Maria Mitchell

Maria Mitchell was an astronomer in an era when women were not even allowed to vote, or show their ankles below the hemlines of their dresses, much less be influential in a profession dominated by men.

She was born August 1, 1818 in Nantucket, Massachusetts USA. Although she attended Cyrus Pierce's School for Young Ladies, in her younger years she was primarily taught by her father and then self-taught afterwards. Maria Mitchell was the third child of William and Lydia Mitchell, a Quaker family with ten children.

During her professional career Maria had a number of accomplishments. On October 1, 1847 she discovered a telescopic comet. For this achievement she received a gold medal from King Frederick of Denmark. She was the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Philosophical Society. She became a Professor of Astronomy at Vassar College and founded, and served as president, of the American Association for the Advancement of Women. She even led one session of the Women's Congress. She was given an honorary degree from Columbia college and a crater on the moon was named after her.

After her death in June 28, 1889 in Lynn, Massachusetts, she was posthumously recognized with a tablet with her name placed in the New York University Hall of Fame. Her name has been carved ina frieze at the Boston Public Library and she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

Maria Mitchell was clearly a gutsy woman!

Source: http://GutsyWomen.blogspot.com


Copyright M. A. Webb, 2004-2006. All Rights Reserved

PUBLISHING AND REPRINT RIGHTS: You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your website, free of charge, as long as the author's information and web link are included at the bottom of the article and the article is not changed, modified or altered in any way. The web link should be active when the article is reprinted on a web site or in an email. Please forward a courtesy email to the author including an active web link where it is posted.

Abijah Collins, Business Woman Before Her Time

This post on Abijah Collins was removed today following receipt of feedback from a relative as shown below. Although there was no malice or intent on my part to offend anyone, I have chosen to delete the article as originally written by myself and refer all future blog guests directly to the source of information.

The purpose of this blog is to share with others the lives of incredible and "gutsy" women who have lived before us and during our time. Abijah Collins was one of these wonderful and remarkable women who deserves credit for her life! All too little, today, we do not celebrate the wisdom, strength and endurance of our ancestors. Perhaps if more credit were given to those who truly endured hardship we would all be given the opportunity to benefit and grow.

In order to give full credit, where it is due, please feel click here to visit the website where this information was initially found to learn about Abijah Collins.

Thank you for your patience, support and understanding!

M Webb

Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor

Frances Perkins was born in Boston, Massachussetts on April 10, 1882. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College and later worked as a social worker in Worcester and a teacher in Chicago. While living in Chicago, Illinois she became involved in Hull House, a settlement house founded by Jane Addams. Later she moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she worked closely with immigrant girls.

Frances earned her Masters Degree at Columbia University in 1910 before becoming the executive secretary of the National Consumers League (NCL). Her work with the NCL brought her into contact with New York politicians Robert Wagner and Alfred Smith. In 1919, Smith, the new governor of New York, appointed Frances to the Industrial Board. In 1924 she became Chairman of the Board. It was while serving this appointment that she found enough time in her schedule to obtrain a reduction in the work week for women to 54 hours.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt became governor of New York in 1929 he appointed Perkins as his Industrial Commissioner. Later, in 1933 after he had become President, Roosevelt selected Frances as his Secretary of Labor. She became the first woman in American history to hold a Cabinet post. Frances was a strong advocate of government involvement in the economy and played an important role in many aspects of the New Deal including the Civilian Conservation Corps, the National Labour Relations Act and the Social Security Act.

In 1938 Perkins persuaded the Congress to pass the Fair Labor Standards Act. The main purpose of the Act was to eliminate "labor conditions detrimental to the maintenance of the minimum standards of living necessary for health, efficiency and well-being of workers." To this day the Fair Labor Standards Act plays an active role in governing labor expectations and also prohibited child labour in many industries.

Frances remained as Secretary of Labor until the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945. In 1946 she published her book, The Roosevelt I Knew.

Later, President Harry Truman appointed her to the United States Civil Service Commission. After leaving office in 1953 she taught at Cornell University. On May 14, 1965 Frances Perkins died in New York, but her legacy lives on to this day.

Source: http://GutsyWomen.blogspot.com

Copyright M. A. Webb, 2004-2006. All Rights Reserved

PUBLISHING AND REPRINT RIGHTS: You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your website, free of charge, as long as the author's information and web link are included at the bottom of the article and the article is not changed, modified or altered in any way. The web link should be active when the article is reprinted on a web site or in an email. The author would appreciate an email indicating you wish to post this article to a website, and the link to where it is posted.

Virginia Hall, Secret Agent

Virginia Hall was born in Baltimore, Maryland USA on April 6, 1906 where her father was a cinema owner. She earned her college degree at Radcliffe College where she also developed a keen interest in languages. She was fluent in French, Italian and German.

In 1931 Hall was appointed to the staff of the American Embassy in Poland. Over the next few years she worked in Estonia, Austria and Turkey. While in Turkey she suffered a devasting blow, when after an accident, she lost a leg. The US State Department had a regulation that forbid employment of people with "any amputation of a portion of a limb" and in May, 1939 she was forced to resign.

She relocated to France and was living there when World War II began. She joined the French Ambulance Service Unit, but when the German Army invaded in May, 1940, she left for England and found work in the US Embassy there.

In 1941 Virginia was recruited by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) as a British special agent. She was given the code name "Marie" and returned to France where she posed as a reporter for the New York Post while helping to set up resistance networks in Vichy, France.

