Emma Goldman by Kristen Owen

 

  

 

 

    Emma Goldman was born in Kovno, Russia in 1869; she grew up in a low income family and had to go to work at an early age as a seamstress. She was a huge reader and this did a lot to shape her political views. She grew into a huge political and social activist she was once quoted saying, “The history of progress is written in the blood of men and women who have dared to espouse an unpopular cause, as, for instance, the black man’s right to his body, or the woman’s right to her soul.” Goldman was an anarchist she was a strong civil rights activist, she helped push for an 8 hour work day, and was also an activist for woman's rights.
     At one point her and her lover planned to assassinate a man who was trying to suppress a factory strike, she was so entangled in her cause that she became a prostitute for a while in order to raise money for a gun to kill him. She was a very passionate woman who believed in equality for all people no matter the race or gender. She eventually became a huge advocate for birth control. She had a very interesting life full of many triumphs for humans rights.

1. "Emma Goldman." Emma Goldman. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.

            http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/portraits/emma-goldman.

     2. "Goldman, Emma, 1869-1940." Goldman, Emma, 1869-1940. Web. 24 Feb. 
            2015.<https://libcom.org/history/goldman-emma-1869-1940>.

Rachel Carson by Laura Hulbert

Margarethe Cammermeyer (by Colby Fletcher)

           
           Margarethe Cammermeyer, born in 1942 in Oslo, Norway, served in the US National Guard. She went into active duty in 1963 and was a decorated Soldier. Cammermeyer was married to her husband during this time, and later divorced after 15 years of marriage and having 4 sons (1).  In 1992, after years of loyal service, she was honorably discharged for openly stating her sexuality in an interview from 1989 (2), by saying “I am a lesbian” (1). Her, and her attorneys, fought against the ban on homosexuals in the army, and pushed for Ms. Cammermeyer’s reinstatement. 25 months later, a judge ruled that this was prejudice and Ms. Cammermeyer was reinstated in 1994 followed by her retirement in 1997 (1).

 

 

            Not only did Cammermeyer push to break barriers pertaining to the NG, but in 1998 she also made a statement by being a woman running for congress. Though Cammermeyer lost 45% to 55% (1), she paved a path and set standards for women and the LGBT community that had once been viewed as unreachable.

           Cammermeyer became more involved in the gay community, and her actions helped overturN the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. For her heart and bravery, I believe that she is one of the most overlooked heroes in the fight for equality.

 

Works Cited:

1.       Cammermeyer, Margarethe. "Biography." Breaking The Silence. Grethe Cammermeyer. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2015. <http://www.cammermeyer.com/bio.htm>.
 
2.       "National News Briefs; Cammermeyer to Run For Congressional Seat." New York Times (1997). Web. 17 Feb. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/16/us/national-news-briefs-cammermeyer-to-run-for-congressional-seat.html>.
 
3 (picture).  Web. 16 Feb. 2015. <http://www.cammermeyer.com/popups/vertical.htm?photoid=7>.

Helen Hunt Jackson by Colette Davis

Helen Hunt Jackson was born a radical child from the 1830’s and is recognized as one of the fourth most known Native American policy reformist of the 19^th century. Besides being a Native American rights activist, she held her own name as a famous poet, a writer of children’s stories and author in many of her works including research and novel named, Century of Dishonor (1881) and Ramona (1884) which was both a success. She was born in Massachusetts, orphaned as a child and raised by her aunt. By the age of 21, she married Lieutenant Edward Bissell Hunt and later had two sons. Tragically, her husband and two sons had passed on and that’s when she began writing poetry. Ten years later, she married a quaker, William Sharpless Jackson and lived in Colorado Springs.

As indicated by Valenzuela, “during her marriage was where her interest in the subject on the politics of Indians began” (2010). While being moved by a speech in Boston in 1879 presented by a Ponca leader given by Chief Standing Bear, according to an article by Reuben, “Jackson wrote the two novels partly in an effort to bring awareness to the plight of the Native American after hearing Chief Standing Bear of the Poncas tribe speak in Boston about the great sufferings of his people as they were forcibly removed from their native land to a reservation in Oklahoma” (Reuben 2014). When A Century of Dishonor was published in 1881, as stated by Colorado Virtual Library, “Jackson sent a copy to every member of Congress with the following admonition printed in red on the cover, “Look upon your hands: they are stained with the blood of your relations” (2015). As indicated by Prabook, “the 56-page report recommended extensive government relief for the Mission Indians, including the purchase of new lands for reservations and the establishment of more Indian Schools. A bill embodying her recommendations passed the U.S. Senate but died in the House of Representatives” (2015).

Little did the 56-page report had an impact to capture the congress attention, so four years later she wrote Ramona to capture a wider audience. For the most part, her novel was an instant success and a year later she died of stomach cancer in 1885 at the age of 55. A Century of Dishonor and Ramona led to the founding of the Indian Rights Association and was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame in 1985.

Works Cited

 “Helen Hunt Jackson: Author and Indian Advocate.” Colorado Virtual Library. http://coloradovirtual

              Library.org/content/helen-hunt-jackson. Web. 22 February 2015.

