As a millennial trying to make my way in this world-- to say that our president scares the hell out of me is an understatement. In times of distress, I often have to reflect on those who overcame obstacles to make a positive impact on the world. After this election, I feel like collectively as human beings have let those who fought for civil rights down and over the past couple of months, I've felt almost guilty reading quotes from the empowering people I often turned to for inspiration.
However, I am realizing that this guilt will get me no where and the best thing to do is to move forward and continue working hard because it's up to me-- all of us-- as Americans, to keep this tradition of progress going even under the circumstances of shitty leadership.
Since I am unable to attend the Women's March on Washington on January 21st, 2017, I have decided to compile a list of those women who fought for the progress we have made as a country over the 100 years to further stress why protests, marches, exercising freedom of speech and expression are still relevant even if it doesn't change the outcome of the election.
1. All of the women who fought for women's right to vote-- Especially Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucy Stone
"I think, with never-ending gratitude, that the young women of today do not and can never know at what price their right to free speech and to speak at all in public has been earned."
- Lucy Stone
2. Rosa Parks
- Rosa Parks
3. Elizabeth Blackwell
"If society will not admit of woman's free development, then society must be remodeled."
- Elizabeth Blackwell
4. Margaret Sanger
"No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body. No woman can call herself until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother."
- Margaret Sanger
5. Jeannette Rankin
"We're half the people; we should be half the Congress."
- Jeannette Rankin
6. Helen Gurley Brown
"As for the act of sex, I think passion for work and passion for a man are totally related—you do everything with energy and heat. So, yes: you can love deeply and be an enormous success.”
- Helen Gurley Brown
7. Maya Angelou
"History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again."
- Dr. Maya Angelou
8. Gloria Steinem
"The problem for all women is we're identified by how we look instead of by our heads and our hearts."
- Gloria Steinem
9. Ruth Bader Ginsburg
"When I was growing up, there were no women in orchestras. Auditioners thought they could tell the difference between a woman playing and a man. Some intelligent person devised a simple solution: Drop a curtain between the auditioners and the people trying out. And, lo and behold, women began to get jobs in symphony orchestras."
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg
10. Sandra Day O'Connor
"As a citizen, you need to know how to be a part of it, how to express yourself - and not just by voting."
- Sandra Day O' Connor
