Today remember that we can do hard things ...

At the end of the day, 

we can endure much more

than we think we can.

Frida Kahlo

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womenwonder: Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett GBE

On August 18, 1920 the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified here the United States, giving women the right to vote, to add their opinion, voice and wisdom to our country's democratic process.  There were many brave women here and in Britain that fought for this right and as it is the 100th anniversary of women's right to vote and the year of a most crucial presidential election I intend to highlight many of these #womenwonders this month.  

"Courage calls to courage everywhere, and

 its voice cannot be denied."

Millicent Fawcett

As the United States entered World War I in 1917, the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) encouraged its supporters to join in the war effort. The organization argued women deserved the vote because they were patriots, caregivers, and mothers. Women’s expertise in maintaining the home and family would improve politics and society.

The Nineteenth Amendment states: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” Congress passed the amendment in June 1919. The NAWSA and NWP suffragists lobbied local and state representatives to ensure its subsequent ratification by the states.

After the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment on August 18, 1920, female activists continued to use politics to reform society. NAWSA became the League of Women Voters.

http://www.crusadeforthevote.org/19-amendment

Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett GBE** (11 June 1847 – 5 August 1929) was an English political leader, activist, writer and feminist icon. Known as a campaigner for women's suffrage via legislative change, from 1897 until 1919 she led Britain's largest women's rights organisation, the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS).[1] She would write: "I cannot say I became a suffragist. I always was one, from the time I was old enough to think at all about the principles of Representative Government."[2] Fawcett also tried to improve women's chances of higher education, serving as a governor of Bedford College, London (now Royal Holloway), and a co-founder of Newnham College, Cambridge, in 1875.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millicent_Fawcett

** The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service

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woman wonder: Elizabeth Blackwell

Elizabeth Blackwell:

Pioneer in medical and feminist history.

First woman in American to earn her medical degree.

Born near Bristol, England on February 3, 1821, Blackwell was the third of nine children of Hannah Lane and Samuel Blackwell, a sugar refiner, Quaker, and anti-slavery activist. Blackwell’s famous relatives included brother Henry, a well-known abolitionist and women’s suffrage supporter who married women’s rights activist Lucy Stone; Emily Blackwell, who followed her sister into medicine; and sister-in-law Antoinette Brown Blackwell, the first ordained female minister in a mainstream Protestant denomination. 

In 1832, the Blackwell family moved to America, settling in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1838, Samuel Blackwell died, leaving the family penniless during a national financial crisis. Elizabeth, her mother, and two older sisters worked in the predominantly female profession of teaching. 

Blackwell was inspired to pursue medicine by a dying friend who said her ordeal would have been better had she had a female physician. Most male physicians trained as apprentices to experienced doctors; there were few medical colleges and none that accepted women, though a few women also apprenticed and became unlicensed physicians. 

While teaching, Blackwell boarded with the families of two southern physicians who mentored her. In 1847, she returned to Philadelphia, hoping that Quaker friends could assist her entrance into medical school. Rejected everywhere she applied, she was ultimately admitted to Geneva College in rural New York, however, her acceptance letter was intended as a practical joke. 

Blackwell faced discrimination and obstacles in college: professors forced her to sit separately at lectures and often excluded her from labs; local townspeople shunned her as a “bad” woman for defying her gender role. Blackwell eventually earned the respect of professors and classmates, graduating first in her class in 1849. She continued her training at London and Paris hospitals, though doctors there relegated her to midwifery or nursing.  She began to emphasize preventative care and personal hygiene, recognizing that male doctors often caused epidemics by failing to wash their hands between patients.

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/elizabeth-blackwell

“It is not easy to be a pioneer - but oh, 

it is fascinating! 

I would not trade one moment, 

even the worst moment, 

for all the riches in the world.”

Elizabeth Blackwell

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May this dress remind us of our inner guts and grit ... from woman wonder: Nellie Bly

Nellie Bly:

American journalist, daredevil, feminist, trailblazer, pioneer in the field of investigative journalism. Made a record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days. 

