[175 years ago Tuesday, Elizabeth Blackwell became Dr. Blackwell, the first woman to graduate from a US medical school. So this week I’ve AmericanStudied Blackwell and four other groundbreaking women from American history, leading up to this special weekend post on folks from our own moment!]
On five 21st
century American women (and one global icon) who exemplify continued,
impressive groundbreaking achievements.
1)
Jessica
Meir and Christina Koch: I’m not gonna say too much for these entries,
preferring to let the stories and the amazing women highlighted in them do the
talking. So please make sure to click on these hyperlinks and learn more about,
for example, the first all-woman spacewalk and their plans to be the first
women on the moon!
2)
Linda Lee Singh:
Both NASA and the US military have for far too long been boys’ clubs (and
generally white boys at that), so what I especially love about these first two
entries is the direct challenge and alternative they offer to that artificially
homogeneous vision of American communities and society. What the current attacks
on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs miss is that there is no more vital
work still to be done than to make sure every part of our society mirrors those
fundamental realities of who and what America is.
3)
Kathryn
Bigelow: Representation matters in that process too, and that doesn’t just
mean who we see in our cultural works—it also (and relatedly) means who is
creating them, and how we recognize and celebrate those creators and artists.
Bigelow becoming the first woman to win a Best Director Oscar was painfully
belated, but we’ve got to start somewhere, and that was a truly groundbreaking cultural
moment to be sure.
4)
Kamala
Harris: As I wrote in that Saturday
Evening Post Considering History column, Harris’ heritage and identity are
complicated, which of course makes her all the more symbolically and
importantly American. What isn’t complicated at all, though, is that she’s the
first woman Vice President of the US, and that’s a fact that reflects
everything I’ve said in the prior entries in this list—breaking into and
challenging a boys’ club (and an overwhelmingly white one at that),
representation and diversity that better reflects our culture and community,
all of it.
5)
Malala
Yousafzai: Malala is both deeply linked to her native Pakistan and an
inspiringly global icon, and I don’t want to elide either of those layers of
identity by highlighting her in an AmericanStudies post. But at the same time,
one of the best things about the 21st century is the way we can
truly connect to and be inspired by the whole world, and a case in point is
that our Fitchburg
State Community Read book a few years back was I Am Malala. Groundbreaking Women without Borders!
Next
series starts Monday,
Ben
PS. What
do you think? Other groundbreaking women, past or present, you’d highlight?
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