In early 1942 she moved to Lyons, France and worked closely with the French Resistance in that area. By the end of the year German officials became suspicious of Hall and her activivites and she was forced to leave the country.

On March 21, 1944 she returned to France as a representative of the Office of Strategic Services. After landing on the Brittany cost she joined the resistance in the Haute-Loire region. The Gestapo were now aware of her activities and return to the country where she became known as the "lady with the limp." Despite the ever-present danger in her life, she was able to inform the Allies that the German General Staff of critical information.

In 1945 she was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by President Harry S. Truman. She then joined the CIA in 1951 where she became an intelligence analyst on French parlimentary affairs.

Virginia Hall retired from the CIA in 1966 and in 1982 she passed away at the Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Washington, DC.

Copyright M. A. Webb, 2004-2006. All Rights Reserved.

Source: http://www.GutsyWomen.blogspot.com

PUBLISHING AND REPRINT RIGHTS: You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your website, free of charge, as long as the author's information and web link are included at the bottom of the article and the article is not changed, modified or altered in any way. The web link should be active when the article is reprinted on a web site or in an email. The author would appreciate an email indicating you wish to post this article to a website, and the link to where it is posted.

Catherine Stratton Ladd, Writer

LADD, Catherine Stratton (28 Oct. 1808-30 Jan. 1899), educator and writer, was born in Richmond, Virginia, the daughter of James Stratton and Ann Collins. Her father, a native of Ireland, had been in the United States for only two years when, just six months after Catherine's birth, he fell off a boat and drowned. Catherine Stratton was educated in Richmond at the same school attended by Edgar Allen Poe. in 1828 she married George Williamson Livermore Ladd, a portrait and miniature painter, who had studied with S. F. B. Morse in Boston; the couple had two children.

The Ladds first settled in Charleston, South Carolina, where not long after their marriage, she began to write stories, poems, and essays, particularly on art and education. These were published under several different pen names--Minnie Mayflower, Arcturus, Morna, and Alida--in various southern journals, among them, Floral Wreath. As reflected in "Unknown Flowers" (by Morna), which was published in the second volume of the Southern Literary Messenger (Jan. 1836), her poems focused on nature and exhibited a religious zeal that was characteristic of her era:

Oh! many are the unknown flowers,
By human eyes unseen,
That bloom in nature's woodland bowers,
Of bright and changeless green...
And lovely birds, whose brilliant wings
Are bright with hues of brighter things,
Make music in those woodland bowers,
those Edens of the unknown flowers.

In addition to her poems and sketches, Ladd is said to have contributed articles to the Charleston News and Courier, in which she advocated the use of white labor and the development of manufacturing in the South. At least as early as 1851 she argued that South Carolina could not compete with the Deep South in raising cotton and that even with an extensive system of slave labor South Carolina cotton farmers would realize no profit. Ladd also wrote at least two plays, Grand Scheme and Honeymoon, which were performed by friends and reportedly were locally popular, though this cannot be confirmed.

After living in Charleston, the Ladds moved to Augusta and eventually to Macon, Georgia, where for three years she was principal of Vineville Academy. In 1839, after hearing that an unused building that was suitable for a girl's school had become available, the Ladds returned to Charleston. In 1840 she opened the Winnsboro (also spelled Winnsborough) Female Institute at Winnsboro, South Carolina. The Winnsboro Institute was one of the largest and best-known boarding and day schools for young women in South Carolina. During the Civil War the school had full enrollment; some students were from Winnsboro, but the majority came from other parts of the state. Music, art, literature, dramatics, and the social graces were especially emphasized. The "formal education of women in Winnsboro made a notable advancement" when Ladd opened the institute (Bolick, p. 66). Still successful ten years later, the institute employed nine teachers and had an enrollment of about one hundred students. Over the years her school--and home--became cultura and social centers for the entire community.

In 1861 the Winnsboro Institute was closed by the Civil War. As permanent president of the Ladies' Relief Association of Fairfield County, Ladd spent the war nursing Confederate soldiers, among whom was her son, Albert Washington Ladd, wounded at the battle of Seven Pines (Va). Ladd's husband died in 1864, and in early 1865 her home was burned to the ground by Union troops during General William T. Sherman's march through South Carolina. Winnsboro Institute was not reopened until 1870.

In 1880 Ladd retired to "Buena Vista Plantation," situated nineteen miles from Winnsboro, near Buckhead, South Carolina, and she died there almost two decades later. She had been losing her sight for some time and by 1891 was completely blind, but she continued to write, penning the following verse as late as 1898:

Though our way be dark and dreary,
Though life's trials press us more,
Thou hast mansions for us ready,
Homes where troubles come no more.
O, my Saviour, guide me, watch me,
Lead me by Thy loving hand;
Let me feel that Thou art near me.
Until I reach the Promised Land.

Ladd's ability to organize cultural, social, and educational activities outweighs any modern interest in her minor and now obscure writings. By supporting the arts and by spreading a knowledge and appreciation of music, art, literature, and drama, Ladd provided her region with a center of culture and stability in the years of great social upheaval just before, during, and immediately following the Civil War.

Taken from: American National Biography, Volume 13, Oxford University Press. New York. 1999. pages 19-20.

Source: http://GutsyWomen.blogspot.com

Copyright M. A. Webb, 2006. All Rights Reserved

PUBLISHING AND REPRINT RIGHTS: You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your website, free of charge, as long as the author's information and web link are included at the bottom of the article and the article is not changed, modified or altered in any way. The web link should be active when the article is reprinted on a web site or in an email. The author would appreciate an email indicating you wish to post this article to a website, and the link to where it is posted.

