Great Women of the American Experiment. Celebrating 250 Years.
Picture of our wall of women
OK, full disclosure, I am unapologetically a feminist!
I don’t really know what that word means today, but I do know what it meant in the ‘70s when I marched around the house and adamantly proclaimed myself to be one.
Back then I made the declaration that I was never going to get married, until I did 😁, I was never going to shave my legs, until they got hairy 🙄 and I was exactly the same as a boy...until I discovered them 🫣.
Circa: the 70’s. Always drawing female heroes
But how does any of this even relate to a blog post about America’s 250th quintessential? Because, I’m celebrating in a very Fishs Eddy kind of way - by paying tribute to just some of the great women who have been an integral part of the American experiment. Feminists, poets, activists, pioneers… Women I grew up admiring. Women I first met in the pages of Our Bodies, Ourselves—my personal bible that lived under my pillow.
Anybody remember this?
These women challenged injustice, refused to back down, and quietly—or very loudly—moved America closer to her ideals. They elegantly moved the dial forward in America's beautiful journey.
To put it plainly - they got shit done!
Of course, we would need miles and miles of wall space to include every woman!
But if you stop by Fishs Eddy you’ll see Alice Paul, a leading suffragist and the engine behind the women’s movement that led to the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote. Can you even believe that was as recent as 1920? Beaten, imprisoned multiple times, and force-fed in a hunger strike. Every time I vote, I think of Alice Paul!
The official slogan for the suffragists movement
You’ll also see Rachel Carson, the first environmentalist! Simply by questioning the indiscriminate use of pesticides and other harmful hazards, Rachel Carson paved the way to the EPA. Her bestselling book Silent Spring turned skeptics into believers -that our environment was harming children, and harming our land. Did you think the first environmentalist was a man?
Nope!
Everyone got sprayed!
And then of course there is Mamie Till-Mobley, the unbelievably brave mother of Emmett Till, the boy who was brutally beaten and murdered by white supremacists. In her moment of complete anguish this Mom chose to have an open casket funeral for all the world to see the evils of racism.
Emmet’s Funeral
And one that resonates, especially close, Judy Heumann - who helped secure equal rights and accessibility for millions of Americans. Imagine a group of disabled Americans holding a sit-in for 26 days in a federal building in San Francisco! No food, no needed medicine. Oh, side note - guess who came to their rescue with food and necessities? The Black Panthers! But Judy’s relentless protesting culminated in the passing of the American Disabilities Act! The fight wasn't just about disability rights. This was about civil rights!
May protesting in Washington Square
So yeah, there’s a lot of turbulence in America today (but like, when isn’t there?)
And anyway, calm down, -because the quincentennial is the long view.
I personally won’t be robbed of this time to celebrate. Most, especially, the contributions that American women have fought for, died for, and sacrificed for the last 250 years 💪🏻💪🏼💪🏾💪🏿
Come by and celebrate with us!