Kate Bushnell was an American writer, doctor, temperance worker and medical missionary to China. While in China, Bushnell realised that some passages in the Bible had been translated differently, to fit in with Chinese attitudes to women. Recognising that male bias also applied to Western translations, Bushnell wrote "God’s Word to Women" in 1908, which tackled the passages of the bible that claimed women were inferior. At the end of the 19th Century, Bushnell travelled the world with Elizabeth Andrew as Temperance Workers. Two interesting letters of introduction were published in Australian newspapers. They can be seen here For more information about "God's Word to Women" see http://www.calvin.edu/news/2010-11/forgotten-bible/ Rosa Parks was perhaps the most famous female Civil Rights Activist. In 1955 Parks took a seat on a bus just behind the area reserved for white passengers. When the white section filled up, the driver told her to give up her seat and Parks refused. Parks was arrested and charged and found guilty of disorderly conduct, enabling her to challenge the legality of racial segregation through her appeal. Today would have been Rosa Parks' 100th birthday. Rosa Parks interview: http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/par0int-1 See also http://www.biography.com/people/rosa-parks-9433715 and the story behind the bus http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/rosaparks/story.asp Although born in the UK, Elizabeth Blackwell moved to the USA at 11. After her father's death when she was just 17, Blackwell, with her mother and sister opened a school. Blackwell later decided to study medicine and was accepted by Geneva Medical School, New York in 1847. Having previously studied privately, she graduated in 1849 - the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States. Blckwell practiced medicine in the US, England and Europe and later became involved in Social Reform work. In the late 1860s, Blackwell opened a medical school for women - the Women’s Medical College of the New York Infirmary. http://www.biography.com/people/elizabeth-blackwell-9214198 Sarah Hackett Stevenson, 2nd Feb 1841 - 14th August 1909 Sarah Stevenson was an American Physician and the first woman to be a member of the American Medical Association. She gained her first degree in 1863 and graduated as an MD in Chicago in 1874. In 1880, Sarah Stevenson and Lucy Flowers founded the Illinois Training School for Nurses. Winifred Goldring, 1st Feb 1888 – 30th Jan 1971 Winifred Goldring was an American Paleontologist and was the first woman to hold the position of State Paleontologist. Goldring was an authority on stromatolites and Devonian Crinoids. In 1949 she was elected president of the Paleontological Society, a position (even now) only held by two women in a male dominated field |
AuthorI'm an amateur historian interested in Women's History, Social History, Social Reformers, the Temperance Movement, and the (so far) unwritten histories of "ordinary" people. Archives
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