Margaret Skapes, Women's Rights Activist

Born Arhondula Skapetorahis in Doumenia, Patras, Greece on March, 1892, Margaret lived in Greece during her middle school and high school years. She grew up in a very domineering family and with her determination and drive, she decided to disobey her family and not honor the marriage they had arranged for her. She escaped to New York in 1917. From this point forward, she was self-educated and also learned from her children's textbooks and materials from the public library. She lived in New York with her brother and a cousin for three years before she married.

While in New York she secretly worked as a seamstress in the garment district to save money to move on if she felt so inclined. While working as a seamstress she hired a woman to teach her how to read, write and speak English. She was determined not to be considered a "dumb" foreigner. She also joined the suffragettes in New York to work for the equality of women. She marched in parades and protested wherever they needed her. Her family still has, to this day, the cape and flag that she carried in those marches.

She fell in love and when she decided that the time had come to consider marriage, she did two significant things. First, she told her fiance that she would not marry him until women got to vote. Secondly, she designed a marriage contract that stated that she was to be her husband's full partner in any business ventures he or she would have. In the contract, too, there was a provision that should she give birth to any daughters, they, too, would be entitled to the same shares in the businesses as the sons, and that the girls would have a college education if they so desired.

She moved to Cleveland, Ohio where she became a leader in the Greek community. She helped to found the first school to teach English to Greek immigrants. The school also had Greek classes for the children born in America so that they would not lose their cultural heritage. The school also taught job skills and networked to provide employment for newcomers.

Margaret taught herself to drive by rolling the car out of the driveway in the dead of the night, pushing it down the street and then starting its engine. Because she was so small in size (4 feet, 8 inches tall and weighing about 95 pounds), her husband had forbidden her to attempt this on her own as he was afraid she would "strain" herself. He was also concerned that her fiery temperament would be a negative influence on her driving etiquette.

She became an American citizen long before her husband did and claimed it to be her proudest accomplishment. She did send her daughter to college and encouraged her to take flying lessons in order to help the war effort. Although her family members returned to Greece to visit frequently, Margaret never returned to her homeland. She considered America as her home.

In July, 1968 she passed away in Cleveland, Ohio and is buried at the Saint Theodosius Cemetery.

Copyright M. A. Webb, 2005. All Rights Reserved.

Source: http://GutsyWomen.blogspot.com

PUBLISHING AND REPRINT RIGHTS: You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your website, free of charge, as long as the author's information and web link are included at the bottom of the article and the article is not changed, modified or altered in any way. The web link should be active when the article is reprinted on a web site or in an email. The author would appreciate an email indicating you wish to post this article to a website, and the link to where it is posted.

Pearl Bailey, Actress and Singer

"We look into mirrors

but we only see the effects of

our times on us --

not our effects on others."

--Pearl Bailey

Valaida Snow, Musician

Valaida Snow was born into a family of musicians on June 2, 1903 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Her mother taught Valaida, her sisters and her brother how to play multiple instruments. She and all her siblings eventually became professional musicians. Valaida learned to play the cello, bass, violin, banjo, mandolin, harp, accordion, clarinet, saxophone and trumpet.

With her musical talent Valaida was naturally an entertainer. At the age of fifteen years old she was already a recognized professional singer and trumpet player. While her beauty attracted audiences, it was her incredible talent as a jazz trumpeter that really captivated them. She was given the nickname of "Little Louis" because of her Louis Armstrong-like playing style. During her career she toured and recorded frequently in the United States, Europe and Far East both with her own bad and other leader's bands. From 1930 through 1950 Valaida was seen performing with various jazz "greats" including, Earl Hines, Count Basie, Teddy Weatherford, Willie Lewis and Fletcher Henderson.

She was also an actress and she debuted her acting career on Broadway in 1942 as Mandy in the Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle's musical Chocolate Dandies. She went on to appear in many other Broadway productions including Pieges in 1939 with her husband Ananais Berry.

After headlining at the Apollo Theater in New York, Valaida returned to Europe and the Far East to perform. World War II had already begun and she was arrested by the Germans for theft and misuse of drugs. She was held prisoner for 18 months at Wester-Faengle, a Nazi concentration camp. Later, in unstable health, she was released as an exchange prisoner. Although imprisonment caused her great physical and psychological health problems, she resumed performing and appeared at several prestigious engagements. It was during this time that she married producer Earl Edwards.

Valaida's contagious energy and spark was characterized in her 1930's style. In the 1940's her style changed to reflect the deep blues feeling she was known and admired for as well as her tremendous breadth and depth of talent. She made her last performance at the Palace Theater in New York in 1956 and died that year on May 30th of a cerebral hemorrhage. Her rare talent was as much a curiosity as it was admired as she was a women in the male dominated jazz world. She was truly another gutsy woman!

Copyright M. A. Webb, 2005. All Rights Reserved

Source: http://GustyWomen.blogspot.com

PUBLISHING AND REPRINT RIGHTS: You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your website, free of charge, as long as the author's information and web link are included at the bottom of the article and the article is not changed, modified or altered in any way. The web link should be active when the article is reprinted on a web site or in an email. The author would appreciate an email indicating you wish to post this article to a website, and the link to where it is posted.

