In January 2006, I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to Egypt on vacation. As part of the trip, our transportation included a bus trip across the desert and – in case you are wondering what the desert of the Exodus looks like – well this is it. It is austere, but still exhibits its own kind of desert beauty. We also visited St. Catherine’s Monastery, which is considered the historic site of the burning bush at the foot of Mt. Sinai. In addition to a photo of St. Catherine’s, here is a closeup of a bush that...
In 1971, Congress designated August 26 as Women’s Equality Day to commemorate the anniversary of the signature of the 19th amendment to the constitution in 1920. This is a photo of Pennsylvania Governor William Sproul ratifying the constitutional amendment to guarantee suffrage for all women who are citizens of the United States. The Women’s Suffrage Movement stretched from the first Women’s Convention that was held at Seneca Falls NY in 1848 to the final ratification of the amendment in 1920. This effort took a whole 72 years of protests and marches and letter writing and picketing and cajoling and rallies...
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695) is regarded as one of the most prominent authors of Spanish literature and the foremost Baroque poet in seventeenth-century colonial Mexico (New Spain.) She was born in San Miguel Nepantla, the illegitimate daughter of Spanish Captain Pedro Manuel de Asbaje and a criolla (mixed race) woman, Isabel Ramírez. She learned to read at a young age, devouring her maternal grandfather’s books and showing signs of being an exceptionally intelligent child. At the age of 12, Sor Juana was sent to Mexico City, where she became a lady-in-waiting at the court of the Viceroy...
Harriet Powers (1837-1911) was a creative African-American quilting genius! She used her quilts to re-tell familiar Bible stories in a unique and fascinating way. At least two of these story quilts have survived and are on display in American museums. Harriet Powers was born into slavery in rural Clarke County, Georgia, where she lived on a plantation owned by John and Nancy Lester. Details regarding her childhood and life as a young adult are lacking. However, we know that in 1855, she married Armstead Powers, who described himself as a “farmhand” in the census of 1870 and that she raised at...
This year I have tried to enter into the rhythm of Palm Sunday through Holy Week through Easter mindfully. As part of being mindful, I spent some time on Good Friday reflecting on the mysteries of death and resurrection – of the seasons of life. As always, I am impressed with the faith and commitment of the courageous women, who must have beaten down an incredible amount of anxiety and sorrow, as they gathered at the foot of the cross. And as always, I am moved by the mixture of grief and love that sent the women to the tomb...
The first National Women’s Day observance was organized by the Socialist Party of America, and was held on February 28, 1909 in New York. The original purpose was to serve as a remembrance of the strike of the International Ladies Garment Worker’s Union that occurred in 1908. As assemblies of women worldwide picked up on the idea, the earliest gatherings on International Women’s Day were mostly organized and supported by the socialist and communist movements. In August 1910, an International Women’s Conference was established as an event that preceded the general meeting of the Second Socialist International Conference in Copenhagen,...
Last updated: August 10, 2023 I look on this blog post as perhaps a little bit of vintage 1970s consciousness-raising, using twenty-first century tools. I have just re-read the book “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide,” written by the Pulitzer Prize winning husband and wife team Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Published in 2009, the statistics are surely not up to date, but it gives a thorough accounting of the many ways women (in developing and/or war-torn countries especially) are cruelly mistreated, and the risks that are associated with just being born female. Kristof and WuDunn...
Last updated: January 15, 2024 Sojourner Truth (circa 1797-1883) was born into slavery in rural, Ulster County New York and named Isabella Baumfree, speaking only Dutch for her first 9 years. She was beaten and abused by her owners and was sold to John Dumont in 1810 for about $175. She married an older slave named Thomas around 1815 and bore five children. According to New York law, all slaves were to be emancipated in 1827, but Dumont had promised to free her a year earlier than that. When he reneged, Isabella finished what she regarded as her seasonal duties...
The first time we went to the Brooklyn Museum was just so amazing! For one thing, there is the iconic Georgia O’Keefe painting of the Brooklyn Bridge, but then of course there is one of my favorite art installations of all time – The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago. The Dinner Party was a monumental creative undertaking that began in 1971. Judy and a large group of other artisans worked on it for a number of years, and the exhibit finally opened at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art on March 14, 1979. After traveling the country for many...
