (and boys).

Years ago, I was an emergency foster mother to adolescent girls. I was disheartened that the power imbalance between boys and girls seemed to have exacerbated; and these young women defined their worth by whether they had boyfriends; and what their boyfriends thought of them.
Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

Thank you for the great comment – I was thinking of Rachel Carson, too.
confused American

Take it with a grain of salt —– Kind of Cute — There is one out there that reverses the concept of this
Diana L. C.

I was trying to think of personal favorite females in my life and in history.

Personal:

All the women in my large family–where the men understand that women contribute equally to a well-run family. But especially my maternal grandmother who stayed around for so many of her grandchildren who lost their parents, who kept her mind and humor to the end, when she died at the age of 99.

My fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Kerns, who took my parents aside to speak with them about encouraging me to do well in school. She tactfully addressed the fact that, given their farm culture and their own disinterest in academic pursuits, and given their relatively meager finances, I needed encouragement in my academic career because I needed top grades–though I already got them–and I needed people to praise me for those grades so I would continue to get them until I could get a good scholarship. Which I did.

All the women who stood by Hillary.

Historical (and not listed on the video): Boudicca (Boadicea), the Celtic warrior queen.; Cassandra, Priam’s “crazy” daughter (though she may be mythical); Julian of Norwich (as mentioned above); Margery Kempe; Joan of Arc; Annie Oakley; Jane Goodall; Barbara Jordan; Pat Schroeder; Hillary Clinton.

I know I’ve left many, many out.
spsuzee

The elementary school I attended in the 1950′s was named after Frances Willard(1839-1898). She was an educator, a temperance reformer and suffragist. Her influence was instrumental in the passage of the 18th and 19th amendments. Frances Willard was the first woman represented in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol. I can recall feelings of pride when, as a child, I gazed up at her statue in that hall. This was the woman about whom I had learned, and whose large framed photo I saw daily in the school hallways. It is only recently that I have thought about Frances Willard as one of my very early female role models. There were far too few, especially back in that day!!
Dianaf

Hey Rabble Rouser,
thank you for this post…. And a modest request…. Would u please keep posting items on exemplary and just regular fantastic women? A month just isn’t enough and we all need the extra boost from hearing about these women….
Cindy

I just got back from a day filled with doing what women do: I took my elderly mother, my 2 yr. old grandson, my daughter (the grandson’s mommy) who is pregnant with our second grandchild, on a Springtime outing, Texas-style, which is: driving the back country roads, looking at fields of Texas bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush, having lunch in quaint Chappell Hill (yes, we have one too!), then buying Texas rosebushes at the Antique Rose Emporium in Independence Texas, where Sam Houston was baptized, in Rocky Creek. (When old Sam was told his sins had been washed away, he replied “I pity the fish downstream”)
It was a truly a woman’s day–and three generations of us womenfolk.
I’m exhausted from lifting a wheelchair, walker, and baby stroller in and out of my car, but it’s a sweet and tender kind of exhaustion.
When I read your post just now and saw that you wanted us to name women who are our heroes, I promptly thought back on the day today….My daughter tending to her little one while trying to eat lunch and have an adult conversation, and wondering with excitement about having a new baby…….my mother relishing every moment with her precious great-grandchild, her dutiful daughter and her wonderfully attentive grand-daughter…and hoping against hope that she’ll remember the joy of the day, since her memory is fading.
These are my heroes. They’ll never be in history books, they’ll never have streets named after them, but I look up, in awe, to both of them.
They keep me humble, educate me, affirm me, love me, trust me, keep me balanced, and make me very, very proud. Mama and my precious daughter: my heroes.
Cindy

Rev. Amy—The first part of my comment was deleted (I think I’m the culprit!)
I want to thank you so much for making this the best Women’s History Month I’ve ever had. I mean it!
Cindy

Diana L.C.—I loved your family story (I’m a sucker for family stories!)
And also, “All the women who stood by Hillary”. That line makes me want to cry—–in sorrow and for joy. It’s a very poignant and lovely sentiment.
Cindy

Portia—-yours is a wonderful comment. Truly inspiring!
~~JustMe~~

Beautiful Cindy, what a wonderful day filled with love!
No Longer Banned in Beantown

I’ve been admiring the wild flowers everywhere. Bluebonnets galore. Not a native, but I appreciate why the Bluebonnet is the state flower.

And, to moms and wives… I love both of mine….
PortiaElizabeth

Cindy — that is just a wonderful tribute to you and your family! I love the way you expressed your impressions of the day; I can almost see those fields of flowers.
Diana L. C.

Believe it or not, there is a great not very well know book by C.S. Lewis entitled Till We Have Faces. It’s protagonist is a woman, and it says so much about the power of women. Until women have as many faces in the books, etc., there will not be equality. On the other hand, women’s greatest power has often come from what they all do behind the scenes in everyday lives. I understand completely your feelings about your wonderful day.
confused American

I think Ann Richards says so much in this Video used for the Hillary Campaign about Women……God Bless Her….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FBDef4ADkQ
Diana L. C.

confused American,

Thanks so much for reminding us. I had almost forgotten that “Ginger Rogers” quotation from Ann. Another amazing woman.
Diana L. C.