Elizabeth Van Lew, Civil War Spy

Elizabeth Van Lew was born October 17, 1818 in Richmond, Virginia to a prominent, wealthy family. She gained her education in a Philadelphia Quaker school where she eventually became an abolitionist. When she returned to her family's home in Richmond she convinced her mother to free the family's slaves.

After the Civil War started, she openly supported the Union. She took items of clothing, food and medicine to the prisoners at the Confederate Libby Prison and passed information to U.S. General Grant, spending much of her family fortune to support her espionage. She is thought to have also helped prisoners escape from Libby Prison. To hide her activities she took on an alias name of "Crazy Bet," dressing oddly. She was never arrested for her spying activites.

Her espionage activities even reached as far as the Confederate White House. One of the Van Lew emancipated slaves, Mary Elizabeth Bowser, whose education in Philadelphia was financed by Elizabeth, returned to Richmond and Elizabeth helped her to get employment in the Confederate White House. As a maid, Bowser was ignoed as she served meals and overheard conversations. She was also able to read documents she found in the House. Bowser passed what she learned to fellow slaves, and with Van Lew's aid, this valuable information was also shared with General Grant.

After the war ended, Grant appointed Van Lew as postmistress of Richmond where she was largely shunned by her neighbors. She had spent most of her money on her pro-Union activities, and, although she stayed in the family mansion until her death in 1990, she died in poverty, living only on an annuity from the family of a Union soldier she had helped.

Elizabeth Van Lew was truly a remarkable and "gutsy" woman!

Copyright M. A. Webb, 2005. All Rights Reserved

Source: http://GutsyWomen.blogspot.com

PUBLISHING AND REPRINT RIGHTS: You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your website, free of charge, as long as the author's information and web link are included at the bottom of the article and the article is not changed, modified or altered in any way. The web link should be active when the article is reprinted on a web site or in an email. The author would appreciate an email indicating you wish to post this article to a website, and the link to where it is posted.

Hazel Mountain Walker

Hazel Mountain Walker, born February 16, 1889 was the daughter of Chrles and Alice Mountain. As a young woman she attended Cleveland Normal Training School and in 1909 earned a Bachelor's and Master's in Education from Western Reserve University. During the summer break, when she was not teaching, Hazel worked towards a Law Degree at Baldwin-Wallace College where she earned her degree and passed the bar in 1919. Her motivation to become an attorney was to prove that black women could become lawyers.

She married George Herbert Walker on June 28, 1922. Unfortunately, he died in 1956. Then, in 1961 she married Joseph R. Walker of Massachusetts. She never had any children.

Hazel taught students who came from homes where no English was spoken and/or their families could not read at the Mayflower Elementary School from 1909-36. She also tutored black children from the juvenile court system who were from the South and having trouble adjusting to the Cleveland schools. In 1936 she became the principal at Rutherford B. Hayes Elementary School and in 1954 the principal at George Washington Carver Elementary school where she worked until she retired in 1958. In 1961 Hazel was elected to serve on the Ohio State Board of Education. She resigned in 1963 and moved out of state.

Hazel Walker was one of the first African Americans to be a part of the Women's City Club. She named the Karamu House in 1924 where she was a member and an actress. She was also a member of the Cuyahoga County Republican Party executive committee during the 1930's.

Certainly Hazel Mountain Walker was another gutsy woman!

Copyright M. A. Webb, 2005. All Rights Reserved

Source: http://GustyWomen.blogspot.com

PUBLISHING AND REPRINT RIGHTS: You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your website, free of charge, as long as the author's information and web link are included at the bottom of the article and the article is not changed, modified or altered in any way. The web link should be active when the article is reprinted on a web site or in an email. The author would appreciate an email indicating you wish to post this article to a website, and the link to where it is posted.

Abbie Burgess Grant

Abbie Burgess was born in 1938 in Maine, she was one of ten children. She had two older sisters, one older brother, five younger sisters and her youngest sibling was a boy. She had limited formal schooling and was, instead, home-schooled by her mother. She could read and write.

In 1853, Abbie's father, Sam Burgess, was appointed Lighthouse Keeper at Matinicus Rock. As a young woman she married Isaac Grant, son of Captain John Grant, the keeper of Matinicus after her father. Together they had four children: Francis, Melvina, Mary Louise and Harris.

Although her father and father-in-law held the title of Lighthouse Keeper at Matinicus Rock, it was Abbie that was in charge of the work. In 1873, Isaac was appointed Keeper at the White Head Light Station and he and Abbie tended the lights there. In 1875 Abbie received her appointment of assistant keeper at White Head. Unfortunately, in 1890 she was forced, by illness, to retire.

At the time of her death in 1892 she was living in a house on Maple Street in Portland, Maine.

Copyright M. A. Webb, 2005. All Rights Reserved

Source: http://GutsyWomen.blogspot.com

PUBLISHING AND REPRINT RIGHTS: You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your website, free of charge, as long as the author's information and web link are included at the bottom of the article and the article is not changed, modified or altered in any way. The web link should be active when the article is reprinted on a web site or in an email. The author would appreciate an email indicating you wish to post this article to a website, and the link to where it is posted.

Maria Isabella Boyd

Born on May 4, 1844 in Martinsburg, Virginia, Belle (as she was called) came from a typical Southern family. Her father, Ben, was a store merchant and grocer. Unfortunately, several brothers died before the Civil War. Later, Belle's father joined the Virginia Cavalry and she was left with her sister Mary Jane, age 10, her brother Bill, age 4, her mother and grandmother. Between the ages of 12 and 16 she attended the Mount Washington Female College in Baltimore, Maryland.

