March is not just about brackets and hoops and madness. Yes, I am caught up in that. Go Hoosiers. But all that aside, it is also Women's History month. How better to celebrate than with an historical and feminist novel about a very strong woman struggling against oppresion and slavery?
So, very simple, to win an autographed copy of FIREBRAND or RECRUIT (winner's choice):
Leave a comment here about women in history. It could be someone from your personal history or a historic figure who you admire. Leave a woman's name and why she's important to you.
On March 31, I'll draw a name from the entries and announce the winner.
Good luck!
8 comments:
I admire the choreographer Martha Graham, both for redefining how the human body could move when she helped to invent modern dance, and for continuing her work until the end of her life, despite the convention that professional dancing is only for the young physique.
Happy Women's History Month!
There are two women who seem to have stamped their existence on me. The first I didn't know about until the 1990s. Mary Wollstonecroft, politically outspoken feminist who was at least two centuries ahead of her time. She was fierce and fearless and strived against the odds in order to merit the ground she gained. I admire her for her grit, her wisdom, her tenacity, and her willingness - no, her undying need - to let her voice be heard.
The second woman is Yvonne Braithwaite Burke. All I knew when I met her in 1969 was she had just been elected as the Congressional Representative for California. She was a door opener, walking on grounds that were new for women and especially for Black women in Congress.
What I learned about her as the old century closed is that she faced racial discrimination in many of her endeavors. What I admire about her is that those barriers did not appear to hold her back. There were always other mountains to climb and inroads to be made and she managed them with dignity, poise, and aplomb.
I regret that I've lost touch with this woman who was so generous to me in supporting my efforts to get into and attend law school and that she remembered me throughout the decades.
I was to be as good a leader as she was capable of being.
Aethelflaed, Lady of Mercia - Daughter of King Alfred. She ruled Mercia in her husband's stead during his long illness and after his death, keeping the Danes at bay.
I echo Aethelflaed's nomination, but I think I must add a hero/ine of my own. He was born a woman but chose to live as a man, and his name was Dr. James Barry. He was named Mary Anne Buckley at birth, but when he discovered a passion for medicine, he took on a male identtity. He was a remarkable person, living consistently as a man all his life, only discovered to be biologically female at his death. He became the Surgeon General of the British Royal Navy and pioneered sanitary conditions in hospitals. He performed the first Caesarean section where both mother and child survived. I am FTM (frmale to male) myself and therefore have an inkling of the reason he lived as a man and also immense admiration for his courage, integrity, and commitment to improving the medical profession. You can read more about him at http://grrlz2men.blogspot.com/2012/08/history-dr-james-barry-military-surgeon.html
I admire Queen Boudica, Queen of the Iceni people. This strong Royal-woman was left to rule alone when her husband and King, died. Rome saw a weakness in this, since the Queen was 'only a woman' and invaded her home land. After being humiliated in front of her people-the Romans tied & whipped the queen, publicly-& seeing the Romans rape her two daughters, she and her army set out to engage the enemy. Though her army tasted limited victory, she slaughtered a Roman army, & she torched Londinium, leaving a charred layer almost half a meter thick that can still be traced under modern London! According to the Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus, her army killed as many as 70,000 civilians in Londinium, Verulamium &Camulodunum. When at last she saw the defeat of her army, Queen Boudica of the Iceni people chose suicide over being captured and further humiliated at the hands of her enemy. The story of this woman inspires me, every day. It is a reminder of how strong we women can be! "Y gwyr erbyn y Byd!"
~Queen Boudica
((Truth against the World))
~Kathie Neubert-Friez :)
I admire Jane Austen, her portrayal of strong female characters has always inspired me.
I will name a 'nobody' from history - all those women who haven't been recorded, but who lived their lives as well as they could, given their circumstances. They number the majority of women. If a name absolutely has to be given, I give Alice Bordessa, an ancestor of mine. Her father came to England from Italy, and he spent at least some of his time 'At Her Majesty's Pleasure' i.e. in jail. Before Alice married, she made silk flowers, to adorn rich women's hats - it helped with the family's uncertain income. When wed, she had seven children, one of whom was my grandfather.
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