Photo from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Barbara Jordan - 1936-1996 "Earlier today, we heard the beginning of the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States: "We, the people." It's a very eloquent beginning. But when that document was completed on the seventeenth of September in 1787, I was not included in … Continue reading BARBARA JORDAN – A TIMELESS SHERO
by Jeanne Nelson “Someone struggled for your right to vote. Use it.” ~ Susan B. Anthony “Voting is the expression of our commitment to ourselves, one another, this country, and this world.” ~ Sharon Salzberg “The ballot is stronger than the bullet.” ~ Abraham Lincoln "Our lives begin to end the day we become … Continue reading A DEADLINE YOU MUST NOT MISS
Paragraph “And as I've said on this floor before, it's also hard to take seriously, Republicans’ passionate pleas for this body to defend the existence of an unborn fetus when they … Continue reading GUNS & ROE: THE HYPOCRISY & HORROR
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." ~ Theodore Roosevelt “Now that companies have built the framework – and experienced the cost and time savings associated with it – there’s no real reason to turn back.” – Mark Lobosco, VP of Talent Solutions at LinkedIn "In a two-parent home where both … Continue reading SERIES ~ PANDEMIC LESSONS LEARNED – PART THREE: WORKING / SCHOOLING FROM HOME
. "We do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.” ~ Thomas Jefferson "We have a saying around here, use it or lose it." ~ Former U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz. Dear Readers, Please forgive my delay in posting. Like many others, I've been shell shocked … Continue reading USE IT OR LOSE IT
"This week marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment. And we celebrate the women who fought for that right. Yet so many of the black women who helped secure that victory were still prohibited from voting, long after its ratification...We're not often taught their stories. But as Americans, we all stand … Continue reading THE 19TH AMENDMENT AND WOMEN OF COLOR
Carl Van Vechten / Library of Congress / Wikimedia Commons “None of us is responsible for the complexion of his skin. This fact of nature offers no clue to the character or quality of the person underneath.” ~ Marian Anderson I would like to mark Black History Month by honoring the late and beyond great … Continue reading MARIAN ANDERSON – THE VOICE OF AMERICA
"I do not demand equal pay for any women save those who do equal work in value. Scorn to be coddled by your employers; make them understand that you are in their service as workers, not as women." ~ Susan B. Anthony, ca 1868 We sought justice because equal pay for equal work is an … Continue reading Women’s History Month – The Long, Long Road to Equal Pay – in 2152
"The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off." Attributed to Gloria Steinem In 1972, when I was a twenty-something single woman working in the book publishing industry, I became a charter subscriber to Ms., the groundbreaking magazine founded by Gloria Steinem and Letty Cottin Pogrebin. Not being a well-to-do suburban … Continue reading Women’s History Month – Gloria Steinem – Trailblazer Extraordinaire
There never will be complete equality until women themselves
help to make laws and elect lawmakers. ~ Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906)
Although it took nearly three-quarters of a century, American women made good on Abigail Adams's threat in 1776 to her husband, John Adams, as he participated in the creation of the United States Constitution: "...we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.” Once underway, that rebellion -- begun at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 -- lasted another nearly three-quarters of a century, but it resulted in the Nineteenth Amendment, ratified in 1920, which guaranteed all women nationwide the right to vote. Prior to that, each state decided whether to grant women the right to vote, and, shockingly, some states actually revoked their right. But many states did grant women the right to vote, and it was in 1917 that a leader in the suffrage movement of one of those states, Jeannette Rankin of Montana, became the first woman elected to Congress.
Jeanne Nelson 