Soon after the start of the Civil War she began organizing parties to visit the troops. At that time she also shot and killed a Union soldier who had pushed her mother. She was acquitted of the crime and shortly thereafter became a courier for Generals Beauregarde and Jackson. She carried information, delivered medical supplies and confiscated weapons. Belle made a few heroic rides through battle fields in order to get her "secrets" across the lines to the South.

During the war she was imprisoned three times. In 1862 she was imprisoned in old Carroll Prison in Washington, D.C. for one month.

In 1864 she left for England carrying information for the confederates. There she married a Union naval officer.

This gutsy woman died in 1900 in her home in Kilbourne City, Wisconsin (now known as Wisconsin Dells). She is buried in the Spring Grove Cemetery there.

Copyright M. A. Webb, 2005. All Rights Reserved

Source: http://GutsyWomen.blogspot.com

PUBLISHING AND REPRINT RIGHTS: You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your website, free of charge, as long as the author's information and web link are included at the bottom of the article and the article is not changed, modified or altered in any way. The web link should be active when the article is reprinted on a web site or in an email. The author would appreciate an email indicating you wish to post this article to a website, and the link to where it is posted.

Rachel Carson

Born on May 27, 1907 in Springdale, Pennsylvania Rachel Carson was the youngest of three children. She had a rugged childhood living in a simple farmhouse outside the western Pennsylvania river town. She credited her mother with introducing her to the wonders of nature that became her lifelong passion.

After her education was completed Rachel joined the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries as the writer of a radio show entitled "Romance Under the Waters," in which she was able to explore life under the ocean and bring it to her listeners. In 1936, after being the first woman to take and pass the civil service test, the Bureau of Fisheries hired her as a full-time junior biologist and for the next 15 years she rose in the ranks until she was the chief editor of all publications for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

In the 1940's she began to write books on her observations of underwater exploration. She resigned from her government position in 1952 in order to devote all her time and energy to writing. The idea for her most famous book, Silent Spring, emerged and she began writing it in 1957. The book was published in 1962 and influenced President Kennedy, who had read it, to call for testing of the chemicals mentioned in the book. Rachel Carson has been called the mother of the modern environmental movement.

She died on April 14, 1964 in her home in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Copyright M. A. Webb, 2005. All Rights Reserved

Source: http://GutsyWomen.blogspot.com

PUBLISHING AND REPRINT RIGHTS: You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your website, free of charge, as long as the author's information and web link are included at the bottom of the article and the article is not changed, modified or altered in any way. The web link should be active when the article is reprinted on a web site or in an email. The author would appreciate an email indicating you wish to post this article to a website, and the link to where it is posted.

Elizabeth Keckley

Born 1818/9 to George and Agnes Hobbs in Hillsborough, North Carolina, Lizzie, as she was referred to, had no formal education. Her parents were slaves and her father had a different master than her mother and lived 100 miles from Lizzie. Lizzie's father was allowed to visit only at Easter and Christmas. After age 7 or 8, she never saw her father again as his master moved away, taking George with him. Lizzie was with her mother most of the time until her teenage years, then she was given to the Colonel's son and his bride as a wedding gift. Lizzie's skills as a seamstress were taught to her by her mother during her childhood. Her skills as a seamstress eventually helped her earn her freedom and that of her son.

Her only child, George, was named after her father. George's father was a friend and neighbor of the Colonel's son. George was born through an unwanted and forced relationship. Lizzie went on to marrie James Keckly in 1852 and within a few years found out he was not emancipated and was an alcoholic. Lizzie's master had promised she could buy freedom for herself and her son after he died; but she did not have the money when he passed away. Thanks to the generosity of one of her patrons, she was loaned the $1,200 she needed for their freedom.

Lizzie had quite a list of accomplishments during her life including:

1. Starting a school for young black girls to teach them sewing and etiquette in Baltimore, Maryland (her first home after she gained her freedom).

2. She was the personal dressmaker for Mary Todd Lincoln after her work on Mary's Inaugural Ball gown pleased the President and Mrs Lincoln very much.

3. President and founder of the first Black Contraband Relief Association.

4. Lizzie was Mary Todd Lincoln's best friend and confidante. She seemed to be the only person who understood and tolerated Mary's unstable temperament and sharp tongue.

5. Wrote a book, Behind the Scenes, about the life of Mary Todd Lincoln, and the happenings in the White House during Lincoln's tenure. The book was very controversial and Mary Todd's eldest son had the book removed from publication.

Here's to another Gutsy Woman!

Copyright M. A. Webb, 2005. All Rights Reserved

PUBLISHING AND REPRINT RIGHTS: You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your website, free of charge, as long as the author's information and web link are included at the bottom of the article and the article is not changed, modified or altered in any way. The web link should be active when the article is reprinted on a web site or in an email. The author would appreciate an email indicating you wish to post this article to a website, and the link to where it is posted.

Mary Edwards Walker, M.D.

Mary Edwards Walker was definitely a "gutsy" woman. She has the distinction of being a prisoner of war during the Civil War, writer, doctor, fashion trend-setter and the only female to receive the Medal of Honor.

She was born November 26, 1832 in Oswego, New York. She was the youngest of five daughters and one son, born to Alvah and Vesta Walker. Her father was a carpenter-farmer and abolitionist who believed in free thinking and many of the reform movements in the mid-1800's, including education and equality for his daughters, as well as dress reform. The girls provided farm labor, so their father did not expect them to wear restrictive undergarments while working. He also intended that all his children would be educated and pursue professional careers.

