Powerful truths in women's voices
When her mother died, Anna Maria Jarvis, a high school teacher, vowed to found a memorial to mothers. As an unmarried woman without children, she visualized the day, not as her mother and other early advocates had—as a day of action by women who were mothers, but rather as a day to memorialize mothers’ sacrifices. …
“I WANT something to do.” This remark being addressed to the world in general, no one in particular felt it their duty to reply; so I repeated it to the smaller world about me, received the following suggestions, and settled the matter by answering my own inquiry, as people are apt to do when very …
~ It's Useless ~ “I am too intelligent, too demanding, and too resourceful for anyone to be able to take charge of me entirely. No one knows me or loves me completely. I have only myself” ― Simone de Beauvoir The French feminist and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir was born in Paris in 1908. She …
~ "A drop of hatred in your soul will spread and discolor everything." Alice Munroe ~ 2013 Nobel prize-winning author, Alice Monroe, is best known as the writer of incredible short stories that encompass all of the themes, symbolism, characterization of novels within the confines of elegant, but clearly written short works of fiction. A …
"I wanted them to understand that the measure of any society is how it treats its women and girls." -Michelle Obama Michelle Obama is leaving the White House today. For the past eight years, she has served as first lady of our country with dignity and thoughtfulness. One of her main focuses has been on …
The Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice is the sponsor of The Peace Writer project which documents the lives and stories of woman working for peace all over the world. Women are paired with professional writers and videographers and enabled to tell their stories. The following excerpt is the story of Pauline Dempers …
Happy Mother’s Day, Authors All writers are mothers. Our story germinates in the womb of our imaginations. It starts as a tug and a pull of invisible words and actions and visions that tear us away from what we should be doing and turn us inward. The premise sucks from our life stream to grow …
I think of myself as a storyteller, but I would not mind at all if someone were to think of me as a feminist writer... I'm very feminist in the way I look at the world, and that world view must somehow be part of my work." Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian born writer …
Continue reading "Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on Feminism as Baggage"
Why do we need a day to celebrate and recognize women's accomplishments? All I have to do is look through the floor to ceiling bookcases in my office to know why. Most of the books are by men. Most of the history books are by men. Most of the textbooks are by men. Most of …
Harriet Tubman (1822-1913) was recognized as a hero in her own day. An escaped slave, she repeatedly went back to the south and led other slaves to freedom, saving thousands. Outspoken and fearless, she was a passionate and influential speaker in both the abolitionist movement and in the fight for women's rights. It is very …
Continue reading "Harriet Tubman on Slavery is the Next Thing to Hell"
“I did not invent a method of education, I simply gave some little children a chance to live.” Maria Montessori Born in 1870 in the town of Chiaravalle, Italy, Maria Montessori refused to follow the expected path for girls of her time. Defying the prejudice of the time, Montessori became the first woman to attend …
"My Christmas wish for every writer: Give each other the gift of one nod or word of encouragement . . . find someone who believes . . . even if that person is you." Susan G. Weidener Former Philadelphia Inquirer journalist Susan G. Weidener runs the Women's Writing Circle. She is the author of …
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Sherley Anne Williams (American, 1944-1999) was a multi-talented writer who sought to bring the black experience to literature. Born into a poor family that lived by picking cotton and fruit, she became the first African American literature professor at the University of California, San Diego. She is known for her works of literary criticism, children's books, …
Woman’s great mission is to train immature, weak, and ignorant creatures to obey the laws of God; the physical, the intellectual, the social, and the moral. Catherine Beecher Born in 1800 into the famous Beecher clan which included Harriet Beecher Stowe of Uncle Tom's Cabin fame and the infamous preacher Henry Ward Beecher, Catherine …
What would you do if you were named one of Time's 100 most influential people? For Ann Patchett the choice is to keep writing and run a bookstore - Parnassos Books in Nashville, Tennessee. "I'm never lonely around books," she has said about bookstores. "It's the world of endless possibility and opportunity to be …
What if you wrote a book, and then people said you didn't write it, and then people said you did, and then people said it doesn't really matter anyway. Meet Beryl Markham (1902-1986). Beryl Markham grew up on her father's horse farm in Kenya. She became the first licensed woman horse trainer in Kenya and …
Born in 1835 in Columbia, Georgia, Augusta Evans Wilson was the first American woman author to earn over $100,000 until Edith Wharton did so in the 1920s. She wrote the first of nine novels, Inez: A Story of the Alamo, at the age of fifteen, and her second novel, Beulah, written at eighteen, sold 22,000 copies …
Faye Kellerman is a best-selling writer of novels of mystery and suspense. Born in 1952 she has written over thirty novels. Trained as a mathematician and a dentist she choose instead to write, propelled she says, by "a desire for justice, a suspicious nature, an overactive imagination, and, of course, a penchant for the bizarre. " Her …
At the age of fifteen Frances Burney (17752-1840), despite the tears of her younger sister, tossed the plays, poems and first novel she had written on to a bonfire. Why? She was consumed with guilt. In 1767 women were not supposed to spend their time writing anything but private letters. Better they perform useful household …
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"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." Maya Angelou Maya Angelou passed away on May 28th. A teacher, writer, poet, activist, and dancer she is best known for her series of autobiographical works detailing what life …
Continue reading "Maya Angelou on Being Aware of Being Aware"
Women, Words, and Wisdom 