Prabook. Helen Hunt Jackson. Background, Education, Career, Works, Connections. 

             http://prabook.web/person-view.html. Web. 22 February 2015.

Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 5: Helen Hunt Jackson." PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A               Research and Reference Guide. http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap5/
              Web. 22 February 2015.

Valenzuela, Romualdo. “Helen Hunt Jackson.” The Historical Society of Southern California

              Biographies.http://www.socalhistory.org/biographies/helen-hunt-jackson.html. Web.

              22 February 2015.

Michelle Tea – by Kelsey Baucom

RADAR Productions was founded by Michelle Tea in 2003 as a non-profit organization that works toward publishing and promoting queer and underground writers. Their goal is to authentically reflect the queer community's experiences through art and literature. 

       

 Michelle Tea also co-founded the group of poets and speakers known as Sister Spit: Next Generation, defining itself as a "queer multimedia literary performance tour." 

       

 In addition to these two major exploits, Tea is also an accomplished author, her publications including four memoirs, a book of poetry, and three novels, with two more in the works. She also writes frequently for various magazines and blogs. Her writing examines issues of class, queer identity, and feminism. 

Michelle currently lives in San Francisco, the home base of RADAR Productions, with her partner, Dashiell, and their newborn baby, Atticus. She is currently working on a project called "Mutha Magazine," which explores all the facets of motherhood – feminist parenting, queer and straight moms, adoptions, surrogates, how to do life while raising kids – with entries made by dozens of women, and men, from numerous backgrounds, ages, races, and stages of life. 

           

                                                                                    
                                       Works Cited

"About Us." Mutha Magazine. N.p., 2013. Web. 23 Feb. 2015. 

"Michelle Tea." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2015. 

"RADAR Productions." RADAR Productions. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2015.

Jane Addams

Jane Addams is a social feminist who is most commonly known for her development of the Hull-House in Chicago and being the first woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931. She did not believe the government reform efforts were effective, and was an activist for child labor laws and women's rights. The field of social work claims her as one of the founders along with the fields of classical pragmatism, sociology, and public administration (Epstein-Corbin 220-21).
Addams saw the need to develop the Hull-House because she witnessed the disorder of a male-run settlement house. She thought treating the city as needing civic housekeeping would be more helpful than using the citadel model. The Hull-House was Addam's method of influencing the democracy of Chicago (Shields 423).
Jane Addams was part of the first generation of women who were allowed to attend college and contributing to society was a priority to her. She recognized that a women could contribute to society while also fulfilling the role in a family women were expected to fill (Shields 427).
-Lindsay Pauls

Works Cited

Epstein-Corbin, Sean. "Pragmatism, Feminism, And The Sentimental Subject." Transactions Of The Charles S. Peirce Society 50.2 (2014): 220-245. Academic Search Premier. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.

Shields, Patricia M. "Democracy And The Social Feminist Ethics Of Jane Addams: A Vision For Public Administration."Administrative Theory & Praxis (Administrative Theory & Praxis) 28.3 (2006): 418-443. Academic Search Premier. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.

Dorothea Lange- Posted by Melynie Northcott

Dorothea Lange was born in Hoboken, New Jersey. She took photography classes at Columbia University. She worked at a New York portrait studio until 1918, and then she decided to travel the country. While she did not like to be in the studio, she did this kind of work during the 1920’s. She traveled to the southwest with her husband and began to photograph Native Americans. She believed that the camera could teach people “how to see without a camera.” She was known as the most gifted photographers, because she really documented the poverty people faced during the Depression years. Her Depression subjects may be dated, but the message captured in those images is timeless.

Her most outstanding personal characteristic was her keen visual and auditory perceptiveness that in her combined with a strong belief in human benevolence, kindness, and justice. The photograph that has become known as "Migrant Mother" is one of a series of photographs that Dorothea Lange made of Florence Owens Thompson and her children in February or March of 1936 in Nipomo, California. This is the most prominent photograph that really captured the essence of poverty. The mother in this photo really shows how hard life was during that time. In 1960, Lange gave this account of the experience: “I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that lean- to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it”. 

I can only imagine how hard it must have been during that time, but the photographs taken by Lange really opened my eyes. You could just feel the people’s emotions while looking at the photos. She captured moments that no one else could during that time. She did not want to make them look like models or capture a beautiful sunset, she captured their souls almost. These are real people dealing with real problems and she did a wonderful job of giving people today a view into the past. Dorothea Lange was not only a great photographer, but she was passionate about helping others. Her concern for these people was really an artistic expression that many other people couldn't capture during that time.

Works Cited

"Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother" Photographs in the Farm Security Administration Collection: An Overview." Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother" Photographs in the Farm Security Administration Collection: An Overview (Library of Congress). Library of Congress, 2004. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.

Gawthrop, L. C. (1993). Dorothea Lange and visionary change. Society, 30(5), 64-67.

Shetterly, Robert. "Dorothea Lange." Americans Who Tell The Truth. Americans Who Tell The Truth, 2006. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.

"THE COLLECTION." MoMA.org. OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2009. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.

~ Melynie Northcott