Mary had shown an interest in her father's medical books at an early age so was encouraged to pursue this career. While teaching she saved money and, in December 1853, enrolled in Syracuse Medical College. After three 13-week semesters of medical training she graduated in June, 1855. At 21 years old she was the only woman in her class, and the second female doctor in the nation.

Mary led a controversial life, most likely fostered by her father's thinking and she became an early supporter of women's rights and passtionately spoke about dress reform. In 1856, at her wedding to Albert Miller, another physician, she wore trousers and a man's coat. Their wedding vows did not include anything about "obeying." And, she kept her own last name. Mary and Albert began a joint medical practice in Rome, New York, but many people were not ready for a woman physician so the practice floundered. Albert was apparently unfaithful to her and so, four years later, they separated and Mary moved into a smaller room for living and working.

In the summer of 1860 she stayed with a family friend in Delhi, Owa, hoping to secure a divorce (Iowa had more lenient laws), but she returned to Rome without the divorce the next summer, most likely due to the outbreak of the Civil War. In July, 1861, just after the Battle of Bull Run she went to Washington, D.C, to join the Army as a medical officer. She was denied, so she volunteered, serving as acting assistant surgeon at the hospital setup in the U.S. Patient Office.

In September 1863, Mary was appointed assistant surgeon to the 52nd Ohio Infantry in Cumberland, based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and wore a slightly modified version of an officer's unfiorm, carying two pistols at all times. On April 10, 1864, wearing her uniform she walked into a band of Confederate soldiers just south of the Georgia-Tennessee border and was taken hostage. For four months she was imprisoned at Castle Thunder, near Richmond, Virginia. She complained about the lack of grain and vegetables for prisoners and the Confederates added wheat bread and cabbage to the food rations. On August 12, 1864 she was exchanged, along with 24 other Union doctors, for 17 Confederate doctors. She was proud that her exchange was for a Confederate surgeon of the rank of major.

May returned to Ohio as a contract surgeon and after a long appeal to the government for a commission for her service in the War was finally granted her commission as acting assistant surgeon, with a $100 monthly salary. For her wartime service she was paid $766.16 and later received a monthly pension of $8.50 (later raised to $20.00).

Upon recommendation of Major Generals William T. Sherman and George H. Thomas, on November 11, 1865, President Andrew Johnson signed a bill to present Dr. Mary Edwards Walker with the Congressional Medical of Honor for Meritorious Service. She remains the only woman to receive the Congressional Medical of Honor - the highest military award of the US at the time.

After the war ended, Mary worked to get relief bills for war nurses, but the Congressional bills died in committee. She also began writing and lecturing throughout the United States and abroad on women's rights, dress reform, health and temperance issues. In 1868 she and Belva Lockwood testified before the Judiciary Committee of the District of Columbia House of Delegates, on a bill to allow women in the D.C. area to vote.

In 1869 Mary finally received her divorce from New York state. Two years later she wrote her first book, "hit," which was a combination autobiography and commentary on divorce. She called for more equitable laws so wives and children could excape unhappy homes; thus requiring the women's ability to vote. She went on to write another book in 1878 as well.

In 1880 her father passed away, leaving her the Bunker Hill farm. She lived there until she passed away. In 1917, while in Washington, she fell on the Capitol steps. She was 85 years old and never fully recovered. She died two years later on February 21, 1919 while staying at a neighbor's home in Oswego. Almost penniless, she was not so much remembered for her service to her country as she was for being "that shocking female surgeon in trousers!" In that same year, the 19th Amendment was ratified.

In 1982 the US Post Office issued a 20-cent stamp honoring Dr. Mary Walker as the first woman to have been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and as the second woman to graduate from a medical school in the U.S. In 2000, Mary Edwards Walker was inducted into the Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York.

Copyright M. A. Webb, 2005. All Rights Reserved.

(Source: http://GutsyWomen.blogspot.com)

PUBLISHING AND REPRINT RIGHTS: You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your website, free of charge, as long as the author's information and web link are included at the bottom of the article and the article is not changed, modified or altered in any way. The web link should be active when the article is reprinted on a web site or in an email. The author would appreciate an email indicating you wish to post this article to a website, and the link to where it is posted.

Victoria Woodhull

There were quite a number of women who made their mark on history in the 19th and early 20th century. Victoria Woodhull was one of those "gutsy" women.

Born in September, 1838 in Homer, Ohio and was one of nine children. At the age of ten she began believing that she experienced "visions" and she began believing that she possessed spirits. In 1853, at the age of 16 years, she married a Cincinnati patient medicine salesman, Dr. Canning Woodhull, who used her persuasive talents to sale the "Elixir of Life." In 1854 she gave birth to a son, Byron and in 1861 a daughter, Zula Maud.

Eleven years later and after building an immunity to the benefits of the "Elixir" she divorced Woodhull and married James Blood and moved back to New York City where her "talents" were discovered by financier Cornelius Vanderbilt. With his backing Vitoria and her sister founded the journal Woodhull and Chaflin's Weekly. The journal advocated a single morality, which Victoria boastfully practiced, and free love. In 1869 she used stock tips from Vanderbuilt and made a fortune during the Stock Market Crash. In that same year she attended the National Flemale Suffrage Convention.

The journal gave Victoria a base of operations in which she could catapult herself into the national political arena. In 1872 she was nominated as a presidential candidate by the Equal Rights Party, making her the first woman in history to be nominated to the highest office in the land. Of course, in 1872, women could not vote for her, even if they had wanted to, and so her vote tally in the election was so pitiful that it wasn't even recorded.