Pen name of Elizabeth Cochran Seaman

A definite #womenwonder 

26/100

Nellie Bly was the pen name of pioneer female journalist Elizabeth Jane Cochran. She remains notable for two feats: a record-breaking trip around the world in emulation of Jules Verne's character Phileas Fogg (Bly completed the trip in seventy-two days), and an exposé in which she faked insanity to study a mental institution from within. In addition to her writing, she was also an industrialist and charity worker. Bly died of pneumonia at St. Mark's Hospital in New York City in 1922 aged 57. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4372012.Nellie_Bly

Elizabeth Cochran Seaman[1] (May 5, 1864[2] – January 27, 1922), better known by her pen name, Nellie Bly, was an American journalist. She was a pioneer in her field and launched a new kind of investigative journalism.[4] Bly was also a writer, inventor, and industrialist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly

“I said I could and I would. And I did.” 

Nellie Bly, Ten Days in a Mad-House

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May this dress remind us of our inner strength ... from woman wonder: Mary McCarthy

Mary McCarthy:

American novelist, satirist, critic, political activist, teacher and literary exectutor of the works of her close friend, Hannah Arendt.
A graduate of Vassar College, she was a vibrant member of intellectual New York City.  Counted as part of the Partisan Review circle and as a contributor to The Nation, The New Republic, Harper's Magazine, and The New York Review of Books, McCarthy honed her reputation as a shrewd critic.

An award winning author, penning essays, articles and fiction, McCarthy is best known for her novel, 'TheGroup'. "Written with a trenchant, sardonic edge, The Group is a dazzlingly outspoken novel and a captivating look at the social history of America between two world wars." says Amazon.

Published in 1963 'The Group', it made it onto the New York Times Best Sellers List the same year and remained there for nearly two years, even though it came under much criticism for the topics that the characters dealt with and discussed.  McCarthy's talent as a writer also came under attack, "Norman Mailer, a man whose own writing did not shy away from graphic depictions of the sexual act, dismissed The Group in the New York Review of Books as "a trivial lady writer's novel"
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/nov/29/the-group-mary-mccarthy

"The Group" tells the stories of 8 women who graduate from Vassar College in 1933 and how this group of intellectual women deal with the still limiting roles of women.  "the Group" has influenced generations of women since it's publication (myself included). It has also influenced many women writers as shown below:

Its continuing relevance is one of the book's most extraordinary attributes. When Candace Bushnell was advised by an editor in the early 1990s to write "the modern-day version of The Group", she responded with Sex and the City, a collection of confessional essays about a group of female friends that spawned a multimillion-dollar TV series and film. "The Group reminds us that not much has really changed," writes Bushnell in the foreword to the new edition. "It's a book I prize, not only for its blistering satire, but for its technical elements, including McCarthy's brilliant use of the soliloquy, her pacing and razor-sharp descriptions."
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/nov/29/the-group-mary-mccarthy

I would recommend reading "The Group" if you can, or read anything by this woman wonder: Mary McCarthy

“We are the hero of our own story.” Mary McCarthy

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May this dress remind us to go on living ... from woman wonder: Hannah Arendt

Hannah Arendt:

Forefront political philosopher of the 20th century.  Born in Germany in 1906, she was an early critic of the rising Nazi party.  When Hilter took power  and she was imprisoned by the Gestapo for 8 days Arendt knew she had to leave her homeland.  First she settled in Paris where she helped young Jews emigrate to Palestine.  But when Germay invaded France Arendt again had to flee and she eventually landed in New York City, arriving May 22, 1941.
 
Once in the US the need to learn English was paramount, so Arendt spent 2 months in Winchester, MA with an Ameican family through the program, Self-Help for Refugees.

Portrait of Hannah Arendt with Mary McCarthy

When she returned to New York, Arendt resumed her writing, her political and social activism and eventually teaching. During her teaching career she consistantly declined tenure positions to guard her independence.  In 1950 Arendt became a US citizen.

Much of her work addressed totalitarianism, allure of power and evil, direct democracy, andauthority. She is famous for her phrase, "the banality of evil" which she introduced while reporting on Adolf Eichmann's trial for The New Yorker.  She is recognized as one of the all time great political thinkers and philosophers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt


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Remember, times heals ...

Everything heals. Your heart heals. 

The mind heals. Wounds heal. 

Your happiness is always going to come back. 

Bad times don’t last

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Today let us strive for some balance in our lives ...

illustration  by virginiafitzgerald.com ©2018

“Life is a balance between 

holding on and letting go.”

 Rumi

As we cruise toward September with all it's adventures and new challenges, 

I find revisiting these wise words from the poet Rumi to be helpful.

love, mom

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May we practice respect in honor of Aretha Franklin ...

“We all require and want respect, man or woman, 

black or white. It's our basic human right.” 

Aretha Franklin

Rest In Peace 

Aretha Franklin

love, mom

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