March is set aside to honor women! Let's also appreciate girls, for throughout history, youth activism has led to significant cultural and global shifts. Today, we admire Greta Thunberg who, as a 15-year-old environmental activist, sounded the alarm with her “School Strike for Climate.” Or there's Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Prize laureate at age 17, who was shot by the Taliban for attending school. The experience drove her to shine a light on the importance of girls’ education. The list goes on—from activists for gun safety and indigenous rights, to police reform and racial justice: youth lead change. For every heroic woman in our her-story books, there’s a young girl who grew up to fulfill her potential and contribute to society.
It is well documented that early childhood is a critical time for building a healthy mind, body, and sense of self. Not long ago, I listened to an expert speak on homelessness about the large percentage of unhoused people who, as children, had been abused and/or neglected by the very people who were supposed to protect and nurture them. As a result, many of these adults are damaged in significant ways. Ripped of their potential, some ridden with mental illness, the trauma continues to play out as they struggle to survive day-to-day, year-to-year.
Recently, I came across an intriguing article from Audubon that opened my eyes to American icon Harriet Tubman in new ways, and I got a more complete picture of how she was able to pull off such feats of courage, endurance, and selflessness “conducting” the Underground Railroad. Forced to do hard labor outdoors in the woodlands and fields, she became empowered by learning skills and discovering nature’s signs and signals, the survival tools that would enable her to guide others to freedom. She continued helping others and championing human rights until her death in her nineties. It’s difficult to imagine her childhood spent in slavery, and that she would find such a strong faith and a desire to help so many. And yet, she did.
Susan B. Anthony’s childhood, on the other hand, was supported by her Quaker upbringing and a father who, unusual for the time, encouraged her education and the development of her intellect. Her family believed in equality for all, so Anthony’s deep desire for social justice and for women’s right to vote correlates. The 19th Amendment that gave women the vote wasn’t ratified until 14 years after her death in 1920—but she was instrumental in its success. How could she keep going, all those years, tirelessly leading the women’s suffrage movement into her old age, eschewing a family of her own, and devoting her entire life to "the cause”? And yet, she did.
Let’s celebrate Harriet Tubman and Susan B. Anthony for their gifts to our nation’s progress. Let’s revel in the example of great women and girls! May each of us discover our path to fulfillment, and in turn, create a richer society for all.
—Hillary Black, Editor
[Above image, clockwise from left: Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Gloria Steinem, Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, and Amelia Earhart.]