Her defeat at the polls only served to whet her appetite for doing battle. She exposed Reverend Henry Ward Beecher and Luther Challis for practicing free love and was later arrested, jailed and then later acquitted of charges. In 1877 she divorced Blood and departed for England where she married an English Banker, John Biddulph Martin. In 1895 she started the Humanitarian Newspaper and was actively involved in the Continental and Isle liberal society. Up until her death in 1927 she occasionally returned to New York to continue her battle against male chauvinism and to inspire women's rights.

Copyright M. A. Webb, 2005. All Rights Reserved.

PUBLISHING AND REPRINT RIGHTS: You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your website, free of charge, as long as the author's information and web link are included at the bottom of the article and the article is not changed, modified or altered in any way. The web link should be active when the article is reprinted on a web site or in an email. The author would appreciate an email indicating you wish to post this article to a website, and the link to where it is posted.

Florence Kling Harding

Florence Kling Harding, wife of President Warren Harding, was born August 15, 1860 in Marion, Ohio. She was the eldest child of three, with two younger brothers. Her father owned a hardware store, which led to owning other businesses and banks, making him the wealthiest man in Marion. Unfortunately, he was also tyrannical and her mother, depressed and submissive. If the Kling children did not make their curfew at night, her father would lock their mansion doors and expect them to care for themselves until morning.

At the age of 19 Florence became pregnant by her young boyfriend. Most likely to escape from her father, the two eloped in March of 1880 and moved to Galion, Ohio. On September 22, 1880 she gave birth to a son, Marshall. Henry turned out to be an alcoholic and heavy spender and left her on December 22, 1882. Florence returned to Marion with her son and refused to ask, or receive, any help from her father. Instead she rented a room and began giving piano lessons. After two years her father finally asked her to move back home with Marshall, suggesting that they both use the Kling family name. Florence refused and in September, 1884, she filed for separation. Her father, Amos, then proposed another offer. He would not support Florence raising Marshall, but he would take his grandson as his own, easing her financial burden. Florence agreed. She and Henry were divorced in 1886.

From this whole ordeal, Florence developed a lifelong empathy for people struggling against society's expectations and refused to judge the choices people made when attempting to survive. She wholeheartedly supported feminism and developed strong beliefs about the rights and abilities of women to determine their own futures without male interference. "No man, father, brother, lover or husband can ruin my life," she said. "I claim the right to live the life the good Lord gave me, myself."

Florence loved her business work (she had worked in her father's stores since she was a young girl) but the reality of women in society in that day prevented her from being independently wealthy or holding powerful positions. She was also a skilled horsewoman, was physically very strong and yet also skilled in the arts of needlepoint and hosuekeeping. She had great musical talent and attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music for one year before her father ordered her to return home.

She met Warren Harding (five years older than her) in the late 1880's through one of her piano students, Charity Harding (Warren's sister). Florence pursued Warren relentlessly, even though he had a girlfriend at the time and was known to be quite "an amiable rake." Florence's father, Amos, was adamently opposed to having Florence and Waren together but despite his disapproval, the two were married on July 8, 1891 in the house they had built together. They never had any children together.

Florence rallied behind Warren's political career and became the driving force bethind the growth and establishment of his newspaper business. In 1894, when Warren checked into the famous Battle Creek Sanitarium for health reasons she took over the newspaper and never left. It was the opportunity she had been waiting for all her life.

When Warren was nominated as a presidential candidate in 1920 Florence enthusiastically backed him. But she was secretly concerned that his extramarital affairs would be publicly exposed. He had had many affairs including a 15-year relationship with Florence's best friend Carrie Phillips (the only known mistress in US history to successfully blackmail a president) and his Senate aide Grace Cross.

Florence was also concerned about her age (60 years) and her health. She had a kidney removed in 1905 and was prone to debilitating kidney infections. However, she put all her concerns aside and campaigned vigorously, even fostering the first use of Hollywood movie stars in a presidential race. The American people were very weary after the war and responded to Warren's campaign slogan "Back to normalcy" and elected him in a landslide victory. Florence became the First Lady to vote for her husband becoming President.

Florence loved opening the White House grounds to the public and enjoyed a lively social calendar. Social events were frequent and she also visited injured veterans in the hospital. She always maintained her independence, proving to be on the greatest feminists of the day. She was her husband's key advisor, involved in many charities, and crusaded for women's right. She was the First Lady to fly in an airplane (with a woman pilot no less) and the First Lady to appear in newsreels without the president.

Rumors of Scandals (Tea Pot Dome, events that transpired with Charles Forbes and the extramarital affairs) prompted the Hardings to begin a public relations tour in 1923. They visited Alaska and Canada and were heading east from the west coast when Warren became ill and died on August 2, 1923 in San Francisco. Opinions on what caused his death were varied (stroke, heart attack, food poisonining or deliberate poisoning by Florence) ran rampant. The fact that Florence refused an autopsy only contributed to the people's suspicions about her. The official cause of Warren's death is listed as a stroke.

Florence returned to Washington by train with her husband's body. The public, still unaware of the depth of the scandals greeted the funeral possession in droves. After Warren's death she tried to preserve their reputations by burning all the personal papers she could find. She then returned to Marion, Ohio where she died, on November 21, 1924, of kidney disease 15 months later.