Last comment I’ll leave on this thread—

I get very angry that commenters like PO (whom I believe is a woman), a certain “Guest” who is too weasely to give a name of some sort, and FF never, never comment on your threads about women. Could it be that they would have to admit that O and his cohorts have done much to try to hurt a most powerful woman and don’t want to have to answer for it?
Cindy

Diana–I was fortunate to have been an acquaintance of Ann’s.
And let me tell you, there were many yellow-bellied liver-lillied Tx. Democratic men (and women) who did not support Hillary in the Texas primary. If Ann had been alive, they would have, because they enjoyed benefitting from Ann’s influence..i.e. they sucked-up to her because of what she could do for their political careers. With Ann’s death, Hillary’s fate was partially sealed, in my opinion.
Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

You rock, PE! And I could not agree more. I have been amazed and awed by the incredible women here nd elsewhere), who won’t back down, who keep fighting for what’s right, and do so with grace and dignity. Y’all are some mighty fine women!!
Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

Great, great story, Diana. Thank you so much for sharing it, and your heroes, with us.

How wonderful that you had a teacher who saw you for you – what a gift, what a blessing!
Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

Cindy, your comment literally brought tears to my eyes…What a great story; what a great DAY.

I do hope y’all have made a “Generations” photo. My brother had one made with my grandmother, my mom, himself, and his first child (a girl). It is a cherished photo – by all of us.

Wow – beautifully said, Cindy. You are incredible!
Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

You are so sweet, Cindy – what a lovely thing to say! Truly my pleasure, and I thought of you with each post I did on this topic (since you expressed an interest early in the monthe).

I have to say again, your retelling of your day was just so beautiful. I read it to my partner, and had to stop near the end until I stopped crying. We BOTH were crying, it was so beautifully written (and the image of your mother, too, having lost mine two months ago…).

Bless you, friend!
Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

Ann Richards – WHAT a treasure she was. Such an incredible woman.

How fortunate you are, Cindy, to have known her personally! Wow! And I bet you’re right, too, abt Hillary…

PE, you can leave as many comments as you want!

I hear you abt those folks like FF, PO, et al, but honestly, it’s so nice to have good, thoughtful, passionate responses here that are from the heart, and not people trying to rile everyone up just for the hell of it, you know? And you KNOW they always have to talk smack abt our Hillary.

I don’t mean to imply everyone has to agree here – not at all – but there are ways of having actual discussions that are RESPECTFUL, and those folks seem to leave the respect for others at home.

Honestly, I would hope that somewhere, way fdown deep, those people you mentioned know Obama is not the man he presented himself to be, and that he did not just a grave disservice to Hillary as a woman, but to ALL of us as women, with his treatment of her. BUt he would not be where he is if he didn’t play off the rampant sexism of this culture. He and they have just deflected from that by playing the race card constantly.

Anyway – it has been a lovely discussion here, and I appreciate people sharing so much of themselves. Thank you!
confused American

Like I have said on many blogs === Its okay to disagree…but leave the name calling at the door…..All of it

Hey I was not racist because I disagreed with GW and I’m still not racist because I backed Hillary….

I also know how it feels to have the N word aimed at you…Walking with the Civil Rights movement didn’t seem to leave much room for skin color…No matter your skin color the N ….. word was aimed at you sometimes White N…..aimed specifically at you, either way we all knew the intent…
Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

Well said, CA, well said indeed, on all counts! Thank you! (I would love to hear more abt your walking with the Civil Rights movement, too!)
Cindy

Rev. Amy, you are too kind! And yes, we have a picture, and you’re right, a generations photo is a great idea, and a gift for future generations, too.
BTW, meant to say that at the end of the day yesterday, when we took my daughter and baby home to their ranch, we were greeted at the gate by their sweet horses! Now that’s the way to end the day! What else could you ask for in life…..except maybe a woman President!
Cindy

And bless you, Rev. Amy….and I know several of us will be thinking of you around Mother’s Day this year, as it will be a difficult one for you. You’re in our thoughts!
Cindy

Rev. Amy—Some of the Texas Dems that I mentioned, took time off to go volunteer and work for Obama in other states, after Hillary won the Texas Primary. They wanted to ensure that other states didn’t make the same mistake Texas did! And of course, the sinister tricks they pulled at county and state conventions in Texas are legend now. It is really, really heartbreaking…..And so far, to our knowledge, none of them are admitting PUBLICLY that they made a mistake.
helenk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezoGCFqlS5I&feature=player_embedded

One of my favorite women and one that I admire very much.

WOMEN WITH INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERIENCE,MEN WHO SUPPORT THEM AND COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY ALWAYS

PUMAS,BUBBAS,EQUALISTS AND THOSE PEOPLE RULE
confused American

RRRA — It was actually sitting….For once I was not too young to tag along with my older sister.
Was 15/16…seems so long ago….
A group of my sister’s friends joined with some others for a sit down..Refused to leave the counter with our friends who happened to be black. Our black friends tried to order Lunch and some of us even tried to order lunch for them.
This group of about a dozen or so remained respectful, cooperative and peaceful throughout the whole ordeal. We were handcuffed, and called many things by the officers taking all of us into custody. Do remember a few of the older black men telling the police I was under 18/age (??), only 16 and to not use such language towards me. Handcuffs were so tight that my fingers tuned blue for a while, then they loosened them a bit. My wrists were black and blue for weeks after that. I was almost booked into the regular city jail, but then put in some other building, Juvenile Hall I think? I think it was the second time I was arrested for this, that I came out with a shiner and a bit sore due to few other kids in the holding room hitting on me. My screams for help went unheeded, which was not unusual Many of those in these groups often came out of jail with a few added bruises; white and black. One of my sister’s friends lost all his back teeth while in jail, In this situation, one was better off in the black side of jail, yet it was their way of teaching us whites a lesson I guess by putting us with other whites.
To be so young, innocent and idealistic again…Was so many years ago.
I do understand that in the deeper south it would have been much worse for us. This was in Houston, Texas.
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