05-20 TABLE of CONTENTS:
The first woman minister in U.S. history
DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and
EVENTS
QUOTE by
Roseanne.
The first woman minister in U.S. history
Although Antoinette Brown graduate in theology
from Oberlin College in 1850, she was refused ordination by a number of
churches. She was finally accepted by the Congregational Church in South
Butler, New York (1852-54) to become the first woman minister in U. S.
history.
Antoinette Brown (b. 05-20-1825) married into the
renowned Blackwell family (Elizabeth was the first woman physician in U.S.
history and her sister Emily, also a physician, was one of the organizers
of the first woman's hospital.)
ABB had six children and abandoned her battles for
women's rights. Later she resumed her women's rights activities to become
one of the most sought after speakers in the nation. She also published
a number of well received books, her last book The Social Side of Mind
and Action (1915) was written when she was 90. She lived to 96, long
enough to see women get the vote.
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05-20 DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and EVENTS
B. 05-20-1768, Dolley Madison, a widow,
married a rather nobody, tiny James Madison whom she helped mold into a
future president of the United States.
During the British invasion of Washington, D.C., in
the war of 1812 she escaped with valuable state papers from the White House
before it was burned by the British.
Strong-willed, she hung her wash in the east room
of the White House to show her disdain for those who thought the presidency
was royalty. She was a noted and charming hostess in the complex game of
Washington society.
She acted as hostess for George Washington and her
charm paved the way for the solemn Madison to become president.
B. 05-20-1872, Madeline McDowell Breckinridge, U.S. social activist
who began by organizing and taking part in grassroots movements in her
native Kentucky battling for educational and health facilities.
She campaigned for juvenile courts, branched out into
fighting political corruption while heading charity organizations and was
even instrumental in building a tuberculosis hospital (a disease she suffered
from most of her life).
MMB headed the Kentucky Equal Rights organization
which not only successfully passed suffrage in a southern state (!) but
also obtained rights for married women that "allowed" them to
keep their own earnings, have joint custody of their own children, etc.
B. 05-20-1882, Sigrid Undset, Norwegian novelist, winner of the
1928 Nobel prize in literature. Most noted for her Kristin Lavransdatter
trilogy that traces 47 years of a woman's life with deep and penetrating
analysis.
SU was a woman with deep troubles. As an 11-year old
she turned against her mother when her father died.
She changed her philosophical direction from writing
about women trapped in marriage to idealizing women who commit themselves
to God and family - the ideal being self-sacrifice.
Oddly enough, although she was adamant in opposing
racial and religious bigotry, she favored limited freedom for her female
characters.
B. 05-20-1901, Doris Fleeson, U.S. journalist and syndicated
columnist. She skewered politicians who failed the people or she saw as
corrupt. She was a militant feminist in the 1940s and 1950s when one of
the big battles was to get sufficient women's washrooms in the Capitol
building, a complaint that dated back to the early 19th century. She actively
aided young women reporters.
B. 05-20-1904, Margery Louise Allingham, English detective fiction
writer.
B. 05-20-1915, Shelley Mydans, U.S. journalist who was trapped
in Manila when the Japanese invaded the Philippines and was interred in
a prison camp for 24 months.
B. 05-20-1949, Nancy Friedman Atlas, judge U.S. District Court,
Texas, 1995-.
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QUOTES DU JOUR
"Why is it so shocking
to see a woman kiss another women but not to see a woman raped, mutilated,
and murdered every two seconds?"
-- Roseanne commenting
on the controversial kiss between two women on her March, 1994 RoseanneTV
series episode.
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