Copyright M. A. Webb, 2005. All Rights Reserved

PUBLISHING AND REPRINT RIGHTS: You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your website, free of charge, as long as the author's information and web link are included at the bottom of the article and the article is not changed, modified or altered in any way. The web link should be active when the article is reprinted on a web site or in an email. The author would appreciate an email indicating you wish to post this article to a website, and the link to where it is posted.

Freda McDonald (aka Josephine Baker)

Josephine Baker was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1906 to parents Carrie McDonald and Eddie Carson. At the age of 12 she dropped out of school although we can see by her accomplishments that this did not stop her from being a "gutsy" woman.

Overcoming the limitations society put upon her because of the color of her skin, she became one of the world's most versatile entertainers, performing on stage, screen and recordings. She was decorated for her undercover work for the French Resistance during World War II. She was also a civil rights activist and she refused to perform for segregated audiences and helped to integrate the Las Vegas nightclubs. Amazingly, she adopted two children from around the world whom she called her "Rainbow Tribe."

In 1975, after a large party given in her honor, Josephine died in her sleep in Paris, France. She was buried in Monaco and became the first American woman to receive French military honors at her funeral.

Copyright M. A. Webb, 2005. All Rights Reserved.

PUBLISHING AND REPRINT RIGHTS: You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your website, free of charge, as long as the author's information and web link are included at the bottom of the article and the article is not changed, modified or altered in any way. The web link should be active when the article is reprinted on a web site or in an email. The author would appreciate an email indicating you wish to post this article to a website, and the link to where it is posted.

Margaret Bourke-White

Margaret Bourke-White is a woman of many "firsts." She was a forerunner in the newly emerging field of photojournalism, and was the first female to be hired as such. She was the first photographer for Fortune magazine, in 1929. In 1930, she was the first Western photographer allowed into the Soviet Union.

She was born on June 14, 1904 in The Bronx, NY. She attended several universities throughout the United States while pursuing a degree in Herpetology (the study of reptiles) and she received her degree in 1927 from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.

Margaret began to study photography as a hobby while a very young woman. She developed the styles and techniques that she needed for various formats on her own. Her father was also somewhat of a camera enthusiast and he exposed her to photography as a young child.

Her father, Joseph White, was of Polish-Jewish background. He was an inventor and an engineer. He believed in equality in education and opportunity for all his children. Margaret's mother, Minnie Bourke, was of Irish-English ancestry and was a loving and nurturing mother. Minnie was completing her college degree at the time of her death. Margaret was married twice; once to Everett Chapman, when she was but 18 years old; and to Erskine Caldwell, the writer, in 1939, after they had worked together. They divorced in 1942.

Henry Luce hired her as the first female photojournalist for Life magazine, soon after its creation in 1935, and one of her photographs adorned its first cover. She was the first female war correspondent and the first to be allowed to work in combat zones during World War II, and one of the first photographers to enter and document the death camps. She made history with the publication of her haunting photos of the Depression in the book You Have Seen Their Faces, a collaboration with husband-to-be Erskine Caldwell. She wrote six books about her international travels. She was the premiere female industrial photographer, getting her start in Cleveland, Ohio, at the Otis Steel Company about 1927.

At the time of her death on August 27, 1971 she lived in Connecticut. Here's another GUTSY WOMAN!

Copyright M. A. Webb, 2005. All Rights Reserved.

PUBLISHING AND REPRINT RIGHTS: You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your website, free of charge, as long as the author's information and web link are included at the bottom of the article and the article is not changed, modified or altered in any way. The web link should be active when the article is reprinted on a web site or in an email. The author would appreciate an email indicating you wish to post this article to a website, and the link to where it is posted.

Jennie Hodgers (aka "Cashier")

(excerpt taken from http://www.amcivilwarbiography.homestead.com/hodgers.html)

"Jennie Hodgers was one of the several women who served in the Civil War. She is noted as holding the record for documented service for female soldiers in the war, having completed a three-year term in the 95th Illinois Infantry Regiment. Other women may have served for a longer period of time, perhaps having moved from regiment to regiment to avoid having their disguise discovered, but recorded information on this is lacking. Annie Etheridge served with three different regiments over a period of three years but she served more as a first-aid worker or nurse, not as a soldier.

Jennie Hodgers was born in Belfast in Ireland in 1844. In September 1862, when she was eighteen, she joined the recently formed 95th Illinois Regiment under the name "Albert Cashier", giving the occupation of farmer. The regiment then made its way to Mississippi to join General Grant. "Cashier" became noted for "his" fearlessness and good health.

"Cashier" took part at the Siege of Vicksburg when General Grant's troops forced the Confederate garrison to surrender. The Vicksburg monument to Illinois soldiers who fought there includes "his" name among more than 30,000.

"Cashier" took part in around forty battles and was never wounded, which was why Jennie Hodgers escaped discovery. "He" fought in such major battles as Brice Crioss Roads and was at the Siege of Mobile.

After the war "Cashier" worked as a farmhand and handyman in various small towns in Illinois. In February 1890 "he" applied for a governemnt pension but refused to take a medical examination an was refused.

The real identity of "Albert Cashier" was not discovered until 1911 when "he" was involved in a car accident. "He" had been employed to help with household chores and "his" employer accidently hit "him" with his car and broke "his" leg. The doctor who was called discovered a deception that had succeeded for over 50 years.

The doctor and employer dealt sensitively with the issue and did not make Jennie Hodger's secret public. Instead they helped her get a place in the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home at Quincy, Illinois, by telling the commandant of the home about the problem."